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Incredible Original Photos Of The Aftermath Of The Pearl Harbor Attack

sflistteamhouse.com — The fellow who sent these received them from an old shipmate on the USS Quapaw ATF-110. ATF-11O. Interesting as he's never seen them anywhere else. I think they're spectacular. You must see them for yourself to see how astonishing these photos are.

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  • Eastlygod, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28They're pretty amazing. It just gives you a feel of the horror and devastation that people must have been feeling when it happened all those years ago. Good Digg.
  • paku, on 10/12/2007, -29/+3Japanese Mech's kick ***** ass!!
  • shadekeiko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Wow, those are truly impressive shots. I hope these photos will help encourage people to always remember Pearl Harbor and the people who lost their lives.
    • yongke, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1Na, we should instead be remembering last night's episode of Naruto and that cute Hello Kitty Customs on sale ;)

      /Sarcastic
    • ratsoid, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1did people die in PH? the U.S. knew about the attack...
  • Tackmandu, on 10/12/2007, -18/+0I forget, what year was it when things turned to color? Was that the 50's or 60's?
  • weegee, on 10/12/2007, -14/+9http://www.sflistteamhouse.com/Misc/Pearl%20Harbor/origin10.jpg

    There's no way that photograph is real, judging by the depth of field the aperture was pretty much wide open. The highlights of that explosion, judged by how murky the seamen in the foreground appear, would have been blown out.
    • iEnigma, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5It does look quite fake.
    • Jamfan16, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4There are definitely some fishy aspects to the pictures. Most of the photos have a very faint greyish-green and greyish-orange in the smoke and water. In other photos, either the smoke looks cartoony, or the explosions are almost too defined, just like weegee suggested.
    • Thumpster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g10000/g19948.jpg
      Original photo from the Navy archives.

      The version on this page has been edited to try to recover some of the blown out areas.
    • BAAAAD2749024, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2amazing photo but it does look wrong
      the middle is too sharp compared with the rest of the photo
  • Arkonnan, on 10/12/2007, -6/+18Cue tinfoil hat tards who believe the President had advance knowledge of the attack and allowed it to happen so the US would have an excuse to join the war.
    • AlphaEta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Christ Almighty man! Do you have ESP or something? You come along with this comment, then sure enough a couple of minutes later people start talking about how it wasn't a surprise attack. I've gotta say...I'm impressed!
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13It's not ESP.

      He's just been around Digg too long... sadly.
    • stonebear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I see you are getting into the spirit of the occasion with a pre-emptive strike. I hope you aren’t Japanese.
    • Silencer7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The 'surprise attack' story is, I am afraid, a very hard sell.
      http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/pearl/www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6315/pearl.html

      Excerpts:
      "# 5 Dec. - At a Cabinet meeting, Secretary of the Navy Knox said, "Well, you know Mr. President, we know where the Japanese fleet is?" "Yes, I know" said FDR. " I think we ought to tell everybody just how ticklish the situation is. We have information as Knox just mentioned...Well, you tell them what it is, Frank." Knox became very excited and said, "Well, we have very secret information that the Japanese fleet is out at sea. Our information is..." and then a scowling FDR cut him off. (Infamy, Toland, 1982, ch 14 sec 5)
      # 5 Dec. - Washington Star reporter Constantine Brown quotes a friend in his book The Coming of the Whirlwind p 291, "This is it! The Japs are ready to attack. We've broken their code, and we've read their ORDERS.""
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@silencer

      If your selected quotes are both accurate and all-encompassing of the situation, FDR made one of the most brilliant military decisions of the war.

      Meeting the Japanese fleet at that time was not going to put an immediate stop to the fighting. They still had dozens of islands to re-take in the pacific and being able to read the Japanese codes is INVALUABLE. It probably saved millions of lives in the Pacific. Both on our side and the Axis.

      At the best case, the Navy moved their carriers off on very believable missions that protected our MAJOR defense of the West coast of the USA. So, call it what you may. Surprise attack, Ignored warnings. It came down to one thing. We saved our major military assets for the long fight to come and we motivated the American public to do something about a war that WOULD eventually come to our shores.

      If Hitler and the Axis HAD won over and controlled all of EurAsia, where do you think they would come next? Also, how could we hope to beat the onslaught of two full CONTINENTS of materials and men?
    • mathmanjeffy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It's not an issue of whether or not the United States knew an attack was coming, it was an issue of whether or not the United States knew an attack was coming to Pearl Harbor.

      Pearl Harbor was ruled out fairly early by military strategists for various reasons. The two primary ones: it was too remote to hit with the short-range aircraft used at the time by the Japanese navy and the waters of Pearl Harbor were too shallow for traditional Japanese drop-torpedoes (torpedoes that were dropped by the aforementioned short range Japanese aircraft).

      There were message intercepts using the JN-25B/PURPLE cryptographs which stated a few things that would have made Pearl Harbor a much more likely target:

      1.) The Japanese were routing thousands of barrels of aircraft fuel to seemingly remote carriers in the mid-Pacific (these were for refueling the short-range Japanese aircraft).
      2.) The Japanese were modifying their dropped torpedoes with "wings" so that it would travel at much shallower depths than previously required.

      Unfortunately, due to the concentration on the German codes at the time, there was really only one permanent scientist/mathematician working on decoding the Japanese codes. Because we were not at war with Japan, most of the fluctuating team's focus was placed on the Japanese civilian codes used by trade ships in the South Pacific and the codes used by the Japanese diplomats in Washington. All this meant JN-25B was not adequately cracked until after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

      Quite simply, we knew an attack was coming but we didn't know where.

    • mathmanjeffy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3""This is it! The Japs are ready to attack. We've broken their code, and we've read their ORDERS."""

      This more than likely is with regards to orders from Japan to their diplomats in Washington. We had broken those codes with fairly good success. The messages sent to the diplomats were more along the lines of stall tactics and last-minute efforts to keep us out of the war long enough for the Japanese to be ready to respond to the US Fleet.

      The Japanese Navy was a very strong contender in the war basically until the Battle of Midway. The only problem Japan was truly having was supply problems, particularly with fuel oil. Delay was required for various reasons, but getting enough fuel to power all its ships and aircraft was one of them.
    • RRJackson, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Good lord. So now it's a good thing if FDR allowed a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor? Because it saved millions of lives in the Pacific and kept the USA from being invaded by Nazis? Priceless. Absolutely priceless. Germany, which is about the size of Montana, was going to conquer the continental United States?

      Heh...instead of partnering up with the Russians and the Chinese, we should have kept out of WWII and let Europe unite and become a protectionist nation. We'd have avoided a lengthy cold war with Russia. China wouldn't be the world superpower that it's become. The problems in the middle east would be contained in that region since no immigration to Europe would have been possible. France wouldn't be bursting into flames every night. 20 million people who died under Stalin would probably still be alive. And just like America has finally become disillusioned with Bush after 6 years, it wouldn't have taken long for Europe to become disillusioned with Hitler.
    • mathmanjeffy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3...
      Except "disillusionment" under Bush won't require a Civil War killing millions of more people in the process to get rid of him... There is infrastucture in place and, at the very least, 2 more years total that he can be a "threat to the world." No such infrastructure existed to any real intent under Nazi Germany. I would assume this would extend into "Nazi Europe" as well.
    • RRJackson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"Nazi Europe" would have been infinitely better than a Europe torn in half and living through decades of cold war with the Soviet Union. Eventually political reforms would have removed the Nazi party from power and left behind an united Europe.
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@RRJackson

      Tell that to everyone in Israel.

      Or better yet... tell that to any surviver of Auschwitz.
    • RRJackson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@thcobbs

      That's a nice card to play. "But we saved the Jews!" The common number thrown around is six million Jews who died during the war. Of course, by dividing up Europe with Russia we allowed around 20 million Russians to be killed as part of the Soviet ethnic cleansing program. We also killed about five million Germans in the process of winning the war. Yes, ethnic cleansing during the war was a mess, but a lot of people died as a result of that war. It wasn't just Jews.
    • RRJackson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2BTW, this is allegedly the political boundaries Germany had in mind.

      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6b/WorldMap12.JPG

      Red areas belonging to Germany, Green areas to Italy, Blue areas to Britain, and yellow areas belonging to Japan. It's a pity it didn't work out that way.
    • IanRReardon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@RRJackson

      Yea a Nazi Europe with the extermination of the jews and other ethnic races. That would of been WAY better then a non violent war. Idiot.
    • RRJackson, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@IanRReardon

      You're going to have to hip me to this concept of a "non violent war"...'cause WWII was pretty damn violent, if any of the history I was taught about the war is even remotely close to reality.

      Ethnic cleansing is a mess, but it's not like it's unique to Nazi Germany. Turkey has been carrying out an ethnic cleansing program against their Kurds for years and the United States has been bankrolling the program. Not only that, but we hired the guy in charge of it as a consultant because of his experience with urban pacification of an insurgent minority group. We've tacitly financed or encouraged ethnic cleansing in dozens of countries. It's not pretty, but it's human nature. Except in the case of WWII. In that case we turned on our European relatives and teamed up with Chinese and Russian factions that would never have our back. We left Europe in ruins and crippled for decades while Chinese communism and Soviet totalitarianism ran roughshod over millions of people.
  • iOsiris, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Its amazing how much of an advantage of a first strike has
    • sundancekid503, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Seems like in this case it had the advantage of really pissing everyone off...
    • Cl1mh4224rd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Yeah, I wouldn't really call two nukes to the face an advantage for the Japanese... :-/
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1well, the two nukes came much later, and we didn't have them at the time.


      If the Pacifists of the era had their way, we would have surrendered right there to Japan.
    • RRJackson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@thcobbs

      Heh...yeah, 'cause getting hit on some remote Pacific island was enough to send "the pacifists" running into a cave. This stuff is hilarious. Hawaii didn't even become a state until 1959. Most people had no idea where it was in '41. It would be like hearing that Tutuila had been attacked. "They've bombed Tutuila! We should surrender!" It was an American naval outpost from the days of the big battleships when you had to maintain ports all over the world where you could refuel and rearm. It was of strategic value only if you planned to carry out a campaign in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It isn't like the Japanese invaded California.
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@RRJackson

      Yes, it would be.
  • chriskzoo, on 10/12/2007, -18/+8***** Japs! - just for nostalgia sake.
    • stottsinator, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Just like my grandpa would have put it --- with out the f word.
    • kazuhima, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5@chriskzoo

      im half japanese. ***** you dude.
    • thcobbs, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1And I'm 100% American Imigrant...

      ***** you.

      Seriously, people need to stop being offended and start being knowledgeable.
    • kazuhima, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@thcobbs

      k, that totally doesnt make sense and doesnt justify him bringing that word up >_>;

      when some dude uses the n-bomb in a digg comment, people complain about it. so i dont see why i cant complain about it without having some guy like you stopping me.
  • 1111, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23real photographs, inaccurate description says snopes
    http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/pearlharbor.asp
    • Azewaldo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Good ole Snopes to the rescue! Great for dispelling inaccurate stuff like this.
  • Dankness, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Imagine the feeling of knowing something massive was going to go down. At the same time having not the slightest clue as to when. This day was a, now familiar, example of mis-communication between agencies. Luckily there has only been a few honest mistakes in American history, outside the blunders, that have lead to such disasters.

    Good reminders of an event near forgotten.
  • RomeyRome, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2Never forget...

    Oh wait...Wrong event.

    I kid, I kid
  • andrewry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Absolutely amazing pictures of great quality.

    It was a great tragedy in our history, but we never gave up.
  • avihappy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The 9/11 of its day.
    • ldavid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2yep human beings are horrible.
    • ikiryou, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I couldn't go so far as to say it was akin to 9/11. Pearl Harbor was a military target, after all.
    • polyGone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Still accomplishes the same thing.
  • donquixote235, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5Great pictures, but buried as inaccurate. See the accompanying Snopes article for my reasoning:

    http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/pearlharbor.asp
  • SpeKopuZ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3awesome pictures ;)
  • wssharp, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0back when things were so simple..
  • binarysleeper, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Surely the proper Tinfoil hat brigade would be hinting that Churchill knew about the imminent attack on Pearl (supposedly Bletchley was able to decipher Purple) and said nothing in the hopes that it would give the USA cassus belli.
  • Sp1k3d, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2False flag, like the attack on the USS Liberty, like Operation Northwoods, and like 9/11. People need to wake up and revolt against the fascists that keep them hostage. This isn't a Democrat vs. Republican issue, this is an elite vs. preliterate class issue, right now the elite are winning...
    • patentpending, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Oh my, I'm sorry, I accidentally dug your comment *up* instead of down. My apologies to the rest of the universe.
  • Shirk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That first pic looks like it was Google Earth'd on December 7th, 1941
  • BAAAAD2749024, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port.

    At a range of 230 miles north of Oahu, he launched a two-wave attack. Beginning at 6am his First wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers The second strike, launched at 7:15am, consisted of 167 aircraft,
  • xaxen8, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Wow I love these photos, really shows how powerful the Japanese attack actually was. They really stuck it to the American's on this one. I think the PWND tags applies? Eh...who's with me! Nice photos...i would have loved to have been there to take photo's myself. Sweet...love aftermath shots.
  • Cmdr, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/pearlharbor.asp
  • csnoke, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Photoshop.

  • pcwolf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0For photo attribution, try "Day of Infamy" Walter Lord(?), some of these shots are in there.
  • rampancy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Lest We Forget.
  • shyguy01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's a shame black and white was all they had, because some of those (like the fireball) would have looked spectacular in colour.
  • Makaveli, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Those photos are amazing indeed, 2000 dead,that ***** is whack.
    Surprise attacks are for pussies
  • bluenash, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1History should remember (it should but it doesn't) what happens when you piss America off.
  • pw1388, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1damn i never seen these pic and i live in hawaii. lol
  • ITDefPat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2one thing for sure - there are a bunch of uninformed idiots commenting on history that they have no idea about... let see if I can recall any of the moron statements

    "Nazi Europe" would have been infinitely better than a Europe torn in half and living through decades of cold war with the Soviet Union. Eventually political reforms would have removed the Nazi party from power and left behind an united Europe. [RRJ]
    !! unbeleiveable!! what idiot could come up with that statement (RRJ did)? How often have we seen evil empires suddenly turn good? around 0. ask anyone that lived under the Soviets, or E Gerrmany, or PR china. Nazi Germany as a catalyst for a unified Europe!??

    Or that Pearl harbor was tactically insignificant. NO, PH was the US force during that time. It was both the symbol and embodiment of US military power in the Pacific.

    Or the comment that the ships were purposely put in port to be targets by our own goverment or millitary. -Credits to someone above that actually quoted an acutally presidential record (Silencer?). But for ubeleivably unrealistic unknown reason, people are still inventing conspiracies. haven't you read anything non-fiction in the last 30 years or so. Even the TOP Secret records from that period have been published as well as several notable memoirs and biographies. Not much left for speculation or conspiracy theory except for novelists and nutcases.....

    Kudos for noting that the sneak attack might not have been the intent. The plan might have been hand letter declaring war, and by the way, bombs are schedule to fall in 15 minutes... Probably reasonable considering japanese military philosophy of the time. however, in reality and to the western ideal, not much of a difference...

    yes we had cracked the japanese codes thanks to the guys at Bletchley
    [side note off topic - I have visited Bletchley and it is being restored. There is a bletchley web site as well as a related site dedicated to Collossus the orginial super computer]
    But the Brits (which actually got Enigma from the Poles - there is a memorial at Bletchley) only really focused on the German codes. The US was supposed to work the Japanese codes. But the US military pretty much dropped the ball as noted above due to lack of priorities and being not at war with Japan.

    Remember, Pacific-big ocean. America was just coming out of pacificism and isolationism (ignore the world, we have two oceans to protect us). There was no intercontinental anything. Navies took weeks to reach the war "over there". Pearl harbor was the pearl. And the ships there were not antiquated. However, since US was so protectionistic, new modern warships werent being built, at least not quick enough. Again, just entirely false.
    I'd guess from the pictures that the fotos are battle damage assessment shots. Unlikely to be anywhere but naval archives or national archives. Not really normal news shots, so probably not published widely. Expecially since probably classified for 4 or 5 decades as well as being quite underwelming compared with what is in the books. Thanks to SNOPES!!
  • RRJackson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@ITDefPat

    "Evil Empires"...heh...are only as strong as the willingness of their populations to live under them. We aren't talking about China or Russia. We're talking about Europe. Europe, particularly western Europe, wouldn't have tolerated a dictatorship.

    It's worth pointing out that Hitler, as ***** insane as he might have been, was more protective of European interests than any major European leader of the last century. He was beyond xenophobic. He looked at the trade routes that had been established during the crusades as bringing an unwelcome middle-eastern element into Europe and he wanted to reverse that trend. That was really obvious with his treatment of Jews and gypsies, but it was also apparently one of the reasons he persecuted representatives of Christian religions as much as he did. It's been suggested that he saw Christianity as a middle-eastern religious philosophy that had trampled over native European history and philosophy. So, even though he was patently nuts, his dedication to a strong Europe was really beyond question. It's hard to see any of the real historical significance of those events now because we've all been indoctrinated to see WWII in simple terms of good vs. evil, which it really wasn't.
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