Lost and recently developed photos of Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941

[Laufen zum Ziel]

A friend wwho knew that I was into WWII Naval Sims sent these to me.

There are to many to post on the forum so I have made them available at http://www.silent-hunter-addict.com/SHIV_PEARL_HARBOR.html for your view if desired. They are downloadable by copy/paste.

Enjoy...

Sample Photograph

[HW3]

Real photographs but, not lost and recently found. See this link http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/pearlharbor.asp

[Sailor Steve]

Yep, almost all of them are recognizable from magazines and books as far back as I can remember.

And the Snopes article also pointed out the obvious: some of them were taken from ships, some are aerial photos and some were taken from land. All by the same "sailor"?

[Laufen zum Ziel]

Sorry everyone. My friend led me to believe these were fairly new.

[Mopy]

Maybe not new, but I still 'enjoyed' them.

Thank you for posting

[KeybdFlyer]

And I notice that the accompanying text still perpetuates the myth that it was a "surprise" attack.

[Pacific_Ace]

Originally Posted by KeybdFlyer

And I notice that the accompanying text still perpetuates the myth that it was a "surprise" attack.

Yes it was a surprise attack. The Japanese embassy in Washington was supposed to have decoded a 14 part message containing a declaration of war and delivered it to us a few minutes prior to the scheduled time of attack. This did not happen and as a matter of fact the Japanese pilots in the attack force were greatly ashamed that the warning was not delivered in time as they actually considered the idea of a true sneak attack to be dishonorable.

Do not go around spouting crap like that about Pearl Harbor and most especially do NOT go around spouting it on a forum run by and frequented by many people with ties to the USN and US military in general. You will find yourself persona non grata in a hurry.

[KeybdFlyer]

Pacific Ace:

An implied threat to ostracize someone for not holding the same views as yourself hardly befits a citizen of a country that purports to extoll the virtues of free speech. Furthermore, I neither made nor implied anything derogatory towards any member of any of the armed forces; nor would I, as I admire greatly all who defend the freedoms of others. I apologise deeply for having offended your sensibilities but would suggest a perusal of some of the more recent accounts of the event, (a simple internet search will provide several), which might prove interesting to you.

[Captain Nemo]

I agree that it was a surprise attack to those at Pearl Harbour and the rest of the USA. However, I believe that America would have known about the Japanese attack in advance if their system of sorting intelligence information hadn't been so poor which led to the crucial pieces of intelligence being discarded. Although the attack on Pearl Harbour was a terrible tragedy, politically it worked in Franklin D. Roosevelt's favour in that it propelled Germany to declare war on the USA. A lot of conspiracy theories have suggested that FDR knew in advance that the Japanese attack was about to happen and did nothing so that the USA would be drawn in to the conflict taking place in Europe, I personally do not think that this was the case.

Nemo

[sharkbit]

There are some cool pictures. I've seen two or three of them as well when I was a kid, many seasons ago.
In fact, I was just looking through a souvenir book of my late father in law's that he picked up when he visited Pearl Harbor in the 70's and 3 of the pictures were in that.

Thanks for sharing though. It is always good to see different pictures.

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by Captain Nemo

lot of conspiracy theories have suggested that FDR knew in advance that the Japanese attack was about to happen and did nothing so that the USA would be drawn in to the conflict taking place in Europe

I've noticed that none of conspiracy theories ever explain Hitler's unexpected and inexplicable decision to declare war on the United States a few days later which was the event which really drew the US in the Second World War. In the terms of his pact with Japan he was under obligation to do so only if Japan was attacked first. Had he stayed neutral he would have had Roosevelt over a tricky political barrel trying to convince the US and Congress to join in a war in Europe after being attacked by a third party in the Pacific. Yes, Japan and Germany were technically allies, but a declaration of war by one didn't mean war with all. The Soviet Union was at war with Germany but stayed neutral with Japan until Germany was defeated.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by Pacific_Ace

Do not go around spouting crap like that about Pearl Harbor and most especially do NOT go around spouting it on a forum run by and frequented by many people with ties to the USN and US military in general. You will find yourself persona non grata in a hurry.

Actually Neal allows many different topics\different viewpoints to take place here at SUBSIM. Go to General Topics sometime and have a look at some of the threads.

As long as folks are respectful\civil in their posts and do not get personal with fellow members, then discussion is allowed to carry on.

[nikbear]

Originally Posted by Dread Knot

I've noticed that none of conspiracy theories ever explain Hitler's unexpected and inexplicable decision to declare war on the United States a few days later which was the event which really drew the US in the Second World War. In the terms of his pact with Japan he was under obligation to do so only if Japan was attacked first. Had he stayed neutral he would have had Roosevelt over a tricky political barrel trying to convince the US and Congress to join in a war in Europe after being attacked by a third party in the Pacific. Yes, Japan and Germany were technically allies, but a declaration of war by one didn't mean war with all. The Soviet Union was at war with Germany but stayed neutral with Japan until Germany was defeated.

From what I've read,many seem to think that Hitler declared war on the US because the Kriegsmarine had been waging undeclared war with the US for some time,and since the sinkings were high,Donitz theorised that a full declaration would allow them to really deal a killer blow to the convoy traffic.
Problem was that the sinkings were far over estimated by crews,and by Donitz himself,due to faulty intelligence and a desire to garner more commitment to a U-boat building program.
Not for the first time in the war,the Nazi's were to over reach themselves by believeing in they're own propaganda

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by nikbear

From what I've read,many seem to think that Hitler declared war on the US because the Kriegsmarine had been waging undeclared war with the US for some time,and since the sinkings were high,Donitz theorised that a full declaration would allow them to really deal a killer blow to the convoy traffic.
Problem was that the sinkings were far over estimated by crews,and by Donitz himself,due to faulty intelligence and a desire to garner more commitment to a U-boat building program.
Not for the first time in the war,the Nazi's were to over reach themselves by believeing in they're own propaganda

That's the reason why Hitler's unilateral declaration of war caught so many of his ministers by surprise. He had been astutely avoiding war up to that point with the US despite provocations and clashes with the US Navy. Had he held to that course it certainly would have created domestic problems in the US. Even with Hitler's declaration of war many US soldiers wondered why they were being shipped off to a war in Europe when the enemy that attacked then was Japan. Going by past experience with tangling with the U-Boats a declaration of war by Hitler was certainly not something Roosevelt could have counted on in letting a Pearl Harbor 'happen'.

[Pacific_Ace]

Originally Posted by KeybdFlyer

Pacific Ace:

An implied threat to ostracize someone for not holding the same views as yourself hardly befits a citizen of a country that purports to extoll the virtues of free speech. Furthermore, I neither made nor implied anything derogatory towards any member of any of the armed forces; nor would I, as I admire greatly all who defend the freedoms of others. I apologise deeply for having offended your sensibilities but would suggest a perusal of some of the more recent accounts of the event, (a simple internet search will provide several), which might prove interesting to you.

Accepted. I dont have the will or the power to ostracize anyone from here and I apologize for giving the impression. Im simply pointing out you are treading on a very sacred subject in implying there was some sort of high level conspiracy involved. Every last piece of the historical record we have from that era has been gone over looking for that, and there is not even the implication of one.
I'm not interested in half baked internet garbage theories. Those same people will tell you that on 9/11 the towers were brought down by planted explosives because steel has a higher melting point than Jet A fuel burns at. They cant bend their little pointed brains around the concept that any metal will begin to weaken well below its actual melting point.