Bombing of Pearl Harbor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Bombing of Pearl Harbor - Essay Example Due to its massive impact on the foreign and war policy, the attack is also considered a defining moment in the US history. Rightly, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 7, 1941 as the date, country would live in ‘infamy.’ Later ‘Remember Pearl Harbor’ became a universal theme in the wartime propaganda (Slackman, 1990). Pearl Harbor is 10 square miles of navigable water located on the southern coast of Oahu island in Hawaii. It had capacity to hold large warships and submarines. Even prior to the transfer of Pacific Fleet from San Diego on the west coast in 1940, Pearl Harbor was under development as a major naval base. The revamping of the Pearl Harbor had begun in 1936. At the time of attack, the Pearl Harbor was equipped with an industrial plant for repair and maintenance of warships and oil tanks for fuelling purposes. Central to the Harbor was a Naval Air Station for fighter planes. However, facilities Pearl Harbor were grossly inadequate to meet the needs of Fleet and its large manpower. The housing and recreational facilities were grossly inadequate for thousands of sailors, marines, and soldiers even though a massive project was underway for proper accommodation of the Pacific Fleet and thousands of its marines and sailors. The inadequacy of facilities had rendered the Fleet handicapped and vulnerable to attack. As a result, the morale of the forces was on the low ebb. Roosevelt too was convinced of the vulnerability of the Pearl Harbor, but the White House repeatedly ignored warnings and intercepted messages of an impending attack. The attack was master-minded by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet. The attacking force was immediately commanded by Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. Senior officers ensured that planning was text-book perfect, but Japans limited energy resources was the weakest link in the plan (Maechling, 2000). Consequently, the attack plan was complex and it