At the noise of the explosions was followed by a period of terror and turmoil that spread throughout the island. Came fake news of Japanese landings mixed with other enemies of the real presence elsewhere in the Pacific. All available units were positioned on the beaches and built up barricades at strategic places.
The sentries fired on anything that moved and antiaircraft batteries knocked down dozens of their own aircraft.
Vessels Nagumo could retire to Japan without being disturbed, while the aircraft carrier Lexington and the American Enterprise, with their escorts, they sought the southern islands of Hawaii, misled by false information.
President Roosevelt was quick to suspend Admiral Edward Kimmel. On 21 December he was appointed to replace Admiral Chester Nimitz.
The day after the attack, President Roosevelt announced in Congress that the war was declared between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan
Germany and Italy also declared war on America. Thus, the conflict became global and took an unprecedented scale in history.
In the bay of Pearl Harbor had been semi-sunk the remains of 18 ships steaming. The loss of these units decisively tilted the balance of naval power in favor of Japan, at least in the statement of vessels by category. In fact, some parts were destroyed battleships obsolete and slow, unable to face the Japanese equivalent. By removing them from service, the Japanese Army forced the United States to rethink its tactics in favor of the naval task force of aircraft carriers.
During the following months, Japan has maintained the initiative, reinforcing their positions in the Pacific and fulfilling its expansion program in search of raw materials.Nevertheless, rapidly manifesting the great responsiveness of the United States. In April 1942, four months after the attack, the Americans would bomb Tokyo on May prevent the Japanese advance in the Coral Sea in June and would change the course of the war at Midway.
At the base of Pearl Harbor, the effort was focused on recovery to combat the greatest possible number of boats and men. The battleship Oklahoma retired 32 survivors, days after the attack. Others were not so lucky and died of starvation or lack of oxygen, trapped beneath the hull. Three sailors from West Virginia were found dead in a room next to a freshwater tank. Beside her, a calendar, had been scratched the day between 7 and 23 December.
Of the eight battleships severely damaged in the attack, three were ready to operate before the lapse of three months. Other three took over a year to incorporate into the fight. TheOklahoma, which was supported at the bottom and the keel up, was put afloat with great difficulty and did not fight in the Pacific. As for Arizona, the most damaged by the Japanese attack, it was thought initially to put it back to float, but soon abandoned the idea. Broken into several parts, lay half-buried in the mud in which he had been surprised by aircraft from Admiral Nagumo.
Great efforts were made to extract the remains of the armored bodies of 1177 men who had been trapped on board, but could only recover 75 bodies.
The english version of this article will be available soon. In the meanwhile, the text above was the result of a Google translation from portuguese version to english.
