Pearl Harbor

2 Pages 615 Words

In 1931, Japanese troops were sent into Manchuria for resource plundering. A few years later, Japan invaded China. At this point the United States was drawn into tensions with Asia. Japanese officials were sent to Washington to keep peace after President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered a trade embargo on the Empire thus cutting off Japanese oil needed for aggression. This became the bane for their aggression against the United States. Meanwhile, Japan prepared for their surprise attack on Oahu Island, or Pearl Harbor.
Secret transmissions from Japan to their diplomats in Washington, DC usually got to the Americans ears first. Japanese code was decoded to Japanese then translated to English. Admirals and generals warned of the attack to each other. One in fact predicted the attack to be on Sunday November 29, 1945, just a week away from the actual attack. Several warnings were sent to Washington but the American high command ignored them because they saw it as suicide and highly unlikely.
When the Japanese began sending diplomats to Washington was when they began planning the massive naval attack. Their first obstacle was the depth of Pearl Harbor. The harbor was far too shallow for torpedoes to level out in the water. A torpedo at the time took at least 75 feet to level out, and Pearl Harbor was only 40 feet. To solve this problem, Japanese admirals came up with a fin that was meant to level the torpedo out quicker than the normal torpedo. It was tested, worked, and used in the attack. Three hundred planes were sent on 6 carriers to launch the attack. Japanese officials set up code words to let them know whether or not the attack was going to be successful. The most famous is the one issued to signal the admiral that the ancient Japanese preferred way to wage war was accomplished, surprise. The word was used three times in a row, “Tora, tora, tora!” .
On December 7th, 1945, Japan attacked the US naval fleet stationed at Pearl H...