The USS Arizona during the attack
The Bombing of Pearl Harbor was what brought the United States of America into World War II. It was a surprise attack launched by Imperial Japan against the US Pacific Fleet which was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes. Japan had planned this attack for a year and a half, training for 14 hours a day. The first wave of the attack arrived on December 7th, 1941 at about 7:49 AM, Hawaiian time.
Pearl Harbor under attack
The war declaration was supposed to come half an hour before the attack, but communications were slow, and arrived after the US declared war on Japan. After the attack was over, about 2,403 US servicemen were killed, (around half of which were from the destruction of the USS Arizona) and 188 US Aircraft was destroyed, along with 53 civilians and about 64 Japanese servicemen, as well as one Japanese sailor captured.