The Japanese dropped the first bomb on Pearl Harbor a few minutes after 8 o 'clock a.m. The Americans were not ready for the attack. Therefore the Japanese commander said "it is going to be a surprise attack" . There were men watching the radar when blips appeared on the radar, but the Navy ignored it. They thought it was the planes that were arriving from California. Within minutes after the arrival of the first wave of Japanese attackers, Pearl Harbor became a scene of horror, destruction, and confusion with the U.S. A torpedo hit the battleship U.S.S. West Virginia and a set of explosions went off. A torpedo hit U.S.S. Arizona and it 's blazes set the U.S.S. Tennessee on fire. The U.S.S. Arizona is still resting in Pearl Harbor, and serves as a memorial to Americans of what the Japanese did to us. When the second wave of Japanese attackers came at 8:40 a.m. the Americans were able to put up more resistance in the air. The attack on Pearl Harbor ended two hours after it started. The Japanese only had twenty-nine planes shot out of the air, and they knew they had the victory. The United States had eighteen ships sunk or badly damaged …show more content…
The two things that kept the Pearl Harbor attack from being a total disaster for the Americans is the Pacific fleet was elsewhere at the time including three aircraft carriers, and seven heavy cruisers. The Japanese had failed to destroy the United States oil storage tanks and the maintenance facilities. The Japanese did not just attack Pearl Harbor but also attacked the Philippines, Malaya, and Hong