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7 December 1941: The Attack on Pearl Harbor

Rambler

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Seeing that today is the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, I thought I'd share some photographs of the event I've come across that I find interesting.

Vals warming up on a Japanese aircraft carrier prior to taking off for Pearl.
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Vals leaving the deck of the Shokaku while a Japanese sailor on the carrier's island looks on.
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Japanese planes attacking Battleship Row. The USS West Virginia has been hit by a torpedo, likely dropped by one of the planes in the photograph.
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Battleship Row from a low level attacking Japanese plane. Note the oil slicks and the USS West Virginia and USS Oklahoma listing.
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Aerial view of Battleship Row under attack. Bombs have just hit the USS Arizona (second from left, inboard). Oil slicks can be seen seeping from the USS West Virginia (outboard, middle) and USS Oklahoma (outboard, right).
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USS California listing after being hit by torpedoes and bombs.
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Smoke from a burning USS Shaw in the background and a burning USS Nevada in the foreground.
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Aerial view of Battleship Row shortly after the forward magazines on the USS Arizona detonated. The smoke is from the burning Arizona.
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Panorama of Pearl Harbor during the attack.
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USS California sinking.
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Wrecked, burning hangars and parts of a PBY at Naval Air Station Ford Island.
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Japanese Vals photographed from one of the recon squadron B-17s that was en-route to Hickam Air Field from California. They arrived in the middle of the surprise attack ill-prepared for a shooting war.
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The same crewman on the B-17 also captured this shot showing a Zero flying over the burning wreckage of what is most likely a SBD from the USS Enterprise and a Zero that collided in mid-air.
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View of the burning harbor from the landed B-17.
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Sailors abandoning the USS California as oil slick fires approach the ship. The capsized USS Oklahoma can be seen on the far right.
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Marines on the parade ground by the Marine barracks.
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Battleship Row shortly after the attack showing the burning battleships and a capsized USS Oklahoma.
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Aerial shot of battleship row taken 10 December. The destroyed Arizona is in the lower right, seeping her lifeblood into the harbor. Something she is still doing to this day, 75 years later.
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Good pics !
I always felt especially interested in this event.
In fact and I always said, that someday I could travel to the USA, this island would be my chosen destination. I dream of visiting the Arizona memorial...:rolleyes:
 
On the attack, a ship, the USS Phoenix (CL-46) or "Lucky Phoenix", a light cruiser, steamed past the flaming Battleship Row and out to sea without being hit. Observers on the Phoenix saw the incoming Japanese planes and her crewmen immediately began firing at the enemy. One nearby bomb burst killed one of her crew, her only loss during the entire war.

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USS Phoenix passing the battleships West Virginia and Arizona at Pearl Harbor in 1941

The Phoenix was decommissioned on 3 July 1946, and remained at Philadelphia until sold to Argentina on april 9, 1951.
She was commissioned in the Argentine Navy as "Diecisiete de Octubre" (C-4) on 17 October 1951, renamed "ARA General Belgrano" in 1956.

Finally the "General Belgrano", was sunk during the Falklands War on may 2, 1982, by the attack submarine HMS Conqueror with the loss of 323 lives.

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The General Belgrano sinking
 
You're welcome Gnarly!

Thanks Louis! A visit to the USS Arizona memorial is also something I've wanted to do for a long time. One of these days... Fascinating info about the fate of the USS Phoenix too. I had no idea.
 
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