Chapter 986

• Everyone knows the first blow struck against the United States in World War Two was at Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. What few recall, is that it was NOT the surprise airstrike that began its attack at 7:48 a.m. While the aerial assault had already been launched when the casus belli occurred, there was a theatrical trailer before the feature presentation.
• A US destroyer engaged and destroyed a Japanese min-sub while it attempted to enter the military harbor at Pearl at 6:37 a.m., more than an hour earlier. At that point, the US was at war, yet telegrams weren't swarming to and from the US War and Navy Departments.
• Those government agencies weren't sounding the clarion call to all bases in the Pacific and the Far East to man the defenses, sally forth with the warships (the Pacific Fleet and Asiatic squadron) and launching the US Army Air Corp to find and engage the forces of the Empire of Japan (EoJ).