The Lake Norman Brief
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941: nine chaptered articles on the road to war, the carrier strike force, the warnings, Battleship Row, the airfields, the second wave, the fifteen Medals of Honor, the day of infamy and the raising of the fleet. Start with the interactive harbor atlas.
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Family of Spies: The Kuehns, the Japanese Consulate and the Signals before Pearl Harbor
A German family, a $14,000 package and a code of lights, sheets and radio ads: how Otto Kuehn worked for Japan’s Honolulu…
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The Road to Pearl Harbor: Oil, Embargo and Yamamoto’s Gamble
On 26 July 1941 Roosevelt froze Japan’s assets, cutting off oil to a nation that imported 37 million barrels a year; how…
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The Second Wave: Nevada’s Run, the Shaw and the Navy Yard
At 0840 on 7 December 1941 the battleship Nevada got underway alone; within the hour the second wave wrecked three destroyers, and…
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Fifteen Medals of Honor: Courage, Rescue and the Men Inside the Oklahoma
On 7 December 1941 fifteen Navy men earned the Medal of Honor at Pearl Harbor, ten posthumously, while Navy Yard workers cut…
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The Airfields: Wheeler, Hickam, Kaneohe, Ewa, Bellows and Ford Island
On 7 December 1941 Japanese aircraft struck every military airfield on Oahu within minutes of 0755; the Joint Committee counted 188 American…
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Raising the Fleet and the Reckoning: Salvage, Investigations and Memory
Of the 21 ships sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, 18 returned to service, while nine investigations ended…
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The Warnings That Did Not Land: the Ward, Opana and the Fourteen-Part Message
At 0645 on 7 December 1941 the destroyer Ward sank a midget submarine off Pearl Harbor, and at 0702 Opana radar found…
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The Kido Butai: Six Carriers and the Northern Route
On 26 November 1941 six Japanese carriers slipped out of Hitokappu Bay, crossed the North Pacific unseen, and on 7 December launched…
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A Date Which Will Live in Infamy: Hawaii, Washington and the Declarations of War
On 8 December 1941 Congress voted 82-0 and 388-1 for war with Japan. This chapter follows Hawaii under martial law, the Niihau…
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Battleship Row: The First Wave, 0755 to 0825
At about 0755 on 7 December 1941, Japanese torpedo planes and bombers struck Battleship Row; within half an hour Oklahoma had capsized…