1917: Four US battleships, USS Delaware (BB-28), USS Florida (BB-30), New York (BB-34), and USS Wyoming (BB-32) arrives in British waters and join the British Grand Fleet in service during World War I. 1941: The destroyer USS Ward spots and sinks a Japanese minisub, firing the first US shots in World War II. Having achieved total tactical and strategic surprise, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor begins. The attack is conducted in two waves: The first wave of 183 enemy aircraft strikes just before 8:00 a.m. The second wave of 170 planes hits a little after 8:30 a.m. Of the ships anchored at Pearl Harbor, five of the eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were either sunk or severely damaged. By day’s end, 2,718 American sailors, 582 soldiers (including Army Air Forces personnel), 178 Marines, and 103 civilians will be dead, dying or wounded. Japanese losses were minimal: 30 planes, five minisubs, 65 killed, and one Japanese sailor captured. All but two of the battleships - the Arizona and Oklahoma - are raised to fight again. Admiral Hara Tadaichi would say, "We won a great tactical victory at Pearl Harbor and thereby lost the war." Meanwhile, Japanese forces bomb Guam and Wake as destroyers and planes attack Midway. 1942: The USS New Jersey, the largest battleship ever built, is launched. 1943: The Fifth Army secures the Mignano Gap in Italy. 1944: The Third Army crosses the Siegfried Line at Saarlautern. In the Pacific, the 77th Division lands at Ormoc in the Philippines as one of the escort destroyers, USS Ward (the same ship that sunk the midget submarine three years ago at Pearl Harbor), is sunk by kamikaze attacks. Nearby, the USS Mahan is also sunk by kamikaze attacks. 1950: Air Force cargo planes drop eight treadway bridge spans in the Funchilin Pass, enabling the First Marine Division to cross the most difficult natural obstacle on their breakout of the Chosin Reservoir. 1952: US Air Force F-86 Saber pilots shoot down seven of 32 enemy aircraft for the highest tally of the Korean War. 1959: America's first operational ballistic missile, the PGM-17 Thor, is successfully launched at Cape Canaveral, Fla. 1972: Apollo 17 launches for NASA's final lunar mission. Aboard are (Navy Capt.) Eugene A. Cernan, (Navy Capt.) Ronald E. Evans, and (civilian) Harrison H. Schmitt. Medal of Honor: 15 sailors earned the Medal of Honor during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Adapted (and abridged) in part from "This Week in US Military History" by W. Thomas Smith Jr. at Human Events.
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Dec 06 2011, 07:00 PM
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