What Made the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor So Devastating?-- Part 2

Torpedo planes coordinated their assault with aircraft carrying Type 99 anti-ship bombs, which were converted artillery shells.  When dropped from an attitude, the streamlined projectiles could pierce  steel armor, penetrate through a ship's decks, and explode.

One such bomb caused the  massive fatal explosion on the USS Arizona, killing 1,177 servicemen in seconds.

To strike targets further inland,  dive bombers carried the Type 98 general-purpose bomb, wreaking havoc on airfields, structures, vehicles and parked aircraft.

--GreGen

Wreckage of USS Lexington Found-- Part 3: In Remarkable Condition

The wreck was found and investigated by an underwater drone.  Videos taken of the "Lady Lex" shows anti-aircraft guns and some of its 35 aircraft, including Douglas TBD Devastator Torpedo bombers and Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters.

The vessel and aircraft appear to be in remarkably good condition considering how many years it has been sunk.

One aircraft has a cartoon Felix the Cat emblem and four small Japanese flag decals, indicating kills.The Battle of the Coral Sea helped save Australia from a full-scale Japanese invasion.

Paul Allen has also found the wrecks of the  HMS Hood and Japanese super battleship Musashi along with the American destroyer USS Ward, the first ship to make contact with a Japanese mini submarine at Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941.

--GreGen

Navy Pilot Sought and Destroyed Submarines

From the February 6, 2012, Canton (Ohio) Rep "World War II Then and Now: Navy pilot sought and destroyed enemy submarines" by Gary Brown.

MARVIN BLAIR FISHER was a 26-year-old graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and enlisted in the Navy a month before Pearl Harbor. He already had his private pilot's license.

He flew a torpedo bomber off aircraft carriers in the Pacific after getting his Navy Wings July 20, 1942 and flew off several carriers, including the USS Saratofga, before it was sunk.

His job was to protect the fleet and especially its aircraft carriers. Otherwise, he had nowhere to land. He dropped torpedoes and bombs and went after Japanese submarines. "We dropped a lot of depth charges" as well, he said. (Most often I regard depth charges as being dropped by surface ships.)

He added that once, "I actually saw two kamihaze planes hit each other before they could hit their target."

A problem faced by the crews of torpedo bombers was their slow speed and another was that they had to fly a straight course during attacks, making them easy targets: "They were huge planes...we were sitting ducks when we went that slow. And, you can't maneuver well with the load we carried." He recalls meeting Joe Kennedy, JFK's older brother, before he was killed.

Not All Fun and Games. --GreGen