Image of the Week: Pearl Harbor and the Fog of War

 

I follow a lot of naval history accounts, so this "Japanese map showing their assessment of the damage done to the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor" caught my interest. Let's talk about it.

It's dated December 8th, 1941. Note that Japan is on the other side of the International Date Line, so 8 AM on December 7 in Honolulu is 3 AM on December 8 in Tokyo. With that out of the way, let's take a look at the battleships. For each ship, they've tried to identify the class ("type") as well as the amount of damage inflicted.

Quick note on classes/types. Different nations use different methods to determine the lead ship in the class. So for example, the US called their FY 1917 battleships the Colorado-class, because that was the first ship ordered. But Britain's Jane's Fighting Ships listed it as the Maryland-class, because that was the first ship laid down. Not at all clear to me why Japan calls it the "West Virginia Type", given that that was the youngest battleship* in the class, but there it is. I'll be using the American designations and translating the Japanese designations appropriately. (So for example, the map says Battleship G is either "West Virginia Type or California Type" - I'll note that as Colorado-class or Tennessee-class.)

*Just for fun: West Virginia (laid down 1920, commissioned 1923) was the youngest battleship present. Nevada (laid down 1912, commissioned 1916) was the oldest battleship in active service present. USS Utah (laid down 1909, commissioned 1911) had been converted into both a target vessel and an anti-aircraft gunner training ship. The map's assessment of Utah's identification and sinking is correct, although the attack on Utah itself was a case of mistaken identity, with the attackers mistaking it for an active battleship. Utah does not count as a battleship as that term is used throughout this post.

Something else worth noting is that there were four classes of battleship present at Pearl Harbor, with each class represented by two ships. The Tennessee and Pennsylvania classes both had 12 14-inch guns in four triple turrets - they'd be distinguishable by the fact that the Tennesees had two funnels while the Pennsylvanias had only one (the Pennsylvanias also had their secondary battery in the upper hull instead of the superstructure, but that'd be harder to spot). The Nevadas had 10 14-inch guns (two twin and two triple turrets*), and the Colorados had 8 16-inch guns in four twin turrets. So one would be able to identify any battleship class present by counting the guns and funnels.

*The movie Tora Tora Tora goofs and gives Nevada's X turret three guns... but only for the set of that ship. The model accurately puts two guns in that turret. (This is because sets are more expensive than models, and one set had to portray both the Nevada and the Arizona.)

Battleship A: USS Nevada.
In real life: Nevada-class. Hit by six bombs and one torpedo. Beached; returned to service October 1942. 
Japan sez: Nevada-class. Attacked by eight bombs and one torpedo. Moderate damage. Accurately notes that she was the only battleship to get underway.
Score: Correct.

(To be honest I'm going to ignore the "+13" next to Nevada's A' position and the "+1" for the Pennsylvania (Battleship H). I'm not positive what those numbers are meant to convey.) 

Nevada beached at Hospital Point

Battleship B: USS Arizona
In real life: Pennsylvania-class. Hit by four bombs. Exploded; total loss.
Japan sez: Pennsylvania-class. Attacked by four bombs. Serious damage.
Score: Half credit. There's film of the explosion that killed this ship; it's hard for me to imagine how they could have missed that explosion, or thought that the damage wasn't fatal. Possible explanation: the chart incorrectly lists the repair ship USS Vestal, moored alongside Arizona, as having been destroyed. (Interestingly, Vestal was hit by two bombs, but the map only records one.)

The still-burning wreck of the Arizona, the day after the attack

Battleship C: USS Tennessee
In real life: Tennessee-class. Hit by two bombs. Returned to service February 1942.
Japan sez: Tennessee-class. Attacked by three bombs. Sunk.
Score: Half credit. Weird to me that they could have thought they'd sunk it, given that they did sink (and correctly noted that they'd sunk) the ship moored up alongside it. 

Battleship D: USS West Virginia
In real life: Colorado-class. Hit by two bombs and seven torpedoes. Sunk. Returned to service July 1944.
Japan sez: Colorado-class. Attacked by four bombs and nine torpedoes. Sunk.
Score: Correct.

Tennessee (left) and West Virginia after the attack. (The bent wreckage visible behind West Virginia is the Arizona.) Which of these ships looks sunk to you?

Battleship E: USS Maryland
In real life: Colorado-class. Hit by two bombs. Returned to service February 1942. (With 4 crew dead, including a floatplane pilot shot down, Maryland had the fewest casualties of any battleship present that day.)
Japan sez: Colorado-class. Attacked by fourteen bombs. Serious damage.
Score: Correct.

Battleship F: USS Oklahoma
In real life: Nevada-class. Hit by five torpedoes. Capsized; total loss.
Japan sez: Pennsylvania-class. Attacked by twelve torpedoes. Sunk.
Score: I guess it's hard to identify a ship when it's upside-down. 

L-R: Maryland, West Virginia (in background, sunk), Oklahoma (capsized). Tennessee would still be directly behind Maryland (with Arizona sunk behind it and West Virginia sunk beside it, Tennessee's not going anywhere until Maryland moves), obscured by smoke.

Battleship G: USS California
In real life: Tennessee-class. Hit by two bombs and two torpedoes. Sunk (eventually); returned to service January 1944.
Japan sez: Colorado or Tennessee-class. Attacked by five bombs and three torpedoes. Moderate damage.
Score: I'm not taking points off for them not hanging around for three days to watch her sink (the ship lost power and damage control parties were unable to fight the flooding). The map is dated December 7/8 and California didn't fully sink until December 10. I am curious as to how there was confusion as to her class, though, given that, again, she had three guns per turret and the Colorado-class had two.

Battleship H: USS Pennsylvania
In real life: Pennsylvania-class. Hit by one bomb and debris from the destroyer USS Cassin in front of it. Remained in service.
Japan sez: Nevada-class. Attacked by one bomb. Minor damage.
Score: Half credit; wrong class.

Destroyers USS Downes (L), USS Cassin, and battleship USS Pennsylvania

In total, of the 8 battleships, only three (Nevada, West Virginia, Maryland) had both their class and condition accurately assessed. A fourth (California) gets partial credit because they offered one correct and one incorrect guess as to her class, and she didn't sink until after the attackers had left. As for the remaining four, the Japanese misidentified two ships (Oklahoma and Pennsylvania), incorrectly reported the destruction of the Tennessee, and did not report the destruction of the Arizona.

In all, honestly kind of impressive when, for most of the action, your view would have looked like this.

Battleship Row is on the far side of the island. L-R: Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee (inside), West Virginia (outside), Maryland (inside), Oklahoma (outside), Neosho (oiler, angled), California. Pennsylvania's drydock is past the right-hand edge of the photo. Utah is on the near side, third from the left.

Bonus round:

How does that map comport with this chart from the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!

(The guy on the left is obscuring the Tennessee-class ships, of which they've reported - somehow - that they've sunk the California. See my commentary on Battleship G for why this is impossible; but also note that the map does incorrectly show the sinking of California's sister ship.)

To recap, the map indicates the sinking of three battleships: a Tennessee, a Colorado, and a Pennsylvania. The chart in the film indicates the sinking of six: a Tennessee, two Colorados, a Pennsylvania, and two Nevadas.* I had read elsewhere that the Japanese did erroneously believe they'd sunk the Maryland - the other Colorado listed as sunk here - although that's not reflected on the map above. And the film erroneously reports the sinking of the Nevada shortly before the sequence where the Japanese attempt to sink her in the channel before she can beach herself. (And this can't be explained away because not only is Nevada's sister ship Oklahoma correctly listed as sunk, but also the radioman explicitly says "Nevada" right before the guy on the right crosses it off.)

*I'm going off what the katakana say rather than the silhouettes. I know that elsewhere in the movie, for example, a prop that's meant to be a silhouette of the Akagi is actually that of an Essex-class carrier.

It is worth pointing out that, aside from the Maryland and the Nevada, the battleships listed as sunk here are in fact the ones that were sunk... but the cruiser section is all manner of wrong. (Among other things, apparently after being commissioned in 1943, the USS Boston traveled back in time to be sunk at Pearl Harbor...) And I get the artistic reasons for overcounting the number of battleships destroyed; the sea of red everywhere on the chart except for the aircraft carriers tells the story all by itself.

Devastation on Battleship Row as depicted in the film. Back row L-R: Maryland, Tennessee (obscured by smoke/explosions), Arizona (sunk). Front row L-R: Oklahoma (capsized), West Virginia (sunk), Nevada (under way). Not depicted: USS Vestal, which I believe would still be alongside Arizona aiding in rescue efforts at this point. Note that this scene comes after the chart scene above.