Pearl Harbor's Secret Submarine: Did It Fire First?

At 6:45 on the morning of 7 December 1941, more than an hour before the first Japanese plane reached Pearl Harbor, the destroyer USS Ward fired on a Japanese midget submarine at the harbor entrance. That submarine was one of five. Four are accounted for. The fifth has been argued about for more than thirty years, because of one photograph taken by a Japanese airman during the attack. Some analysts say the photo (NH 50931) shows that fifth midget firing its torpedoes at Battleship Row, at West Virginia and Oklahoma. Others say it shows nothing of the kind. We go through the evidence one piece at a time: the Ward's first shot and the wreck found in 2002, the midget that got inside the harbor, Kazuo Sakamaki and HA-19, the 1960 boat, the 1993-1994 photo analysis, the Zimm rebuttal, the 2009 NOVA identification of a wreck in three pieces, and the West Loch theory. What do you think the photo shows? Tell us in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 Five midget submarines 0:59 The first shot: USS Ward 3:06 The one that got inside 4:10 The one that washed ashore 5:15 The missing two 6:24 The photograph 8:29 The other side 10:09 The wreck 12:01 The verdict SOURCES NHHC, USS Ward (DD-139) action report, 13 Dec 1941: https://history.navy.mil/research/arc... Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL), University of Hawaii, midget submarine discovery: https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/mid... Pacific Wrecks, Midget B: https://pacificwrecks.com/sub/midget-... Pacific Wrecks, Midget C (HA-19): https://pacificwrecks.com/sub/midget-... Pacific Wrecks, Midget E: https://pacificwrecks.com/sub/midget-... Naval History, Dec 2004, "Pearl Harbor Midget Sub Picture" (Biache, Hsu, Lucas, Rodgaard): https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-... USNI Proceedings, Dec 2000, "Attack Below" (Rodgaard, Lucas, Biache, Hsu): https://www.usni.org/magazines/procee... Zimm et al., letter (2005), via Aerospaceweb: https://aerospaceweb.org/question/hyd... PBS NOVA, "Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor" (first aired 5 Jan 2010): https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/militar... NHHC photo NH 50931 and caption PHOTOGRAPHS U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command and U.S. National Archives: NH 50931 (Japanese Navy photograph), NH 50930, NH 50929, NH 50472, NH 92694, NH 50265, NH 55535, NH 54302, NH 86388-KN, NH 91331, NH 91332, NH 91333, NH 64471, NH 97251, NH 97253, KN-2589, KN-2590, NH 80564, 80-G-17016, 80-G-17079, 80-G-32680, 80-G-413507, 80-G-19947, 80-G-32453, 80-G-19942. FOOTAGE, MUSIC AND SOUND Archival and modern footage, music and sound effects: Storyblocks. Footage of other ships, aircraft and wrecks is used as illustration and is labelled "archival · illustrative" or "modern footage" on screen. The 1933 torpedo-drop footage shows a U.S. Navy aircraft, used for illustration only. Maps, profiles and charts are our own schematic illustrations. RECONSTRUCTION DISCLOSURE Six short shots marked RECONSTRUCTION on screen (the launch from the mother submarine, the midget under way, the 2002 wreck under submersible lights, the wreck in three pieces, and the West Loch theory, marked THEORY) are AI-generated illustrations, not real footage. Everything else is real archival or modern footage and real photographs. Next: what really blew up USS Arizona? Watch our investigation. #PearlHarbor #WW2 #NavalHistory