At 7:48 AM Hawaiian time on Sunday, December 7, 1941, naval air forces of Imperial Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in a surprise assault carried out by more than 350 aircraft launched from six aircraft carriers. The attack was nearly a total success: the United States had eight battleships sunk or damaged, eleven other ships sunk or damaged, and nearly 350 American aircraft, mostly on the ground, destroyed or damaged, while three American aircraft carriers at sea were spared. Japan lost only 29 attacking aircraft and five midget submarines that had penetrated Pearl Harbor’s inner defenses. American losses included 2,403 lives, including 68 civilians; among the military dead were 1,177 sailors and Marines killed when the U.S.S. Arizona exploded and sank instantly in the attack’s early stages. The following day in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it "a date which will live in infamy" before a joint session of the United States Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan, after which "Remember Pearl Harbor" became a rallying call as the United States entered World War Two.
