12/7/41 0745 AM – North of Pearl – The American Fleet

At 0745 the two hundred seventy Japanese planes were spotted inbound by the combat air patrol. The American carriers commenced launching their remaining planes, fighters first. Meanwhile Japanese fighters spotted the American CAP. The Japanese flight leader dispatched half of his sixty fighters to engage them at a distance from the bombers. The American fighters would be outnumbered three to two in their first fight. The remaining Japanese fighters would stay with the bombers and would only engage fighters that attacked the formation. The Japanese fighters made a head on pass on the American CAP knocking two American fighters out of the battle with serious damage. Both were able to return safely to the carriers. The Americans held fire during this pass but the action by the Japanese freed the Americans to return fire. Although Americans were outnumbered in the fight during the action they scored twenty five kills against the inbound bogies at a cost of only ten of their own number. It would be one of the few actions of the day which could even remotely be called an American victory. The remaining eleven American fighters attacked the Japanese bombers as some of the other fighters which had been launched began engaging the enemy. Thirty more Japanese planes went down, all but five of them fighters, seemingly a victory but the American CAP had been reduced to twenty three fighters, with all of them scattered and out of position to put up a coordinated fight. The Japanese flight had started with sixty fighters and one hundred eighty bombers. There were now twenty seven Japanese fighters in the air and one hundred seventy five bombers were still proceeding toward the carrier fleet. The Japanese fighter pilots had taken serious losses but it was not a vain sacrifice. They had prevented a slaughter of the bombers. Planes carrying heavy explosives were still headed to the American Carriers. The leaders of the bombing squadrons began parceling out the ships as they approached. The carriers were given highest priority but the other ships were also targeted. At 0759 the first bomb was released. It was targeted for the cruiser Astoria which was on the western edge of the fleet. The pilot’s aim was off, the mission for him was a failure, his bomb missed astern and did no damage.

The American Air fleet had been launched and without the fighter cover it headed west toward the Japanese fleet. The fighters couldn’t be spared to go with them, they were held to protect the fleet.

By now the anti-aircraft batteries on all of the ships in the carrier fleet were firing at the inbound Japanese bombers. The air attack took just under fifteen minutes. By the time it was completed, the Sara and the Lex were both burning as were five of the cruisers. One of the destroyers had literally blown up and sunk in less than a minute. Four other destroyers were damaged, two of them were in danger of sinking. Just after the first fighter attack the Enterprise turned away from the main fleet to recover damaged CAP fighters and was attacked by only one Japanese plane. It’s bomb missed and it was shot down by a fighter as it retired.

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World War II – a Novel Chapter One

World War II 9

World War II – A Novel Chapter 11