Pearl Harbor

From Free net encyclopedia

For the 1941 attack, see Attack on Pearl Harbor.

For other uses, see Pearl Harbor (disambiguation).

Pearl Harbor is a simple embayment on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep water naval base: headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. It was the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941 that brought the United States into World War II.

1 Early history of Pearl Harbor
2 Pearl Harbor after December 7, 1941
3 Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard
- 3.1 Luke Field
4 Films and books
5 External links

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Early history of Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor was originally an extensive, shallow embayment called Wai Momi (meaning "water of pearl") or Pu‘uloa by the Hawaiians. Pu‘uloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess Ka‘ahupahau and her brother, Kahi‘uka. The harbor was teeming with pearl-producing oysters until the late 1800's.

In the years following the arrival of Captain James Cook, Pearl Harbor was not considered a suitable port due to shallow water. The United States of America and the Hawaiian Kingdom signed the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 as Supplemented by Convention on December 6, 1884 and ratified in 1887. On January 20, 1887, the United States Senate allowed the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base (the US took possession on November 9 that year). As a result, Hawaii obtained exclusive rights to allow Hawaiian sugar to enter the United States duty free. The Spanish-American War of 1898 and the desire for the United States to have a permanent presence in the Pacific both contributed to the decision to annex Hawai‘i.

After annexation, Pearl Harbor was refitted to allow for more navy ships. In 1908 the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard was established. In 1917, Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor was purchased for joint Army and Navy use in the development of military aviation in the Pacific.

As Japanese influence increased in the Pacific, the US increased the US Navy's presence as well. With tensions rising between the United States and Japan in 1940, the US began training operations at the base. The attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941 brought the United States into World War II. Image:Pearl Harbor aerial.jpg

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Pearl Harbor after December 7, 1941

Related article: Attack on Pearl Harbor.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, planes and midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy began a surprise attack on the US under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. This attack brought the United States into World War II. At 6:00 a.m. on December 7th the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 181 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive-bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters. The Japanese hit American ships and military installations at 7:53 a.m.. They attacked military airfields at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. Overall, twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific fleet were damaged and the death toll reached 2,400.

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Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard

Established as the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard in 1908, this former coaling station has grown to play a central role in maintaining the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet. It is the largest naval repair facility in the broad expanse of the Pacific between the west coast of the United States and the Far East. The Shipyard was heavily involved in repairing the Pacific Fleet following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Its dry docks and machine shops service virtually all types of naval craft from submarines (including the Los Angeles class) up to aircraft carriers. The Shipyard is Hawaii's largest industrial employer today, with more than four thousand civilian workers and around eight hundred uniformed personnel.

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Luke Field

Luke Field is a section of Naval housing on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, adjacent to the USS Utah Memorial. Luke Field recently expanded in the late 1990s, once the Admiral Clarey Bridge was opened.

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Films and books

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Fiction

The Final Countdown is a movie set around Pearl Harbor, in which the nuclear aircraft carrier, USS Nimitz, from 1980 is time-warped back to December 6, 1941, one day before the attack on the base.
From Here to Eternity by James Jones. The attack on Pearl Harbor plays a crucial role for Robert E. Lee Prewitt.
In an episode of Freakazoid!, the hero goes back to 1941 and prevents the attack from happening.

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'Historical' fiction

Tora! Tora! Tora! is a movie about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Many consider this to be the most faithful movie re-telling of the attack as it deals with many aspects of the battle with attention to historical fact. The movie's re-enactment of the attack lasts almost as long as the original event.
Pearl Harbor is the title of a 2001 film about the 1941 attack. The film is billed as a love story rather than an accurate portrayal of the event.

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Alternate History

Days of Infamy is a novel by Harry Turtledove in which the Japanese attack on Hawaii is not limited to a strike on Pearl Harbor, but is instead a full-scale invasion and eventual occupation after U.S. forces are driven off the islands (something that one of the key planners of the attack, Commander Minoru Genda wanted but the higher ups rejected). The many viewpoint characters (a Turtledove trademark) are drawn from Hawaiian civilians (both white and Japanese) as well as soldiers and sailors from both Japan and the U.S.A. Turtledove has to date written one sequel, The End of the Beginning.

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