Chapter 2 - The Great Carrier War

(Part 4)

A Wave of Japanese Successes

Encouraged by the success of the British carrier aircraft attack on the Italian base at Taranto, and as part of the Japanese plan of expansion in the Pacific, Admiral Yamamoto dispatched a task force consisting of his six best carriers -- Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku -- to attack the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Before sunrise on December 7, 1941, over 350 fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers launched from the Japanese carriers. Their attack started at about 7:50 a.m. The first wave of attacking planes hit airbases around the island of Oahu to destroy the American air defenses. The planes then continued on to Pearl Harbor to attack the mighty battleship fleet that lay at anchor. Within two hours, they had sunk or seriously damaged 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, 4 other ships, and destroyed over 250 land-based aircraft. American casualties included over 2,400 killed and 1,200 wounded. The surprise of the Japanese attack was so complete that only 29 Japanese planes were lost.

The Akagi and . . .

. . . Kaga were among the six Japanese carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor

The only positive aspects of the Japanese attack were that the American carriers were all at sea and escaped destruction and that the Japanese had also failed to destroy the fuel depots at Pearl Harbor. The USS Saratoga was on the West Coast for repairs and the USS Enterprise and USS Lexington were ferrying aircraft to the Marine garrison on Midway Island. The USS Enterprise was only 200 miles away from the Japanese fleet at the time of the attack, and one of her patrol planes was the first American casualty of the attack. Shortly after the attack, Admiral Chester Nimitz was placed in charge of the Pacific Fleet, an action which was later regarded as an important factor in the eventual American victory in the Pacific.

After its initial success at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese carrier fleet mounted other attacks in the Pacific which led to the Japanese capture of Wake Island, Guam, the Gilbert Islands, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. On December 10th, Japanese planes torpedoed and sank the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and cruiser HMS Repulse off the eash coast of Malaya. After capturing Singapore, the Japanese moved south to take the oil fields of the Dutch East Indies, defeating a combined American/British/Dutch/Australian fleet. Although most of the engagements in this wave of victory was conducted by surface ships, aircraft from four Japanese carriers participated. On February 18, 1942, the Japanese attacked Port Darwin, sinking eight ships and destroying 18 aircraft, against a loss of only two planes. Among the Allied ships lost during this period was the USS Langley, the first American aircraft carrier, which was bombed while ferrying P-40 Warhawks to an Army base on Java.

Japan next set its sights on Ceylon and the coast of India, where oil supplies from the Persian Gulf to Royal Navy elements in the Pacific could be cut off. The British assembled a task force consisting of the battleship HMS Warspite, four World War I battleships, and the carriers HMS Indomitable, HMS Formidable, and HMS Hermes. The Japanese sent a task force of five carriers, and four battleships to attack the British at Colombo, Ceylon. On April 5, 1942, 315 aircraft from the Japanese carriers attacked the British base, but the ships of the British task force had already been withdrawn to Adalu Atoll, 600 miles to the south. The British mounted a counter-attack against the Japanese task force, but were defeated by a mass of Japanese carrier aircraft. Eighty dive bombers attacked and sank the cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire. The HMS Hermes was also found and sunk near Ceylon. The Japanese now controlled the entire Western Pacific, from Hawaii to Ceylon.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003