Forgotten Pages: The Second Raid on Pearl Harbor
It all started with an article in TWZ back in December 2021—the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I read it with surprise, and then, as often happens, one thing led to another, and this is what happened.
Everyone knows about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, which plunged the United States into World War II. The infamy of the event ensured its widespread notoriety. The consequences of the raid were, at first glance, staggering: all eight battleships of the Pacific Fleet were attacked. fleetTwo of them were destroyed, and the rest were put out of action for varying periods. In addition to the equipment losses, more than 2400 Americans were killed. But it wasn't enough.
Japan continued its conquest of Asia, hoping that the weakened American Pacific Fleet would be unable to stop it. However, it quickly became clear that the actual damage inflicted on the naval base at Pearl Harbor was not that significant. Although 21 ships in total were damaged to varying degrees, the vast majority could be repaired. This process was facilitated by the fact that the shipyards and maintenance facilities at the base remained virtually intact. Fuel supplies were also preserved, and most importantly, the Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers were not hit.
Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the first wave of aircraft and is famous for ordering his planes to attack and later transmitting the "Tora, Tora, Tora" signal to the carriers, signifying the attack was unexpected and there was no resistance, became a national hero in Japan and was granted an audience with the Emperor. After the war, he converted to Christianity and traveled extensively throughout Europe and the United States. Eventually, surprisingly, he even settled in the United States, although he never became a naturalized citizen. And, of course, he spoke extensively about his life during the war and wrote several books, both independently and with co-authors, such as "I Led the Attack on Pearl Harbor" and "Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan."
According to him, when the first wave of aircraft returned to the carriers, he remained circling over the harbor to assess the damage and returned to the carrier with the second wave. While observing the target, he realized that the port infrastructure, docks, workshops, and fuel storage facilities had suffered little damage. Upon returning, he practically begged Admiral Nagumo to launch a third attack, this time focusing on land-based targets. This statement is disputed by many historians, and some even believe that Fuchida deliberately exaggerated the extent of the damage to Pearl Harbor in his report to the Emperor. In any case, the Japanese command apparently realized without him that they had failed to prevent the American fleet from interfering with the Japanese conquest of Asia.
The wrecked destroyers USS Downes and USS Cassin dock at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The USS Pennsylvania occupies the rest of the drydock.
Less than three months later, Japan launched a follow-up raid on Pearl Harbor, which is much less well-known. This air raid was dubbed "Operation K," in contrast to the December 7 attack, which was called "Operation Z."
The purpose of this attack was to disrupt recovery and maintenance work, as well as to gather intelligence on the overall situation at Pearl Harbor.
While Operation Z involved several Japanese aircraft carriers and submarines, Operation K involved far fewer forces. The aircraft chosen was the Kawanishi H8K, which the Americans named Emily.
Kawanishi H8K at Kanoya Museum, Japan.
A little about the plane
In July 1938, the Kawanishi company received a contract to develop a naval flying boat with a top speed of 440 km/h, a cruising speed of 330 km/h, and a range of up to 8200 km. The navy already had the H6K floatplane, but its 4700 km range didn't quite satisfy the admirals. To achieve the required range, the designers installed eight small, unsealed wing fuel tanks and six large, hull-mounted tanks. The fuselage tanks were equipped with an inert gas pressurization system and were partially self-sealing. Furthermore, if a tank was damaged, fuel leaking into the fuselage could be refilled into an undamaged tank. The total fuel system capacity reached 17,040 liters. The crew had good armor protection and defensive armament: three 20-mm Type 99 cannons and five 7,7-mm Type 92 machine guns. The engines were 1530-horsepower Mitsubishi MK4A, 14-cylinder air-cooled stars.
The first H8K1 prototype was completed on December 31, 1940, and its maiden flight took place the following January. During high-speed taxiing and takeoff, the aircraft proved extremely unstable, and soon after pitching up, spray began to drench the propellers and rise above the wing. The H8K1 prototype was immediately returned to the factory. There, the lower fuselage contours were modified and an additional chine was added, after which the aircraft was immediately returned for testing. Although water handling was still worse than that of the H6K, it was noticeably improved overall, and other performance characteristics were significantly improved.
In late 1941, after conducting military trials, the navy authorized serial production of the aircraft under the designation "Naval Flying Boat Type 2, Model 11 H8K1." Production H8K1 aircraft were equipped with Mitsubishi MK4A or MK4B engines. Armament consisted of two 20-mm cannons, one each in the nose and tail turrets, and four 7,7-mm Type 92 machine guns. The aircraft could carry two 800-kg torpedoes or eight 250-kg bombs, as well as depth charges.
July 1944. This photo was taken from a Consolidated PB4Y-1 patrol aircraft, which was actually a navalized B-24 Liberator. A few seconds later, the PB4Y-1 shot down an H8K.
With its enormous range and 2000-kilogram bomb load, it was deemed the ideal platform for the Pearl Harbor raid. The raid was planned to coincide with a full moon to illuminate the target area, but the actual date would depend on calm weather conditions for refueling the aircraft.
The route was planned to be 8400 km long, which was a lot even for the Emily, so a refueling point was chosen 900 km from Hawaii, and a submarine was stationed along the route, serving as a radio beacon.
The Japanese command was hoping for surprise, and the flight was to be conducted without fighter escort—how else could it be done at such a great distance? If successful, more similar raids were planned, and if they had succeeded, the Battle of Midway could have turned out very differently.
Although initial plans called for five H8K aircraft to participate in the operation, only two were ultimately available for the mission. On March 4, 1942, the flying boats took off from their base on Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Note: Wotje Atoll actually consists of 75 small islands surrounded by a coral reef. Since the 1930s, it has housed a Japanese naval base. aviation, garrison of about 3 thousand people, coastal artillery and systems DefenseAfter 1942, the island was frequently subjected to air raids and naval shelling, and when the Americans occupied Kwajalein, all supply routes were cut off. By the end of the war, only 1200 men remained of the garrison.
The atoll currently has a population of about 800 people, and it looks like this:
The group's leader was Lieutenant Hisao Hashizume, and Ensign Shosuke Sasao was its wingman. Each flying boat was armed with four 250-kilogram bombs, which were to be dropped on Dock 10-10 in Pearl Harbor. The dock was so named because of its size (1010 feet long). Remarkably, this was the very first time the aircraft had ever been used in combat.
The flying boats were supposed to make their first stop for refueling at the French Frigate Shoals atoll.
Note: The unusual name "French Frigate Shoal" was given to this atoll by the French explorer La Pérouse during his circumnavigation of the globe. In good weather and calm seas, his sailors were able to spot the signs of the shoal in time; otherwise, his voyage would likely have ended there.
It's the largest atoll of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, located approximately 1900 miles from Wotje Atoll and 560 miles northwest of Honolulu. This is what it looks like now:
Formally belonging to the United States, it was uninhabited and unvisited, and so, during the initial stages of the war, it was used by the Japanese Navy as an anchorage. Submarines were dispatched here in advance to act as refueling vessels.
I-15 on sea trials. One of these submarines was supposed to refuel a flying boat.
A little about the boats participating in Operation K and providing the flight:
I-15 was the lead boat in a series of Type B1 aircraft carriers, later known simply as "Type I-15s." They carried a light Yokosuka E14Y aircraft, a hangar, and a catapult. I-15, I-19, I-23, I-26, and a boat from a completely different series, I-9, participated in Operation K. Before leaving, the 15th, 19th, and 26th boats left their aircraft at base and crammed six tanks of aviation gasoline into their hangars. I-15 and I-19 refueled the aircraft, while I-26 cruised at sea in reserve. I-9 was positioned midway between Wotier Atoll and French Frigate Shoals and served as a radio beacon for the aircraft. I-23 was to patrol south of Hawaii, reporting weather reports and being ready to launch rescue operations if necessary (this part of the plan failed).
So the planes refueled, and when darkness fell, they took off and headed toward Oahu. As with the December 7 attack, American codebreakers knew the Japanese were planning some kind of refueling operation on the atoll. And, as with the Pearl Harbor raid, this intelligence was ignored.
The Japanese also lacked intelligence. They could intercept and read American weather reports, which would have helped them find a window of clear weather over Pearl Harbor, but on March 1, the code was changed, and weather information for the Honolulu area became unavailable. Submarine I-23 failed to respond. The flight continued, hoping for clear skies based on weather data from the French Frigate Shoals atoll.
Despite the American intelligence oversight, the flying boats were detected by two American radar stations approximately 200 miles from Hawaii. P-40 fighters were scrambled to intercept them, and Catalina flying boats were dispatched to search for the Japanese carriers. However, the intruders, concealed in the darkness and thick clouds, managed to slip through the defenses and appeared over Oahu early in the morning of March 4 at an altitude of approximately 5000 meters.
Night and bad weather provided some protection for the Japanese aircraft, but also confused the pilots. Lieutenant Hashizume, using the Kaena Point lighthouse as his base, decided to attack from the north. However, Sasao ignored Hashizume's orders and instead turned to skirt the southern coast of Oahu. Moonlight was of little help in finding the target, and after the December attack, a blackout had been instituted in Hawaii, making everything dependent largely on precise calculations.
Hashizume never saw Pearl Harbor, and his bombs fell on the slope of Mount Tantalus, an extinct volcano approximately 300 meters from Roosevelt High School, creating craters 2-3 meters deep and 6-9 meters wide. Damage was limited to broken windows. The precise location of Sasao's bombs remains unclear. Since there were no explosions on the shore, historians speculate that Sasao ultimately dropped his bombs into the ocean, either off the coast of Waianae or near the naval approach to Pearl Harbor.
After dropping their bombs, the two flying boats flew southwest toward the Marshall Islands. Sasao, as planned, returned to its base on Wotje Atoll. Hashizume suffered hull damage during landing at French Frigate Shoals, so it flew back to its home base on Jaluit Atoll, also in the Marshall Islands. This made it the longest combat sortie to date.
If we consider the raid from the standpoint of the very possibility of carrying out something similar over a vast distance and returning unscathed, then the mission was accomplished. The Japanese used it for propaganda purposes, reporting the significant damage inflicted on Pearl Harbor and the numerous American casualties. The military result, however, was nil. In fact, the mission had the exact opposite effect to that expected.
Rather than put an end to the US Navy's plans to rebuild the Pacific Fleet, the raid alerted the Americans to the continuing threat to Hawaii. Although the Japanese aircraft were not intercepted, the command recalled the intelligence warning and, combining it with radar data, pinpointed the approximate location of their refueling. From then on, one of the destroyers patrolled the atolls constantly to monitor Japanese activity. On the eve of the attack on Midway, the submarine I-123 was dispatched to the area, discovering minefields around the atoll and two warships at anchor. Ironically, because the atoll was inaccessible for reconnaissance operations, the Japanese fleet was deprived of crucial intelligence before the attack on Midway that might have warned them that the American carriers were ready and waiting.
Then the situation gradually began to change. Just over a month later, 16 B-25 bombers took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, striking several Japanese cities on the Japanese mainland. With this, the United States signaled its readiness and ability to take the war to the heart of Japan.
A little about the participants
On March 10, six days after the raid on Pearl Harbor, Lieutenant Hashizume flew to Midway Atoll on a purely daylight reconnaissance mission. His aircraft was again detected by radar, and this time he was unlucky, shot down by Brewster F2A-3 Buffalo fighters from VMF-211 of the U.S. Marine Corps. The entire crew of 11 was killed.
Only 167 H8K flying boats of various modifications were built, performing reconnaissance, transporting personnel and cargo, and, when equipped with radar, searching for submarines. American fighter pilots considered them among the most difficult targets.
By the end of the war, only four examples survived. One of them was taken to the United States and used for various tests before being returned to Japan in 1979. This particular aircraft is now housed in the museum.
As for the submarines, their fate was as follows:
I-15 was sunk by the destroyer USS Southard with all hands on December 10, 1942, while recharging batteries off Cape Recherche, San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands. She was unable to achieve any significant results.
I-19 had a field day. She scored one of the most successful torpedo salvos in storiesAll six torpedoes fired in a fan-shaped pattern hit their targets. The aircraft carrier Wasp and the destroyer O'Brien were sunk, and the battleship North Carolina was seriously damaged. She also claimed two merchant ships. But on November 25, 1943, 50 miles west of Makin Island (Kiribati), the destroyer USS Radford spotted her on the surface with her radar. The boat quickly submerged, but the destroyer finished her off with depth charges.
During her short life, I-23 launched several attacks on merchant ships and warships, but only damaged two. Operation K was the last mission the submarine participated in. On February 24, 1942, she sent a routine radiogram, after which she disappeared without a trace. What happened to her remains unknown to this day.
I-26 proved to be the most combat-ready of the group. It appears she was the war's first casualty: on December 7, 1941, just minutes after Japanese dive bombers descended on Pearl Harbor, she sank the merchant ship Cynthia Olson with gunfire (after firing a warning shot, the merchantman's crew abandoned ship). She subsequently completed nine combat patrols and was the third-most successful in the entire Japanese submarine fleet. She was responsible for the sinking of eight merchant ships, the light cruiser USS Juneau, and the damaged aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. In October 1944, the submarine departed on her final patrol, heading south of Luzon. No confirmation of her arrival was received, and her fate remains unknown. She was presumably sunk by destroyers during a failed attempt to attack the aircraft carrier USS Petrof Bay.
The I-9, a Type A1 class submarine, was much larger than the I-15 and also carried a light reconnaissance aircraft. She participated in the initial attack on Pearl Harbor, and on December 11, while approximately 700 miles northwest of Oahu, sank the transport SS Lahaina with gunfire, allowing the crew to disembark in lifeboats. She subsequently conducted six combat sorties, primarily engaged in reconnaissance and cargo transport. For a time, she was fortunate. For example, in August 1942, she managed to evade successive attacks by three American destroyers, supported by two aircraft from the carrier, suffering only minor damage. However, on June 13, 1943, her luck ran out. The submarine was on its second voyage to Kiska Island (Aleutian Islands), delivering supplies to the garrison. It was sailing in thick fog on the surface when the destroyer USS Frazier spotted it on radar. The submarine managed to submerge, but the destroyer attacked with depth charges and observed a large air bubble, debris, and an oil slick on the surface.
The story continued as it had.
That's all for now, thank you for your attention.
Sources:
H8K2 "Emily"
Flying Boats Flew Japan's Little-Known Follow-On Raid On Pearl Harbor
Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Submarines
FLYING BOATS, Volume 5 of WAR PLANS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, by William Green
The second attack on Pearl Harbor: Operation K and other Japanese attempts to bomb America in World War II, by Steve Horn
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