Six Carriers Hit Pearl Harbor — All Six Died Before 1945

Six Carriers Hit Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. on December 7, 1941, and put 353 aircraft over Oahu in two waves. The first of them would be burning in 179 days, and the last would be gone in 1,053. The six carriers would never see the year 1945. This documentary follows the Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku from Taranto and the Kido Butai's sailing from Hitokappu Bay to the day each one died. It covers the three American carriers that were missing from the harbor, the A6M Zero and the B5N Kate, the Coral Sea, the SBD Dauntless attack at Midway on June 4, 1942, Santa Cruz, the submarine USS Cavalla in the Philippine Sea, and Cape Engano on October 25, 1944. Every date, hour and loss figure comes from Navy action reports, ship histories, loss tables and squadron records. Where sources disagree, the script gives the range instead of guessing. Subscribe for the definitive history of the United States in the Second World War — new documentaries every few days.