On December 7, 1941, a devastating day occurred. Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. near Honolulu, Hawaii. This attack was called Pearl Harbor. The first wave of Japanese pilots came in at around 7:50 am. The Japanese pilots were called torpedo bombers. Torpedo bombers dropped bombs that had propellers on the back of the bomb which would then push the torpedo into the desired target. Around 7:53a.m, more pilots from the first wave came in and the pilots were called dive bombers, these pilots had to swoop down and then drop their bombs on the desired location. Several U.S. aircraft were shot down as the first wave approached land.
People on U.S. ships woke up when the sounds of alarms blared, when bombs exploded, and also when guns …show more content…
I could not really find out why they switched roles. I think it was because in the beginning, both bombers came in on different sides of the island and then when they switched the dive bombers would bomb the ships that got hit by torpedoes and the torpedo bombers would torpedo the ships hit by the dive bombs. I thought this was a good plan because the ships that were hit in the keel would later be hit on the deck and vice versa. During the second wave, 2,386 Americans died and 55 were civilians. The civilians died because of exploded bomb shells that landed in civilian areas. The USS California was hit by two bombs and two torpedoes. The crew probably could have kept it afloat, but they were ordered to abandon the ship just as they were raising power for the pumps. Burning oil from Arizona and West Virginia drifted down on the USS California, and made the situation look worse than it was. Japanese pilots concentrated on their designated battleships, but they also did not ignore other targets. The USS Helena was hit by a torpedo, and the power from the blast traveled to the nearby USS Oglala which was a mine-layer. Two destroyers in dry dock were destroyed when bombs drilled into their fuel bunkers. The leaking fuel caught on fire. This resulted in flooding the dry dock, the fire made the burning oil rise, and so the ships were burned
People on U.S. ships woke up when the sounds of alarms blared, when bombs exploded, and also when guns …show more content…
I could not really find out why they switched roles. I think it was because in the beginning, both bombers came in on different sides of the island and then when they switched the dive bombers would bomb the ships that got hit by torpedoes and the torpedo bombers would torpedo the ships hit by the dive bombs. I thought this was a good plan because the ships that were hit in the keel would later be hit on the deck and vice versa. During the second wave, 2,386 Americans died and 55 were civilians. The civilians died because of exploded bomb shells that landed in civilian areas. The USS California was hit by two bombs and two torpedoes. The crew probably could have kept it afloat, but they were ordered to abandon the ship just as they were raising power for the pumps. Burning oil from Arizona and West Virginia drifted down on the USS California, and made the situation look worse than it was. Japanese pilots concentrated on their designated battleships, but they also did not ignore other targets. The USS Helena was hit by a torpedo, and the power from the blast traveled to the nearby USS Oglala which was a mine-layer. Two destroyers in dry dock were destroyed when bombs drilled into their fuel bunkers. The leaking fuel caught on fire. This resulted in flooding the dry dock, the fire made the burning oil rise, and so the ships were burned