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MARINE SCIENCE (HS40)
BASIC NAVIGATION AND SEAMANSHIP (SL10403)
FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
ASSIGNMENT 1 MARITIME DISASTERTITLE : ATTACK ON PEARL
HARBOUR
Name:Wydia Farhain Fredelina Wilfredo
Matric no.:BS14110932
Lecturer:Dr. Pushpa M. PalaniappanDate of Submission:29th May
2015
TASK
Write a report about maritime disaster, its consequences, and
ways to prevent it.
INTRODUCTION
A maritime disaster is defined as an event, which involves a
ship or ships and can be related to military action. Because of the
nature of maritime travel, there is usually substantial loss of
life. According to Oxford dictionary, the word disaster carries the
meaning of an unexpected event, or a natural catastrophe that
causes great damage or kills a lot of people. Thus, in other words
maritime disaster is an occurrence or an accident which happens at
sea and often involves the loss of lives.
The date 7th of December 1941 is marked as one of the worst days
in the United States history. The US president then, President
Franklin Roosevelt called the day as a date which will live in
infamy. The Pearl Harbour, a naval base situated in Hawaii, was
bombarded and attacked by the empire of Japan. The sneak attack
resulted in many casualties of not only the navy officers, but also
locals as the bombs also affected the people nearby. It also sank a
total of twelve ships, damaging nine, besides completely destroying
the USS Arizona and capsized the USS Oklahoma; both are
battleships.
There were no warnings or alerts given to the people in Pearl
Harbour. No one expected the ambush, just as the navy base was
ill-prepared and taken by surprise by the Japanese troops. The
attack indicated that the World War II has begun in the Pacific
region. The main objective of the attacks was to paralyse the US
navy and air fleet as much as possible.
In this assignment however, more will be discussed on the
battleships USS Arizona, and battleship USS Oklahoma rather than
the whole Battleship Row involved in the Pearl Harbour attack.
A SUMMARY ON THE ATTACK OF PEARL HARBOUR
The tragic day took place in the port of Pearl Harbour. It was
just like any other faithful Sunday morning. Everyone went on with
their day doing their daily routines, including the navy men.
The Japanese empire wanted to expand their territory and power
just as other European countries. However they do this by forcing
themselves into the Indo-China region. Concerned over Japans
ambitions, the United States, Netherlands and Great Britain froze
Japanese assets in their countries and cut off 90% of raw material
supplies required by Japan for war production.
The Japan counteracts by planning an attack on the United
States, which was the last thing anyone would thought they do. They
also specifically chose to attack Pearl Harbour, where the US least
thought would be since for one thing, Hawaii and Japan is 4000
miles apart, making it inconvenient for the Japanese to enter
without getting seen under the radar. Secondly, the American
military leaders did not suspect any attacks on their own soil,
plus Pearl Harbour was practically undefended. However, it was
known by the Japanese that the Pacific fleet moored there almost
every other week, making Pearl Harbour a highly irresistible
target.
The Japanese trained for at least 7 months before going forward
with the attack. Their main objective was to neutralise the Pacific
fleet, this is to make sure the US does not interfere with their
conquest for power.
On the 7th of December 1941, at about 0749 hour, about 360
Japanese planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbour and bombs start
to be dropped. At that time, the Army Defence unit was under the
command of Lt. General Walter Short. A last minute warning was sent
to him from the headquarters in Washington D.C., however the
message only reached General Short hours after the attack. It was
already too late.
The attack managed to destroy 18 American vessels and up to 300
airplanes. As for the total casualties, 2500 men were killed and
more than 1000 were badly injured. This included 8 battleships: USS
Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS Nevada, USS California, USS West
Virginia, USS Tennessee, USS Maryland, and USS Pennsylvania.
A total of two waves of attacks were done by the Japanese.
However, they did not succeed in fully paralysing the Pacific
fleet. This is because most fuel storage tanks, maintenance areas,
destroyers and submarines were not targeted. The very next day, on
the 8th of December 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt declared
war, after two long years of conflicts.
Pictures during the attacks on Pearl Harbour:
USS ARIZONA
The battleship USS Arizona has served the United States Navy
with pride and excellence during its years of service, which
started form 1916 until 1941. She was a Pennsylvania-class of
super-dreadnaught battleship with a total length of 185m, and a
speed reaching 21 knots. She was also the final resting place of
many of her crewmen, who were killed during the Pearl Harbour
attack.
During the attack, her raid off alarm went off at about 0755hour
and she went to general headquarters soon thereafter.
Quoting Marine Corporal E. Nightingale who was aboard the USS
Arizona on that faithful morning, At approximately eight oclock on
the morning of December 7 1941, I was leaving the breakfast table
when the ships siren for air defence sounded. Having no
anti-aircraft battle station, I paid little attention to it.
Suddenly I heard an explosion. I ran to the port door leading to
the quarterdeck and saw a bomb strike a barge of some sort
alongside the USS Nevada. The marine color guard came in at this
point saying we were being attacked. I could hear machine gun
fire.
The battleship was hit by a total of eight bombs. The last bomb
hit in the vicinity of Turret II, penetrating the armoured deck
which is near the ammunition magazines located in the forward
section of the ship. A few seconds after the last hit, the forward
magazines exploded, collapsing the vessel downwards and forward.
The explosion took the lives of 1177 crewmen, more than half of the
total casualties of the attack.
A memorial was built to honour those who died in the attack,
situated on top of the wreckage of the ship herself. Visitors can
only access the memorial by boat, where they will straddle over the
wreckage of Arizona, but avoid touching her.
Aerial view of the USS Arizona Memorial
USS OKLAHOMA
USS Oklahoma was one of the battleships involved in the Pearl
Harbour attack. It was a Nevada-class battleship. She was assigned
for patrols and exercises which based in Pearl Harbour by the end
of 1937. She only returned to the mainland twice; once to get
anti-aircraft guns and armour added to her superstructure, and the
other to get her armour replaced at San Pedro.
The USS Oklahoma was 178m in length, and was able to reach a
speed of 21 knots. She carried a total crew of 1398 during the
surprise attack.
The Oklahoma losses were high because the dreadnought capsized
after it was hit by 5 torpedoes, before she rolled over on her port
side. She was hit by three torpedoes almost immediately after the
attack started, making her starting to turn into her port side.
Many of the sailors were trapped inside, with only 32 crewmen
were rescued by shipyard workers and sailors. They were freed by
cutting holes in the hull. However, many more were perished from
the explosions and flooding of the vessel.
Most of her crews remained in the fight, moving on to USS
Maryland and aid in her anti-aircraft welfare. Some of her sailors
who died in action later had vessels named after them. For example,
the USS Austin was named after Chief Carpenter John Arnold
Justin.
Model of USS Oklahoma
USS Oklahoma being salvaged
In July 1942, the salvaging of USS Oklahoma was commenced and
took a little under 8 months to complete. The overturning and
righting of the hull required 21 derricks. Although the initial
plan was to salvage the ship, her scraps were eventually removed
and sold.
A memorial for the 429 lives of the crew members that were
killed during the attack was dedicated on Ford Island, close to
where The Oklahoma was once moored.
CONSEQUENCES
The attack on Pearl Harbour has led to the loss of almost 2500
lives; half of it was from the explosion that happened in the USS
Arizona. Besides killing a lot of people, it also angered the
Americans and has led to war. As we know, the World War II has
consumed a lot of budgets and taken a lot of lives.
Apart from that, the damages that the attack has caused includes
the decommission of two battleships, namely USS Arizona and USS
Oklahoma as they could no longer be salvaged and used. Although the
vessels were granted battle stars for their services.
Memorials were also built to honour the fallen victims.
Moreover, the disastrous day has taught the world to always be on
watch when facing an opponent and to never be as greedy as the
Japanese Empire was for power that they were willing to kill in
order to achieve their ambitions.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN
As we all know, the Japanese tried to neutralise the Americans
Pacific fleet in order to make sure the United States do not
interfere with their conquest for power. But all they did was
angered the US instead of reaching their objectives.
From this event, we should be reminded that greed does not give
us good outcomes. Due to the Japanese Empires greed for power, they
have caused a huge amount of loss of lives. They were willing to
kill innocent people and civilians in order to achieve their
ambition to conquer the world. This should be a lesson for us all
to not repeat the mistakes of our ancestors, but learn from them
instead.
Apart from that, we must not overlook any possibilities of
attack, like the US Armys did. They thought Japan would never
consider attacking Pearl Harbour, but little do they know that the
Pearl Harbour was an irresistible target as they were totally
unprepared for war.
Besides that, we should never underestimate our opponents. The
Japanese army had been spying the Oahu coasts for about a year,
memorising the US Navys movements and mooring schedules of the
vessels. This shows how determined the Japan army were to carry out
their mission, while the US government had no clue on what was
coming at all. The US underestimated Japans will power, which costs
them huge damage and killed a lot of lives.
Other than that, we should never assume things without making
sure of our assumption or get solid evidence that our assumption is
true. Before the attack, the navy saw a lot of planes suddenly
entering the Pearl Harbour skyline, but they only assumed that
those were their own planes, going back to their base near Ford
Island.
Also, the communication between the mainland and Oahu should
have been better. Their weak communication resulted in the navy not
receiving the last minute warning at all, although a mere 10
minutes would be more than enough for the marines to get prepared
for war and take their places. But they also received two early
warnings, which were then ignored.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we are aware that war during that time was
inevitable. The United States were already on the verge of joining
the war, but if only their communication unit was more efficient,
they could have salvaged more lives by giving out that last minute
warning.
We also have learnt that war brings no good to the human race,
instead it only damages our things and kill our own species. Japans
greed for power has resulted in them being selfish and heartless,
killing people without any remorse.
Apart from that, the ships that were damaged needed a lot of
costs to repair them. This causes a great lost to the government
and time consuming for the US Navy as they need to wait for the
vessels to be fixed in order to train on it.
REFERENCES
Oxfords Advanced Learners Dictionary; disaster definition;
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http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/learner/disaster
(online)
Pearl Harbor Oahu. Why was Pearl Harbour Attacked?. Retrieved
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Attack at Pearl Harbour, 1941. EyeWitness to History. retrieved
from: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl.htm (1997)
United States History. Pearl Harbour Attack. retrieved from:
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1649.htmlJames Burbeck. Pearl
Harbour: A World War II Summary. Retrieved from:
http://www.wtj.com/articles/pearl_harbor/index_03.htm (2013)
USS Arizona.org. USS Arizona Statistics. Retrieved from:
http://www.ussarizona.org/website/history/uss-arizona-statisticsNational
Park Service. History & Culture. Retrieved from:
http://www.nps.gov/valr/learn/historyculture/index.htm Oxfords
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