The Japanese approach to trying to get the U.S. to let them do as they please only came with one instance in which they would end up on top, and this was if the U.S. agreed to the Japanese demands. During an Imperial Conference held on July 2, 1941, the decision to attack the Western powers was confirmed and in early September, the Japanese Emperor declined to overrule the decision to go to war and thus the final authorization for war was given on December 1, 1941. By this time, Japanese Marshall Admiral Yamamoto’s Pearl Harbor attack force was already at sea. Yamamoto came up with the idea of including the Pearl Harbor attack into Japan’s war plans all by himself, and because the attack was very risky, it took great perseverance on his part to make it happen. Although he was the first to think of including Pearl Harbor in the attack during December 1941, others had considered attacking the American naval base long before World War II. As early as 1927, war strategies at the Japanese Navy War College included an examination of a raid against the Harbor. The following year, Captain Yamamoto gave a lecture on the same exact topic. By the time the U.S.'s Pacific Fleet was moved from the West Coast to Pearl Harbor in May 1940, Yamamoto was already thinking up ways in which he could execute such an operation. After an attack on Taranto in Italy, Yamamoto wrote in a letter to a fellow admiral that he had come to the conslusion to launch the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1940. His attack consisted of two waves. The first wave of the attack included 40 torpedo planes which were broken down into 2 groups. 16 of the planes would target two carriers that might be present, and the other planes 24 would be ordered to go after as many as six battleships in the harbor. 50 bombers carrying specially modified armor-piercing bombs were also assigned to attack the “Battleship Row” par of the harbor, where most of the battleships were stationed. In addition to all this, 54 dive bombers and the escorting fighters were ordered to attack the many airfields on Oahu. In all, there was to be 189 aircraft used in the first wave. of the attack. The second wave consisted of 171 Japanese aircraft. Again, they were divided into groups as 81 dive bombers were the main portion of this group and were given orders to finish the destruction of any carriers present, and if possible, to attack any cruisers that were in the area. The relatively small bombs carried by the dive-bombers were unable to penetrate the battleship armor that some vessels were equipped with, so the second wave was relying on those from the first wave to have already inflicted maximum damage on the heavier armored ships. The rest of the second wave aircraft, which included 54 bombers, was told to destroy American planes on and around Oahu in order to prevent any retaliation attacks on the Japanese carriers.
The History Reader. "Yamamoto and the Planning for Pearl Harbor." The History Reader. Last modified January 1, 2015. Accessed May 17, 2015. http://www.thehistoryreader.com/modern-history/yamamoto-planning-pearl-harbor/