Near the shore, a Wickes-class destroyer, USS Ward, was getting ready for the day as the crew got onto duty. Just as their preparations were complete, they heard a transmission on their radio.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me? This is the minesweeper, Condor! Is anyone there?"

The ship's captain walked over and turned on the speaker.

"This is Captain Outerbridge of the USS Ward, over," the captain replied.

"We just spotted a periscope coming towards the island! It might be headed for the harbor!"

"USS Ward, over and out!" he said to the radio before turning it off and turning over to the crew. "There's no way the harbor is big enough for our submarines. I want extra lookouts for the sub. If we're expecting an attack, we better be prepared."

One of the lookouts beside the bridge looked through his binoculars to sight anything. So far, all he saw was the cargo ship, Antares entering the harbor.

Underneath the surface, another Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarine was trying to ease through some big net. It had some openings, which weren't big enough to let a whole submarine pass through, but they were big enough to let a midget sub like this one through.

"Easy does it," said the first man.

"I'm trying!" hushed the second man. "And... we made it!"

"Good!" smiled the first one. "Now just keep following that cargo ship until we get inside the harbor."

"Roger!" said the second one as he raised the sub just enough to rise the periscope.

However, their periscope was spotted by the Utah's lookouts.

"Periscope!" called the lookout, pointing in the direction before giving the binoculars to the captain and showed him where he saw it. He saw it immediately.

"All ahead slow!" called the captain. "Everyone, battle stations! Fire as soon as you see the periscope!"

Some sailors raced to the guns and aimed their guns at the periscope. Once they saw it on their aiming scope, they fired immediately. The sound of rapid-fire echoed in the atmosphere and the shells shot into the sea, hitting the conning tower and catching the two men's attention.

"We're being fired upon!" cried the first mate.

"Don't stop now! Just dive deeper! A little flak isn't enough to sink us down here!"

So, they did, lowering the periscope too. It wasn't long until the ship sailed over them. But the two-man crew had no idea that the Utah was set with metal barrels at the stern.

"Drop the depth charges!" called the captain.

Two men pulled a lever each, activating the rigging which dropped a few barrels into the sea, sinking instantly into the depths below, down towards the midget sub underneath.

The two-man crew inside the sub were keeping their eyes and ears out. They could no longer feel any gunfire. But the first man up front could see a barrel in front and his eyes widened in realization.

"DEPTH CHARGES!"

"What?!" asked the second man, alarmed.

KABOOOOOOOMMM!

The barrels exploded near the sub, tearing it to pieces and killing the two men instantly. On the surface, onboard the Utah, Outerbridge saw two big splashes several yards aft, knowing that's where their charges dropped before going towards the radio.

"Navy headquarters, Navy headquarters! This is Captain Outerbridge of the USS Ward! We have sunk a mini submarine trying to enter the harbor! We might be expecting an attack! Over!"

They had no idea that headquarters were having their own troubles with all the decoding.

At the military radar station in at Opana Point, Oahu, two operators were busy working. until one of them noticed something that looked like a bunch of planes coming.

"Elliot!"

"What is it, Lockard?"

"You might want to take a look at this!"

Elliot's eyes widened when he saw the huge target of planes on its way towards the island, way bigger than any normal target that these two men had seen before. To them, it looked like trouble.

"I don't like the looks of this," murmured Elliot.

At Fort Shafter, in Honolulu, half an hour later, a man was walking down the hall with another man.

"Lieutenant, Kermit Tyler, are you sure that those planes coming towards us are a bunch of B-17's?" he asked. "What will we do if they aren't?"

"Look, McDonald," replied Tyler. "Those planes were due to be here anyway. So, don't worry about it."

"But what if what Lockard says is true? What if they really are enemy planes? He's extremely worried and he believes you might want to call Wheeler field so they can take action."

"Then tell him not to worry about it," Tyler answered, losing his patience. "Because the only thing I know is that there are absolutely no enemy planes coming this way."

And Tyler left, leaving McDonald wondering what to do.

Lotte was just leaving home for school with her backpack and her lunch box when her mother came out.

"Did you get your lunch money, dear?" she asked.

"Of course, Mom," smiled Lotte. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure you don't want me to just drive you there?" her mother asked in a worried tone.

"I know my way around, Mom," guggled Lotte. "I'll be fine. I promise."

Well... if you say so," said her mother hesitantly. "Just... be careful, okay?"

"I will," said Lotte and she gave her mother a hug before she waved goodbye as she went off to school while her mother watching longingly, even after her daughter had disappeared.

The Japanese torpedo bombers were the first to reach the shores of Oahu and started flying around the coast towards their destination. There were only a few people near the beaches when they saw in confusion those military planes flying overhead. They weren't sure what they were here for or why. For the men in the planes, they all knew their main objective.

"Take position!" called the pilot in the leading plane on his radio.

The planes started flying past Julian Ave, over the houses where both Izetta and Finé were asleep. Izetta was the first to wake up when she heard a strange buzzing noise coming from above. She went to her window and opened it to look outside and see the planes flying by. They didn't look like the ones from their army. She also noticed Pearl Harbor ahead of them.

"They're heading towards the harbor," she thought.

Izetta was starting to get a very bad feeling deep down as she might've seen the leading plane let out a dark blue flare.

At the harbor, all the ships were moored and anchored together at Battleship Row while Pennsylvania and the destroyers, Cassin and Downes were all in drydock. All the while, sailors onboard were swabbing the decks and starting the morning days for the vessels. Men on the USS Nevada were dancing to a musical tune of "Morning Colors."

The USS Arizona was sitting moored by Ford Island. All the sailors inside were sound asleep in their bunks, including Jonas, while Captain Valkenburgh arrived on the bridge to see his crew ready.

"Good morning, everyone," he said to them. "Today's looking so sunny. Clear skies. I hope today's exercises go professionally."

"Without a hitch, sir," smiled his first mate.

"Good," replied Valkenburgh.

Meanwhile, the USS Oklahoma was sitting on Battleship Row. In the engine room, the engineers were working with polishing and cleaning the equipment down below. Muller came down below to check up on the progress of their work.

"How's it looking down there?" Muller called.

"Ship-shape!" called one of the engineers.

"Good!" said Muller. "We don't want any parts of her getting rusty. If we're lucky, we might have this ship running back home in no time."

On the bridge, Captain Bode was looking out at the sea one last time before he had to go onboard the Maryland, sitting right beside the Oklahoma. He turned to his Executive Officer.

"Commander Kenworthy," Bode said to him, "I'm putting you in charge of this ship for the time being."

"Yes, sir," replied Kenworthy before Bode left.

On the Florida-class ship, USS Utah, Hans Obermayer observed as some sailors were swabbing the deck with their mops, glad to see everyone was working to keep the ship in tip-top shape. As he watched, he heard a strange buzzing noise and looked to where the noise was coming from. He looked through his binoculars and saw something that made him puzzled before walking into the bridge where he found Commander Steele there, drinking coffee.

"Commander, there seems to be a bunch of planes coming in," said Hans.

"Planes? What kind, Hans?" asked Steele.

"Can't identify them, sir," Hans replied, giving him the binoculars.

Steele took the binoculars and looked out to where Hans pointed.

Some of the sailors cleaning the deck heard it too and looked up to find the planes coming.

"U.S. maneuvers?" asked one of them.

"I don't think so, Isquith," replied another. "They're not supposed to fly this low."

At that moment, the Japanese planes arrived at the harbor. The pilot in the leading plane made a chant, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" while his second man put it in code to the carriers.

Two planes saw their first target, the Oklahoma, moored right on battleship row! The pilots pressed the button, activating and dropping the torpedoes into the water. The wooden fins did the trick of keeping them up in the shallow water. Unfortunately, one missed, but two others were right on their target. When the sailors saw the torpedoes coming, they quickly moved back, just as the first one struck at the aft second and detonated seconds before the second one hit on the forward end!

Those explosions caught the attention of all the men standing on the decks of each ship and hurried call the whole crew on deck for battle.

Luckly, for the Oklahoma, the explosions tore out only the port anti-torpedo bulge, spilling out oil unfortunately. So, it didn't penetrate the hull, though the crew down below did feel the violent shaking but held on for dear life, including Muller. Kenworthy felt the shaking on the bridge and knew he had to take charge since the captain wasn't here. So, he quickly pulled out his intercom.

"Red alert! Red alert! All men on deck in battle stations! Hurry!"

All the men in their bunks quickly rose and rushed up the deck. There was no time to put on their uniforms, so they rushed out in their nightwear. They got on deck to see the planes flying overhead, realizing they were being attacked as zeroes flew by, firing the machine guns at them and raced to every weaponry they had such as rifles and the AA guns on deck. James Ward quickly went into one of the forward turret guns and took its helm.

"Load me up!" called James on his radio.

The men below loaded the shells into the turret guns before turning the turrets to take aim at them, firing.

Meanwhile, on the Arizona, Valkenburgh saw the planes flying by, seeing zeroes attacking the deck men and all other decks on the other ships before sounding the alarm, waking the men in their bunks. Jonas woke with a start as he heard the alarm.

"What the hell?" groaned Jonas.

"Battle stations! All men, battle stations!" announced Valkenburgh urgently.

Fully alert, the men quickly rose from their bunks and hurried towards the stairs.

Izetta saw the torpedo explosions and heard the gunfire from the distance and was horrified. She quickly raced into Finé's room to wake her up.

"Finé, Finé, wake up!" she cried loudly, shaking her as her friend stirred awake.

"Errg... Izetta?"

"The harbor's under attack!" Izetta exclaimed.

"What?" Finé asked.

Izetta pulled Finé out of bed and out the door so they both could see what was going on. At first, Finé was confused on why there were Japanese planes flying by until Izetta pointed in the direction where the attack was happening. Finé's eyes were widened in shock and horror.

"Oh my god!" she said quietly before speaking urgently. "There's gonna be a lot of hurt men out there. We gotta get to the hospitals and fast!"

Izetta nodded and they rushed down the street as fast as their legs could carry them.

Back on the Oklahoma, the men were still firing at the planes from all their guns. James was still trying his best to get a good shot at some of them still flying by. Not all were successful. One of them dropped a torpedo just as James had just taken aim at it and he was just about to fire the torpedo struck her, destroying the fuel bunkers ripping through the hull under the waterline, causing the lower quarters to flood rapidly.

The men down below quickly raced through the rising water to the door towards the boiler room where there should be a ladder to get out. But Muller was the first to notice the access hatch was badly warped by the explosion.

"This one's unusable! We have to try the other one! Hurry!" called Muller.

But there was worst to come as they began to feel the deck list to port. The men on the top deck could feel it too and so did the crew on the bridge.

Back on the Arizona, the crew begins to rush out on deck and see the situation before hurrying to their battle stations. But just as they did, Kate bombers started flying overhead.

The pilot inside one of them recognized the ship by their pictures and looking down their scopes before flipping the lever, opening a hatch underneath and dropping several bombs towards the ship.

One man was on the port gun when he noticed a large splash from further forward. Next, he felt a tremble as one landed on the aft deck after grazing a turret gun, and another as one grazed the main mast before hitting an anti-torpedo bulkhead.

On the USS Utah, the crew had already noticed the chaos and Steele had sounded the ship's alarm.

"All hands to bombing quarters! All hands to bombing quarters!" called Steele on the radio.

The crew had gotten to the deck just as some of the bombers flew down and caught sight of her from the port side. They looked on their pictures, but were expecting a carrier docked there.

"That's not a target," said the pilot.

"Well then, let's shoot at 1010 dock!" replied his second man.

Some of the planes flew elsewhere while six stayed behind, aimed at the Utah and launched their torpedoes at her.

Nobody had noticed the torpedoes until an explosion rocked the ship violently, followed by another rupturing the hull and causing seawater to cascade in the port boiler room, causing the ship to lean over at 15 degrees to the port, stopping because of the mooring lines tied at her berth, holding her in place. Hans had to grip onto the railing to hold on while Steele rushed to the radio.

"Chief Watertender Peter Tomich, what the hell's going on down there?!" called Steele.

"We're losing steam pressure fast, sir!" came a response. "We can't get the manual pumps on and there's lots of water pouring in! We can't hold her!"

Steele groaned in frustration before switching the channel to all the rooms in the vessel.

"All hands on deck and abandon ship, over starboard side."

The men down below panicking in the flooding chambers rushed to the ladders to reach topside or to the next room that wasn't flooded while Peter attempted to guide them safely.

On the forward deck, Isquith didn't like how the ship was angling one bit and felt sure that they were sinking.

"Isquith! Come on! We gotta go!" called on the of men.

And they raced to the starboard side as it was the only highest point of the deck at this point. As he grabbed onto the railing, Isquith noticed one of the ropes snap! This caused the ship to lean further over. Everyone, even Hans could already see that the ropes weren't going to last for long.

One of the torpedoes aimed at the Utah however missed and rammed into the cruiser beside her, USS Raleigh instead. The cruiser began to list to port.

"Stabilize her! Quickly!" cried the captain.

The crew threw many heavy things on the starboard side overboard, that did the trick.

Nearby, the hospital ship, USS Solace was moored at her dock while the crew were eating breakfast. Bianca was among them eating ham and eggs. When she had finished, she went outside onto the promenade deck, where she noticed the planes flying overhead before she met up with the ship's navigator.

"Lt. Gallagher. What exactly is happening here?" Bianca asked.

"Not sure," he answered as he passed by. "But I did see the Utah going through some drill with the way she slanted over a little."

Hearing this, Bianca rushed over to see the Utah and saw that she was indeed listing. But somehow, her thoughts about it were entirely different. To her, it was no drill. After seeing the planes, she could see this was something else!

Meanwhile, men on the Pennsylvania raced into action and engaged with the enemy planes while the men on the California tried to do the same when two plane bombers dropped one torpedo each and they both rolled into the California on the forward and aft ends in two explosions, damaging its torpedo bulkhead.

Back on the Arizona, another plane dropped more bombs towards the forward end, then another bomb fell on the deck. Captain Valkenburgh felt something too as a falling bomb cut through a forward turret gun.

Meanwhile, down below, Jonas held on tightly by the other shakes while he and a few others were trying to reach the forward ladders after seeing that the aft end was unusable because of a bomb striking there. Jonas might've seen cook trying to extinguish a small fire in the captain's pantry. He was almost there when he saw something cut through the deck many feet in front of him. Jonas looked down the hole, seeing that it went down deck by deck until it stopped in the magazine bunker!

"EVERYONE CLEAR!" cried Jonas as he and the other men rushed back the way they came just as everything happened at once.

KABOOM!

The bomb went off, igniting all the magazine in the bunker and making a Titanic explosion, shaking the ship violently as she lifted airborne and above the water, ripping the bow completely off, knocking the forward turrets and conning tower down, all of which killing dozens, including Valkenburgh, but blowing out a fire on the Vestal in the shockwave and showers as a huge fireball escaped from where the explosion happened.

While hurrying past the park down the road, Izetta and Finé heard the loud explosion and saw the huge explosion cloud coming from the Arizona. They thought it was bad enough when they briefly saw the Oklahoma tipping over. But they couldn't believe how much damage those planes had already made by blowing up a strong battleship.

"There's going to be a lot of casualties," whispered Finé in shock. "Come on!" she said as she pulled Izetta, snapping her out of her shock as she ran with her.

When they reached the fork in the road, they stopped.

"Get to Hickam Field, Izetta! They need you!" ordered Finé.

"Please be careful!" begged Izetta hopefully.

"Don't worry, I'll be back, I promise!" said Finé before dashing towards the main hospital while Izetta took a last look before rushing to Hickam.

On the Vestal, a man had just recovered from that massive explosion from the Arizona beside them and looked to find a massive fire on superstructure above the main deck. While noticing the fire, he could see some men standing on the main mast. But they couldn't get down because of the massive inferno around them.

"First officer, George!" called the captain. "Cut the line to the Arizona! If we don't, she'll pull us under with her!"

But as George saw the stranded men on the mast above the fire, growing bigger and almost reaching them, he knew he couldn't just leave them there. Regardless, he did cut the mooring line. But just after, he fetched a new rope.

"Guys! Catch!" George called to the men on the mast as he threw the rope with all his might towards them.

It was just by chance that they managed to catch it. Once they tied it to both ends, from the mast to the Vestal, the men climbed on the rope, shimmying their way across. The fire just about touched one of the six men climbing across, burning him badly, but he kept going until he and the others got to safety on the Vestal.

Inside the fatally damaged Arizona, Jonas slowly regained consciousness as he saw lots of dead men around him, struck by debris or landed by a hard blow. He could hear panicked cries of other men down one way of the corridor. And on the other way, he found to his horror that there was seawater cascading in rapidly. Knowing that he had to get out, Jonas quickly got up as the water flowed over his feet and ran towards what exit he could find.

But finding a way out wasn't easy. The ship's power went out and everything inside was dark. The hundreds of people inside couldn't see where to go, not even Jonas! They were trapped!

"There's gotta be another way out of here!" said Jonas as he felt the water quickly rising over his knees, up to his waist.

Only some of which in other areas were able to find a way out and climbed up onto the deck.

On top, the men felt the ship slanting and sinking fast into the sea while the bow floated at a snail's pace, slowly sinking in the process. Knowing they couldn't save her, they all jumped overboard to avoid getting sucked under as the main deck submerged in seconds. Oil was also spilling from damaged sections of the ship, contaminating the water. Worse still, some flaming debris fell into some of the spreading oil, igniting it ablaze while some men unknowingly tried to swim across. Men screamed in pain as they tried to swim away from the oil.

At that moment, one of the Solace's boats, trying to stay clear of the fire, reached the site and approached the rope ladder that had been thrown down to them. While most of the team on the boat stayed to pull out the men still in the water, two men climbed up the rope and got aboard onto the deck. The superstructure was caught in a massive fire from the explosion. It was tough trying to get any men to get down the ladder while most of the jumped over the side. They managed to find a few laying injured on the deck, unable to move by themselves, and carried them down the ladder towards the boat.

On the Nevada, the men started fighting back against the planes attacking them as well. While so, a Kate bomber flew down and dropped a torpedo at them from the port side, exploding upon impact. This caught the attention of some of the men on the guns and rapid fired at the plane, shooting it down in seconds as it splashed into the sea.

"Yeah! We got one!" shouted one of the men in glee.

As the Oklahoma still listed badly without stopping. It looked like she was ready to fully roll over in a matter of minutes. Kenworthy went to the intercom.

"This is Commander Kenworthy! Abandon ship! I repeat, Abandon ship!"

Well, the crew didn't need him to tell them twice. They already knew they weren't going to make it the moment they felt the list and began jumping overboard. It wasn't comforting because of the burning oil spilt in the water. Some of which tried crawling over the ropes connecting her to the Maryland so they could stay in the fight. While so, zeroes fired their guns at those jumping overboard, killing some of those still trying to jump and those already in the water.

James on the other hand, didn't hear it. He was still in the turret, busy trying to aim and fire his turret guns at the planes with what remaining shells he had in it.

"James, come on! We gotta go! She's gonna roll!" he heard someone shout from down below.

"Go on! I'll catch up!" James called as he kept on firing, despite the awkward angling he was feeling inside the turret.

As the ship continued to roll over, the men scrambling to the top deck were getting disoriented by the interior turning sideways. Not only that, but men also trying to reach the Maryland were losing their footing from how far steep the deck was slanting and many slipped and screamed in terror as they slid down while some grabbed onto the railing for dear life, trying to climb over. Worse still, two more planes dropped more torpedoes towards the Oklahoma, rushing underneath men in the water before detonating on the ship's deck and bridge, causing more water to cascade in through the new holes in the decks. Instantly, the port side of the ship hit the bottom. The mooring ropes connecting the Oklahoma to the Maryland couldn't hold much longer and gave weigh with a snap! The superstructure topside was too heavy, and she continued to roll.

As James continued firing from his turret gun, he noticed water spraying into the cabin. But he couldn't stop now. He continued to bravely fire at the planes even as he took his last breath before the cabin filled entirely. He was going to fight to the very end of his life as he began to drown.

Inside the halfway filled engine room, Mullen noticed that the ship was about to invert as he and other men tried to go topside, which was already going under.

"No, no!" he called. "Everyone stay in here! She's going to invert!"

Some did, but many were too scared to hear and tried to continue on before realizing it too late and, too disoriented to know or find where to go, ended up lost and drowning. For those still surviving inside, this air pocket was their only hope for survival now as she continued to roll. The topside superstructure was getting crushed between the seabed and the main deck as she kept rolling. But finally, she finally settled to a stop thanks to her masts touching the bottom, leaving only her starboard side sticking out of the water with the starboard keel being her highest point.

As for the Utah, while rescue boats were rescuing men who had jumped into the water, including Hans, Isquith and two other lieutenants while some swam to the dock, zeroes flew by, strafing several mean dead while either in the water or on the ship. Suddenly, the ropes finally gave weigh and the ship rolled faster, just about inverting as some men lost their footing and slid down the steep slanting deck into the water.

In the electrical room, Vaessen was holding tightly to something solid while still keeping the breakers in so the ship could still have power while the men still have a chance to escape as he could still hear their panicked cries. As the ship turned, He had to move his footing to one of the walls, then the ceiling to work. The ship stopped almost completely upside-down when the power finally short circuited.

In the boiler room, Peter was still treading in the rising water while trying to keep the ship's boilers secured, shutting the firebox doors tightly with only seconds of air as the interior flipped. He had just finished right before the water rose rapidly over him, taking his final breath in the process as his air pocket had run out, just as all the power went out, leaving him in total darkness.

Author's Note:

I finally had this chapter made before the date. Trying to make this event as accurate as possible. Also, this goes out to all those people who perished on December 7, 1941, with my condolences and respect, also in honor to all those brave US men who fought that fateful day against the enemy planes by air and sea.

Be sure to follow this story to see more action in the next coming chapters.