"Battleship Row" after Pearl Harbor Attack

Image size: 2048 x 1645 pixel. 720 KB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States of America
Photographer: Unknown

"Battleship Row" on December 7, 1941, after the Japanese attack. USS Arizona (BB-39) is in the center of this view, burning furiously. To the left of her are USS Tennessee (BB-43) and the sunken USS West Virginia (BB-48). Men on the stern of USS Tennessee are playing fire hoses on the water to force burning oil away from their ship. She was hit by two bombs, which damaged two of her four gun turrets, and was scorched by burning oil from the sunken USS Arizona. In late December, after temporary repairs, Tennessee steamed to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, for an overhaul. West Viriginia was hit by two bombs and at least seven torpedoes, which blew huge holes in her port side. Skillful damage control saved her from capsizing, but she quickly sank to the harbor bottom. More than a hundred of her crew were lost. Salvaged and given temporary repairs at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, in April 1943 West Virginia steamed to the West Coast for final repair and modernization at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. The battleship emerged from the shipyard in July 1944 completely changed in appearance, with a wider hull, and massively improved anti-aircraft gun battery. Both battleships served as gunnery platforms for invasions throughout the war. Arizona's wreck was never raised and remains as a memorial to this day.



Source :
https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1367

Radiogram "Air Raid, Pearl Harbor, This Is Not Drill"

Image size: 2048 x 1649 pixel. 529 KB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Squantum Point, Massachusetts, United States of America
Photographer: Unknown

Radiogram sent to Squantum Naval Air Station at Squantum Point, Quincy Massachusetts. The telegram is usually credited to Rear Admiral Patrick N. L. Bellinger (October 8, 1885 – May 30, 1962) Commanding Officer of Patrol Wing Two. However, the message may have been sent in his name by Lieutenant Commander Logan "Beauty" C. Ramsey Sr. In 1945, Ramsey reported to the Joint Congressional Committee on the investigation of the Pearl Harbor: "I saw, together with the staff duty officer, a single plane making a dive on Ford Island. The single plane appeared at the time to both the staff duty officer and myself in the light of a young aviator 'flathatting' (flying low in a reckless manner) and we both tried to get his number to make a report of the violation of flight rules. He completed his dive, pulled up and away. We were commenting together on the fact that it was going to be difficult to find out who the pilot was, when the delayed action bomb which he had dropped, and which we had not seen drop, detonated, and I told the staff duty officer, "Never mind; it's a Jap." I dashed across the hall into the radio room, ordered a broadcast in plain English on all frequencies, "Air Raid, Pearl Harbor. This is no drill." The detonation of the bomb dropped by that first plane was my first positive knowledge of an enemy attack." Additional reports came in from the Navy Yard and Kaneohe; some reports were discounted until the Japanese planes overhead and the smoke from the burning ships were visible for miles. Some variations of the telegram use "NOT" instead of "NO" indicating they may have been received from another source, or their was a morse code error.

Source :
National Archives and Records Ad 06339 (Other Identifier)
https://worldwar2database.com/gallery/wwii1408

Mess Attendant Doris Miller Receives the Navy Cross from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

Image size: 1294 x 1600 pixel. 196 KB
Date: Wednesday, 27 May 1942
Place: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States
Photographer: Unknown

Doris Miller, Mess Attendant Second Class, US Navy, Receives the Navy Cross from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, at an awards ceremony held on the flight deck of USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Pearl Harbor. Miller was commended by the Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on April 1, 1942, and on May 27, 1942 he received the Navy Cross, which Fleet Admiral (then Admiral) Chester W. Nimitz, the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet personally presented to Miller on board aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) for his extraordinary courage in battle. Speaking of Miller, Nimitz remarked: "This marks the first time in this conflict that such high tribute has been made in the Pacific Fleet to a member of his race and I'm sure that the future will see others similarly honored for brave acts." The medal was awarded for heroism on board USS West Virginia (BB-48) during the Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941. Doris ("Dorie") Miller was born in Waco, Texas, on October 12, 1919. He enlisted in the Navy in September 1939 as a Mess Attendant Third Class. On December 7, 1941, while serving aboard USS West Virginia (BB-48), he distinguished himself by courageous conduct and devotion to duty during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions on this occasion. An effort to award him the Medal of Honor was not approved and some suspected racism. Doris Miller served aboard USS Indianapolis (CA-35) from December 1941 to May 1943. He was then assigned to the escort carrier Liscome Bay (CVE-56). Cook Third Class Miller was lost with that ship when she was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-175 on November 24, 1943, during the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. Missing in action, he was declared dead on November 25, 1944. 

Source:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Admiral_Chester_W._Nimitz_pins_the_Navy_Cross_on_Doris_Miller,_Pearl_Harbor,_May_27,_1942.jpg

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1066

Wrecked B-17C Flying Fortress at Hickam Field

Image size: 1600 x 1131 pixel. 476 KB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States
Photographer: Tai Ling Soo

Wrecked Army Air Corps B-17C (serial 40-2074) Flying Fortress of 38th Reconnaissance Squadron near Hangar 5 at Hickam Air Field, following the end of the Japanese raid. This plane, piloted by Captain Raymond T. Swenson, was one of those that arrived during the raid. It had been the second plane to take off from Hamilton Field, San Rafael, California the previous evening, was now rounding Diamond Head and preparing to land at Hickam. Second Lieutenant Ernest Reid, the co-pilot, was anxious to be on the ground. The whole crew was badly in need of a brief rest after the long flight, and all were looking forward to an afternoon on the sunny beaches of Waikiki. First Lieutenant William R. Schick, the flight surgeon, watched the big island spread out below him from his passenger seat in the aircraft. Second Lieutenant H. R. Taylor, the navigator, was snapping photographs, though he was somewhat mystified by the early morning fireworks he saw in the distance. Captain Swenson assumed the locals were burning sugarcane. He was still unaware of the battle that raged below. The landing gear was lowered and his B-17 dropped to 600 feet for final approach before the crew got a good look at the airfield, now fully under attack. Japanese Zeroes zoomed in to rake the inbound Flying Fortress with a stream of tracers. It was too late to pull up and abort, so the pilot steeled himself against the looming inferno and stayed on course. To the rear Lieutenant Schick cried out, "Damn it! Those are real bullets they're shooting. I'm hit in the leg." The incendiaries ignited the magnesium flares on the plane and they burned furiously. Smoke filled the cockpit as the B-17C dropped earthward, and then hit hard on what was left of the runway. The big bomber broke completely in half. In that moment Captain Swenson's B-17 gained the dubious distinction of being the first American airplane to be shot down in World War II. Lieutenant Masanobu Ibusuki and Lieutenant Commander Shigeru Itaya claimed credit for the B-17C. The nine crewmen scrambled for safety and Lt. Schick was shot in the head by a A6M2 Zero-Sen. Four others were wounded. Swenson and Reid set the parking brakes and shut down the engines on the burning aircraft. Note bicycle parked by the plane. Pith helmet by the case in the left foreground indicates that the photographer was Tai Sing Loo. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1044

USS Shaw (DD-373) Destroyed in Floating Drydock YFD-2

Image size: 1600 x 1284 pixel. 592 KB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States
Photographer: Unknown

USS Shaw (DD-373) wrecked in floating drydock YFD-2 on December 7, 1941, with fires were nearly out but structure still smoking. Her bow had been blown off by the explosion of her forward magazines, after she was set afire by Japanese dive bombing attacks. In the right distance are the damaged and listing USS California (BB-44) and a dredge. Raised out of the water in drydock, along with the old harbor tug Sotoyomo (YT-9), Shaw attracted the unwelcome attention of several dive bombers of the second strike wave. These hit her with three bombs at about the same time as they were attacking the then-nearby battleship USS Nevada (BB-36). These bombs all hit the forward portion of the ship. The resulting fires proved uncontrollable, and Shaw was ordered abandoned. As efforts were underway to flood the drydock about a half-hour after she was hit, her forward ammunition magazines detonated in a spectacular blast, completely removing her bow. The blast also punctured YFD-2 and Sotoyomo. Both soon sank, the drydock partially and the tug completely, leaving Shaw's after portion afloat, with an intense fire raging at its front. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) Identifier 196078

http://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/day-of-infamy/

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1025

USS Maryland (BB-46) and Capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37)

Image size: 1600 x 1202 pixel. 507 KB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States
Photographer: Unknown

USS Maryland (BB-46) moored at berth F-5 alongside the capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37). USS West Virginia (BB-48) is burning in the background. The unfortunate Oklahoma, an older ship with much less adequate protection against underwater damage, was hit by up to nine torpedoes. Her hull's port side was opened almost completely from below the forward gun turret back to the third turret, a distance of over 250 feet. She listed quickly, her port bilge struck the harbor bottom, and she then rolled almost completely over. Oklahoma came to rest less than twenty minutes after she was first hit. Some of her starboard underwater hull and the starboard propeller were now all that showed above the surface of Pearl Harbor. Some of Oklahoma's men were still alive inside her upturned hull, and their rescue became the focus of an intense effort over the next two days. Thirty-two Sailors were recovered alive, but over four-hundred were killed. In 1943, the capsized ship was rolled upright and raised in one of the salvage profession's greatest undertakings, but she was not further repaired. Maryland was hit by two bombs, which caused relatively light damage and some flooding forward. Four of her men lost their lives. The battleship was able to steam to the west coast for final repairs later in December and was fully returned to service in February 1942. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) Identifier 306553

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USSMarylandPearlHarbor.jpg

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/ph-okm.htm

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1014

Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 Attack Bomber Shot Down at Hospital Point, Pearl Harbor

Image size: 1600 x 1214 pixel. 0.98 MB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Naval Hospital, United States Navy, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States
Photographer: Unknown

Wing of a Japanese Navy Type 97 Nakajima B5N2 carrier attack aircraft that crashed at the Naval Hospital, Pearl Harbor, during the attack. This plane came from the aircraft carrier IJN Kaga and had the tail code AII-35?. Its "Rising Sun" insignia was later largely cut away by souvenir hunters. AII-35? was piloted by Airman First Class Syuzo Kitahara with Observer Petty Officer Second Class Yoshio Shimizu and Gunner/Radio Operator Petty Officer Second Class Haruo Onishi. The third B5N2 to attack USS West Virginia in Kaga's first wave, Kitahara's plane was hit multiple times by incendiaries that severed his fuel lines. He broke off his attack as his plane caught fire; Onishi jumped without a parachute, landing near USS New Orleans (CA-32) and USS San Francisco (CA-38). He was recovered from the water alive but soon died of his injuries. Kitahara, struggling with his burning plane, avoided the Navy Yard's large Hammerhead crane and flew down the length of 1010 Dock. Observers noted the burning plane's hydraulics failed and the landing gear began to lower. Kitahara, probably unable to control the plane any more, headed for the Naval Hospital. Captain Reynolds Hayden (September 30, 1883 - February 5, 1952) Commanding Officer of the Naval Hospital, later wrote Kitahara seemed to head "directly towards the front of the main hospital building." Kitahara stood up and let go of the controls just as the plane veered to the left and crashed between the laboratory building and the Chief Petty Officer's quarters. Hayden noted the two Japanese officers were dead, their dismembered bodies strewn across the crash site. An angry Marine began screaming he would kill the Japanese, while holding the dead man's leg. He realized what he was doing and took the man's boot as a souvenir! Private First Class Marion M. Milbrandt, summoned to the Naval Hospital grounds with his 1,000-gallon water pumper, fought the resulting fire. The fire, fed by the crashed plane's gasoline, threatened the facility, but Milbrandt and his crew controlled the blaze. The Hospital laboratory was severely damaged and some research animals were destroyed. The Japanese lost five B5N2 bombers from Kaga during the first wave. Special thanks to David Aiken for his research on the crew of AII-35?. 

Source:
NARA (National Archives)
http://research.archives.gov/search?refinegrp_format=Image%20%28GIF%29&expression=pearl+harbor+attack+mime-type-label%3A%22Image+%28GIF%29%22+OR+mime-type-label%3A%22Image+%28JPG%29%22&pg_src=brief&data-source=archival-descriptions-with-digital-objects

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1013

Small Boat Rescues Sailor from USS West Virginia (BB-48)

Image size: 1600 x 1274 pixel. 509 KB
Date: Sunday, 7 December 1941
Place: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States
Photographer: Unknown

Sailors in a motor launch rescue a survivor from the water alongside the sunken USS West Virginia (BB-48) during or shortly after the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor. USS Tennessee (BB-43) is inboard of the sunken battleship. Note extensive distortion of West Virginia's lower midships superstructure, caused by torpedoes that exploded below that location. Also note 5"/25 gun, still partially covered with canvas, boat crane swung outboard and empty boat cradles near the smokestacks, and base of radar antenna atop West Virginia's foremast. 106 sailors from USS West Virginia died in the attack. Later examination revealed that West Virginia had taken not five, but six, torpedo hits. With a patch over the damaged area of her hull, the battleship was pumped out and ultimately refloated on May 17, 1942. Docked in Drydock Number One on 9 June, West Virginia again came under scrutiny, and it was discovered that there had been not six, but seven torpedo hits. During the ensuing repairs, workers located 70 bodies of West Virginia sailors who had been trapped below when the ship sank. In one compartment, a calendar was found, the last scratch-off date being December 23! The task confronting the nucleus crew and shipyard workers was a monumental one, so great was the damage on the battleship's port side. Ultimately, however, West Virginia departed Pearl Harbor for the west coast and a complete rebuilding at the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington.

Source:

NARA (National Archives) Identifier: 306532

http://www.archives.gov/legislative/guide/house/chapter-23-joint-pearl-harbor-attack.html

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1012