On December 7, 1941, U.S. naval and military bases at Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii were attacked by Japanese Naval and Air Forces. The next day, Congress declared war, sending the U.S. headlong into World War II. But was the United States virtually at war before the attack?
Neutrality Zone: Although hostilities were taking place in Asia since 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria, World War II is generally accepted as having begun on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. At that point in time, Britain and France declared war on Germany. It would be eight more months before hostilities began on what became the Western Front, but during that time there was a substantial amount of hostile activity at sea. In response to Britain and France’s declaration of war, President Roosevelt declared U.S. Neutrality and established a Neutrality Zone off U.S. shores that extended from the coast of New England down to the windward and leeward islands of the Caribbean Sea. In this zone U.S. Naval and Air Forces were given the task of monitoring all activity at sea involving ships of the warring nations. A short time later at the Conference of Foreign Ministers of the American Republics in Panama, the Neutrality Zone was extended to the southern tip of South America and to approximately 300 miles off shore on both eastern and western coastlines all the way down the continent. At this point, U.S. naval communications in the Neutrality Zone were encrypted, and records of operations were destroyed to prevent any news of the activities reaching the media.
Two years later in 1941, the activity of German U-boats picked up closer to and sometimes included entry into the Neutrality Zone. Roosevelt agreed to allow U.S. Navy warships to escort convoys as far as Iceland on August 9, 1941. On September 4, 1941, the U.S.S. Greer battled a German submarine that threatened merchant shipping off the coast of Iceland. One week later on September 11, Roosevelt declared that Axis ships entering the Neutrality Zone did so at their own risk—the so-called “Shoot on Sight” order.
Despite the precautions, there were several incidents involving U.S. ships, planes, and personnel with belligerent nations that drew notice, but did not provoke the U.S. population into war.
U.S.S. Panay: A U.S. Navy river gunboat assigned to the Yangtze River Patrol in China, the Panay was ordered to protect lives and property of U.S. citizens in the area in December, 1937, after the fighting between Japan and China escalated and reached Nanking. The Panay evacuated the remaining Americans from Nanking on December 11, 1937. The next morning the ship was bombed and strafed by Japanese Naval Air Forces despite warnings given that U.S. ships were operating in the area, and the Panay had U.S. flags painted on the decks. The Panay sank in the middle of the river with the loss of four sailors and an Italian reporter. Forty-eight of the remaining sixty-nine crew members and passengers were wounded. There was a major diplomatic outrage as a result of the attack, but the Japanese commanders insisted that their pilots did not see the flags. Nonetheless, the Japanese government issued an official apology and paid an indemnity of over $2,200,000.
U.S.S. Niblack: A U.S. Navy Gleaves-class destroyer, the Niblack was assigned to the Neutrality Zone during the Iceland campaign in 1940. On April 10, 1941, the Niblack was picking up survivors from a Dutch freighter that had been sunk by torpedoes, when a German submarine was spotted. The Niblack attacked the submarine with depth charges to no avail. This incident constituted the first engagement of the U.S. Navy with German U-boats.
U.S.S. Greer: A U.S. Navy 4-stack destroyer, the Greer became the first U.S. Navy ship to be attacked by a German ship, three months before the U.S. officially entered World War II. The Greer was assigned to the Neutrality Patrol of U.S. Navy vessels that worked in Caribbean and Nova Scotian waters. On September 4, 1941, a German submarine fired a torpedo at the Greer, but missed. The Greer retaliated by dropping depth charges at the submarine. The news caused a furor in the U.S. media, as it was reported that the Greer attacked the submarine without provocation and was being aided by British aircraft. It was later confirmed that the Greer only attacked the submarine after the torpedo missed.
U.S.S. Kearny: A U.S. Navy Gleaves-class destroyer, the Kearny was the first U.S. Navy ship to be hit by a torpedo fired by a German submarine. The Kearny was docked in U.S. occupied Iceland on October 16 when a German U-boat wolfpack attacked a nearby British convoy overwhelming its Canadian escorts. Ordered into the action, the Kearny dropped depth charges on the attacking submarines throughout the night until it was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine. The damage was confined by the crew, and the Kearny made it back to Iceland for repairs. Eleven sailors were killed and another twenty-two were wounded.
U.S.S. Reuben James: A U.S. Navy 4-stack destroyer, the Reuben James was named after a sailor in the First Barbary War. On October 31, 1941, over five weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Reuben James was torpedoed by a German submarine while on convoy duty in the North Atlantic. The Rueben James was screening an ammunition-carrying cargo ship and also attacking submarines with depth charges when it was hit by a torpedo that was intended for the ammunition ship. The forward magazine exploded, and the ship sank in five minutes. Only forty-four survivors out of a crew of 100 were rescued. The ship was not flying the U.S. Flag at the time.
Other Incidents Involving U.S. Ships, Planes, or Personnel:
On February 22, 1932, a U.S. Army Air Force pilot was killed in an aerial action by Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft while attempting to deliver an airplane to the Chinese Republic.
On August 24, 1938, the Kweilin, a Douglas DC-2 passenger airliner, was shot down by Japanese air forces over China. The Kweilin was owned by China National Aviation Corporation, but operated under contract with Pan American Airlines and piloted by an American aviator. This act constituted the first passenger airliner shot down by warplanes from a belligerent country.
On September 3, 1939, the S.S. Athenia was the first British ocean liner to be sunk by a German submarine just days after Britain declared war on Germany. Twenty-eight Americans were killed.
On May 21, 1941, the S.S. Robin Moor, a U.S. Registered cargo steamship, was enroute to South Africa with a cargo of consumer goods when it was stopped by a German submarine whose captain determined that the cargo was destined for a port of one of Germany’s enemies. After allowing the crew and passengers to disembark, the Robin Moor was torpedoed and then shelled by the submarine until it sank.
On September 14, 1941, the Northland, a U.S. Coast Guard gunboat, destroyed a German weather station in northeast Greenland. This action came as a result of an agreement with the Danish government to patrol the waters off of Greenland.
On December 7, 1941, the U.S.S Ward, a navy destroyer, was patrolling off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, before the Japanese attack, and spotted a Japanese submarine trying to penetrate Pearl Harbor’s security zone. The Ward fired two shells at the submarine scoring a hit at the water line, and then dropped depth charges that sank the submarine in 1200 feet of water.
Conclusions: President Roosevelt had to walk a tightrope through all these naval and air incidents as the population of the U.S. was overwhelmingly opposed to entry into the war in Europe. Further, he was keenly aware that the U.S. military was grossly unprepared for entering a foreign conflict as it was ranked number nineteen in the world order. When France capitulated in mid-1940, Roosevelt ordered a peacetime draft to bolster the armed forces, and began a campaign of building up an arms industry that could take as much as four years to complete. He was careful not to let any of the aforementioned incidents set forth a series of events that would spiral out of control and push the U.S. into a war it was not ready for.
Sources: Wikipedia.
All of that activity, yet we were surprised by the on December 7. Hard to understand.
The events of December 7 are best documented by the film “Tora, Tora, Tora” that was written and made in a documentary format. It still amazes me as to what all went on before we were whacked that day.