Case 1: War Begins
Case 1 provides an overview of the military and naval situation in the days leading up to December 7th. It provides maps, photographs and documents that orient the viewer to the situation as it existed in the days, hours, and moments leading up to the attack. Case 1 reveals the US Navy utterly at peace and unprepared for war. It shows the location of the United States Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor; it traces the routes that the Japanese pilots took on their way to and from Pearl Harbor. Photographs show the devastation close up and as the Japanese fliers saw it. Biographies, oral history interviews, magazine articles, and photographs explore the lives of the young naval officers, who had only graduated from Annapolis in February 1941, in the last days of peace and in the first moments of World War II. Ship histories present the events of the day from the perspective of the naval vessels themselves, a wider view than could be seen by the individual officers. It focuses on the battleships USS West Virginia , USS Oklahoma and the USS Tennessee , the cruiser USS Louisville , the destroyers USS Preble and USS Zane , the minesweeper USS Breese , and the men who served on them. Letters and documents reveal the impact of the attack on the families of the men and their own personal losses of property.

War Begins Items

Item No.	Title
1.01	"Pearl Harbor at 0755 Sunday 7 December 1941"
1.02	"Pearl Harbor Anchorage 7:55 A.M. Dec. 7, 1941"
1.03	"Rescuing survivor near USS West Virginia " (BB-48)
1.04	"Deployment of attacking Japanese aircraft"
1.05	[Serviceman watching the cruiser USS Louisville ]
1.06	Charles P. Trumbull ( USS Louisville )
1.07	Biographical Sketch of Charles P. Trumbull ( USS Louisville )
1.08	[Lt. Charles Trumbull and friends]
1.09	[View of USS Preble ] (DD-345)
1.10	Historical Sketch of USS Preble (DD-345)
1.11	David H. Jackson Interview ( USS Preble )
1.12	David H. Jackson ( USS Preble )
1.13	Biographical Sketch of David H. Jackson ( USS Preble )
1.14	"The Lucky Bag of the Class of 1941"
1.15	Historical Sketch of USS Breese (DD-122 & DM-18)
1.15a	View of USS Breese (DD-122 & DM-18)
1.16	[Report on Japanese air raid]
1.17	Historical Sketch of USS Zane (DD-337)
1.18	[The USS Zane off San Francisco] (DD-337)
1.19	[Aerial view of attack on Battleship Row]
1.20	"Pearl Harbor [Before the Attack]"
1.21	Biographical Sketch of Victor Delano ( USS West Virginia )
1.22	Victor Delano ( USS West Virginia )
1.23	Biographical Sketch of Archie Parmelle Kelley ( USS West Virginia )
1.24	Archie Parmelle Kelley ( USS West Virginia )
1.25	Historical Sketch of USS West Virginia (BB-48)
1.25a	[View of USS West Virginia ] (BB-48)
1.26	[Chart of USS Zane's sortie] (DD-337)
1.27	[Reports of officers on USS Zane ] (DD-337)
1.28	[Friend of David M. Armstrong to Armstrong's father]
1.29	David Martin Armstrong ( USS Zane )
1.30	Biographical Sketch of David M. Armstrong ( USS Zane )
1.31	"Pearl Harbor! An Eyewitness Account"
1.32	Joseph C. Spitler Interview ( USS Oklahoma )
1.33	Joseph C. Spitler ( USS Oklahoma )
1.34	[Battleship USS Oklahoma ] (BB-37)
1.35	[Sunken USS Oklahoma ] (BB-37)
1.36	Historical Sketch of USS Oklahoma (BB-37)
1.37	Biographical Sketch of Richard M. Wright ( USS Tennessee )
1.38	Richard M. Wright ( USS Tennessee )
1.39	" USS Tennessee & sunken USS West Virginia "
1.40	Historical Sketch of USS Tennessee (BB-43)

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