Don Underwood, age 13, of Dover, Del., for his question:
HOW WAS PEARL HARBOR NAMED?
Pearl Harbor is one of the largest and best naval anchorages in the world. It is located in Hawaii, about five miles west of Honolulu on the southern coast of Oahu Island. It was a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese forces on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, that forced the United States into World War II.
Pearl Harbor was named for the pearl oysters that once grew in the area.
The habor is formed by two mouths of the narrow Pearl Stream. About 10 square miles of navigable water can be found in three lochs, or nearly landlocked lakes. As you enter the harbor, West Loch is on the left while East loch is on the right. Between these large bodies of water is Middle Loch.
Covering about 22,000 acres of space, Pearl Harbor Naval Base is the hub of United States naval power in the Pacific Ocean. Most of the Navy's major commands in the Pacific have headquarters at this base.
Centering activities at Pearl Harbor Naval Base is the Pacific Fleet and its fleet marine, service and submarine forces= an anti submarine warfare force; Fleet Air Hawaii; Fourteenth Naval District: a Navy shipyard; supply center; and an ammunition storage depot.
Pearl Harbor also supports the operations of the Seventh Fleet.
In 1887, King Kalakaua of Hawaii gave the United States the right to develop a coaling station at Pearl Harbor. The Navy made its first attempt to deepen the channel through the reef outside the harbor in 1902.
The first drydock was completed in Pearl Harbor in 1919.
On December 7, 1941, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo of Japan led a 33 ship striking force that steamed under the cover of darkness to within 200 miles north of Pearl Harbor. His carriers launched about 360 airplanes that attacked the Pacific Fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor.
In October of 1941, history now shows, the Japanese made plans to bomb Pearl Harbor and invade Thailand, the Malay peninsula and the Philippines. While Japanese ambassadors were still negotiating with the United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull in Washington, D.C.,, the Japanese fleet secretly steamed toward Hawaii.
At 7:55 a.m. on December 7, 1941 (Hawaii time), the first bombs were dropped. The 360 planes attacked ships at the naval base and army aircraft at Hickam Field and other nearby military installations.
Fortunately for the United states, no aircraft carriers were tied up at the base during the attack. But when the assault ended nearly two hours later, the Pacific Fleet had lost eight battleships, three light cruisers, three destroyers and four other vessels.
The attack also destroyed about 170 U.S. planes. Relatively undamaged were naval repair facilities, the submarine base and fuel oil storage facilities.
The attack on Pearl Harbr produced about 3,700 casualties.
"Remember Pearl Harbor!" became the rallying cry for the United States in World War II.