History Hour

Pearl Harbor and the U.S. Navy in the Pacific

“December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.”

These immortal words spoken by President Franklin Roosevelt preceded the President’s request to Congress for a declaration of war against Japan. The Japanese strike at the base of the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor was only one part of an intricately planned and effectively executed offensive against Allied forces in the Pacific. Admiral Yamamoto, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, initially voiced his reluctance to initiating war with the United States. 

The United States began the Pacific War with just a few fleet carriers; by the time Japan surrendered in 1945, the United States boasted dozens of carriers, which included fleet carriers, light carriers and escort carriers. This program will feature a presentation of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the subsequent rapid growth of the U.S. Navy, the evolvement of carrier tactics in the U.S. Navy, and the battles and actions between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the U.S. Navy which occurred during the course of the Pacific War.

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