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A Breaking Dawn
A Breaking Dawn
0345 Hours
Aboard the carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu, the aircrew of the First Wave man their planes and start engines.
The Plan for the First Wave
Impressed by the success of the night attack on Taranto, Yamamoto pushed Genda to revise his attack plan after news of Fleet Problem XXII reached him from intelligence sources. The older four carriers all have air groups trained in night flying. A torpedo attack just before nautical twilight is possible. There will be sufficient darkness to reduce visibility for anti-aircraft gunners, while all reports are that Hawaii has not instituted black out procedures so the towns and cities on Oahu will be brightly lit and indeed reports are that the fleet base is still lit up at night. The ships being targeted will be back lit by harbor lights, and their size will make them obvious, standing out from the shadows. The biggest difficulty will be avoiding crashing into the harbor waters if the approach is misjudged, or hitting a crane or another ship. To reduce the chances of that, a special mission will attack the aviation storage facility on Ford Island which will create flames that will bounce enough glare off the water to give the pilots something to orient themselves with. It will also provide some extra illumination of Battleship Row. Between that and the first bit of daylight, the pilots should be able to see their targets and the water, while the lights on buildings should enable them to avoid those obstructions.
While the practice exercises did result in the lost of several aircraft and crews, by the time the fleet sailed the handpicked crews for the torpedo attack mission are ready. Genda and Murata (commander of the torpedo attack force) both feel that operational losses and losses to flak will be far less than attacking in daylight against an alerted fleet, which they feel is the most likely result. The only potential flaw is that if the Americans decide to install torpedo nets. As of the time the plan was drawn up and practiced, the Americans still had not done that, and indeed up to the last report on December 3 the intelligence reports are that they still have not done so. However, the Americans do frequently have auxiliary vessel alongside one of the battleships. The answer to that is to set the torpedo depth so that run below the draft of most of the American auxiliaries, 25 feet or so, and have them run at 32 feet (the draft of the American battleships run at 35-40 feet). The other option is to instruct the pilots to aim for the parts of the battleships not screened by the auxiliaries, such as the Vestal which is frequently anchored near one of the battleships conducting repairs.
(authors note: 1 torpedo ran underneath the Vestal and impacted on the Arizona, so the Japanese did indeed solve this problem in OTL).
Another problem is avoiding detection for as long as possible. While flying directly across the island would be relatively simple in terms of navigation, a better option would be to avoid preventable discovery. To do that requires navigation check points, and as it will still be dark for the duration of the approach, rally points for the final attack run. Two submarines are assigned the mission of surfacing off the western and southern coast of Oahu and to turn on a low power radio signal that will be brief enough that the Americans are unlikely to determine its location or purpose before the mission parameters are met. They will also turn on a search light aimed at the sky for 2 minutes to provide a visual cue for the aircraft. Yamamoto feels that both submarines will likely be destroyed but losing two submarines in exchange for serious damage to the American fleet is considered worth the cost.
The final rally points will be over Pearl City and Honolulu (depending on the group) which will likely still be showing lights in the early twilight. From there the torpedo planes will make their attack runs on the ships of Carrier Row, the 110 Dock, and Battleship Row.
First Wave takes flight
At 0405, the first planes take off, in spite of heavy seas and an overcast sky. One plane, the number 3 plane lifting off from the Kaga piloted by Shigeharu Sugaya is caught by a large wave that breaks over the bow of the Kaga as he takes off, and he and is two other aircrew are the first Japanese deaths in the Pacific War against the United States at 0406 hours.
The aircraft begin making their way in groups of threes, still using their running lights for the first hour of the flight. Their first check point is the destroyer Arare, 130 miles north of Oahu, which has its running lights on for 15 minutes before departing the area at its best speed to rejoin the fleet.
Pearl Harbor 0400- 0600 hours
Meanwhile, Admiral Richardson is still not done deploying his fleet. He orders the Utah moved up alongside the California, and orders the Oglala moved to East Loch as the possibility of Japanese submarines laying mines off the harbor entrance cannot be precluded and he wants Pacific Fleet Mine Force, Admiral Furlong and his ships ready to take action to once daylight makes operations practical. The destroyer Selfridge is ordered to move alongside the Oklahoma and to remain at ready status to reinforce the Blue, Helm and Ward should it be necessary, and the remaining destroyers of the fleet are to prepare to sortie once daylight begins.
At Ford Island, Lieutenant Commander Logan Ramsey is modifying the daily patrol plane and orders are sent to all patrol aircraft to be armed with depth charges or bombs and to attack suspected submarine contacts. A fleet message is sent to American submarines to remain submerged for the first few hours of daylight to avoid accidental attack by American aircraft, particularly Army planes who are less skilled in ship identification than Navy aircrew.
At the air defense command center, General McConnell is in command and has placed his pursuit squadrons and army anti-aircraft gun crews on alert. Even if the Navy is wrong, and whatever happened to the Gamble was an isolated incident or simply a submarine attack and not a prelude to an air attack, a full scale alert will be valuable practice.
At Wheeler Field, 2nd Lieutenant “Gabby” Gabreski of the 45th Pursuit Squadron is helping his mechanics make sure that the proper ammunition load is aboard his P-36 Hawk, while at Haleiwa Field Lieutenants Kenneth Taylor and George Welch of the 47th Pursuit are running similar checks on their P40B Warhawks. All three pilots are about to have a very big day.
Over the Pacific, a flight of 11 B17E Flying Fortress bombers are en route to Hickam Field under the command of Major Truman Landon receives a message to be prepared to land at Hilo if so directed. A final message will be sent at 0630 hours to allow them sufficient fuel for that alteration to their flight plan. However the music being broadcast by CBS Radio station KGMB continues to play to aid the aircraft in their navigation. It is also a useful navigation tool for the Japanese bombers already flying toward the island of Oahu.
The first light of dawn
At 0554 Hours, the USS Ward and USS Helm both pick up sonar contacts near the harbor entrance and the Helm moves into attack position. The target, a Japanese special attack midget submarine is trying to make its way to the entrance of the harbor.
The first shots of the Battle of Pearl Harbor are about to begin.....