In September 1941, the commander of the Japanese Naval Combined Fleet, Isoroku Yamamoto, proposed a battle plan code-named "Z", preparing to use naval carrier-based aircraft to raid the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet, eliminate the threat to Japan, and ensure the smooth capture of the Philippines, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies.
The Japanese Navy's joint combat fleet consists of 6 aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Wyryu, Shōzuru, and Mizuzuru, as well as 2 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 9 destroyers, 3 large submarines, and 8 oil tankers, with a total of 31 ships and 432 carrier-based aircraft. Nanyun led 6 aircraft carriers to form a commando team, and Mikawa led 2 battleships and 2 heavy cruisers to form a support team. Beginning in September, the Japanese Naval Aviation Corps conducted intense bombing and low-altitude torpedo training in Kagoshima, which is similar to the terrain of the combat area, and the well developed a special shallow water torpedo for the water depth of Pearl Harbor at a depth of only 12 meters.
On 5 November, Yamamoto announced to the fleet that Japan would go to war against Britain, the United States, and the Netherlands in early December. On 22 November, the Assault Fleet assembled at Shanguan Bay on The Islands of The Kuril Islands. On November 25, Yamamoto ordered commandos to march toward Hawaii along the remote northern route. After 12 days, sailing 6,667 kilometers, refueling four times in the middle, and adopting strict radio silence, at 4:30 a.m. on December 7, it successfully reached the scheduled sea area 370 kilometers north of Pearl Harbor. At 5:30 a.m., the fleet sent 2 seaplanes for pre-war reconnaissance. At 6:00 a.m., the fleet aviation commander, Lieutenant Colonel Michio Fuchida, led the first wave of 183 aircraft from the mothership and flew toward Oahu, the seat of Pearl Harbor. The fleet consisted of 49 horizontal bombers, 40 torpedo bombers, 51 dive bombers and 43 Zero fighters. The U.S. military radar station on the island detected a large formation of aircraft approaching in the north and immediately reported it to the alert center. The officer on duty, Lieutenant Taylor, mistakenly believed that the B-17 fleet had been transferred from California, replied that there was no need to worry. At 7:49, the first wave began to attack. Dive bombers dive from 4000 meters to 1500 meters to attack airfields and air stations; Torpedo bombers attacked warships at low altitudes of 15 to 30 meters in two groups; Horizontal bombers were then followed by single aircraft at a height of 4,000 meters, and once again attacked warships, and fighters were also thrown into attacking ground targets. The attack ended at 8:40 a.m. During the powerful Japanese offensive, almost all heavy bombers and fighters at Ford, Hickam, and Wheeler on Oahu were blown up. The second wave of 170 aircraft, led by Lieutenant Colonel Shimazaki, with 54 horizontal bombers, 80 dive bombers, and 36 Zero fighters, took off at 7:15 a.m. and began attacking at 8:54 p.m. Torpedo planes and high-altitude bombers attacked battleships such as the California, arizona, and Tennessee. The ARIZONA was hit by 5 bombs, one of which went through the foredeck into the fuel storage compartment, causing a fire. 1600 pounds of black explosives stored in the rear compartment exploded and triggered hundreds of tons of smokeless gunpowder in the front compartment. The Arizona erupted like a volcano, almost jumping out of the water and splitting in half. After only 9 minutes, the huge 32,600-ton warship was buried on the seabed, and more than 1,500 officers and men on board did not survive. The Nevada was hit by a torpedo on the starboard side, a bomb was hit on the rear deck, and the bow immediately sank. The officers and men on the ship abandoned the ship and jumped into the sea to escape, and most of them died tragically in the fire. The attack ended at 9:45.
At about 10 o'clock in the first wave and around 12 o'clock in the second wave, the Japanese fighters returned to the mothership one after another. A total of 353 aircraft took part in the assault, another 35 took cover over the fleet, and 40 served as reserves. The air raid lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes, dropping 50 torpedoes and 556 bombs. The U.S. military in port 8 battleships 4 sunk 4 wounded, 4 cruisers 1 sunk 3 wounded, 3 destroyers 2 sunk 1 wounded, auxiliary ships destroyed 8. Of the 370 aircraft stationed on the island, 188 were destroyed and 63 were injured, accounting for 70 per cent. There were 2,403 dead and 1,178 wounded. The Japanese aircraft lost a total of 29 aircraft and killed 25 people; 2 horizontal bombers treked into the sea. The Japanese also sank 1 large submarine, 4 small submarines, and another small submarine was captured on the reef.
Due to the lack of vigilance against the Japanese sneak attack, only a small number of personnel in the US airfield and port were on routine combat duty, and the ammunition of the anti-aircraft gun positions was locked in the central ammunition warehouse. Three-quarters of the 780 anti-aircraft machine guns on the ships in Pearl Harbor were unattended, and only four of the Army's 31 anti-aircraft guns were on the ground. When the air raid began, the US ships could not move, the planes could not take off, and the communication command was interrupted, and there was chaos. The anti-aircraft guns on the island were only hastily fired 5 minutes after the start of the air raid, and more than 30 US planes took off to meet the battle 20 minutes later, but because of the haste to fight, they were either destroyed or shot down by their own anti-aircraft guns, and almost all of them were martyred. The three US aircraft carriers did not return to the open sea without loss. At 9:45 a.m., Fuchida circled Pearl Harbor on a plane to photograph the sinking battleships and three heavily wounded cruisers, as well as all the Bombed American planes and airfields. Then, a telegram was sent to Yamamoto Isoroku: "My surprise attack was successful." Within 2 hours, the Japanese Navy seized the initiative in the western Pacific, leaving the U.S. Pacific Fleet unable to fight for nearly half a year. After the Japanese fleet returned to the mothership, Fuchida and others suggested another attack to completely destroy the remaining targets on Oahu. However, Nanyun believes that the attack has reached the expected purpose, and another attack will inevitably increase the loss. At 1:30 p.m., the fleet was ordered to return along its original route and return to Japan on 24 December.