Attack on Pearl Harbor: The First Wave Part 1 - Episode 517

The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War

Captain William Toti, USN

Naval History And Heritage Command, History, Imperial Japanese Navy, Sam Cox, Admiral King, Cruisers, Spruance, Fargo, Seth Paridon, Fighters, Pacific War, Stavridis, Cactus Air Force, December 7, Station Hypo, William Toti, Bombers, Bill Toti, Navy, Halsey, Submarines, Society & Culture, Education, Us Navy, Mush Morton, Cincpoa, Documentary, Guadalcanal, Imperial Japan, World War Ii, Midway, Aircraft Carriers, Cryptology, Wake Island, Nimitz, Cincpac, Macarthur, Pearl Harbor, Wahoo, Courses, Battleships, New Guinea

4.9 • 872 Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week Seth Paridon and Jon Parshall finally get to the meat of the Pearl Harbor series with Part 1 of our discussion of the First Wave. We get into the nuts and bolts of 1st Air Fleet's run towards Pearl Harbor, the launch sequence, the attack plan and the flight into Oahu in great detail, giving way to conversations about William Outerbridge and USS Ward, Opana Point and the various early warnings given to the Americans that an attack was imminent. Of course, the "what if this had been done" creeps into our talk, but we shut down the alternate history pretty quickly with cold, hard facts. This episode goes into the first wave of torpedo attacks on the ships around Ford Island including Battleship Row and ends with USS Oklahoma rolling over. Next week we wrap the First Wave so don't miss that one either as Jon and I continue our authoritative series on the attack on Pearl Harbor. #wwiihistory #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #essex #halsey #taskforce38 #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #mastersoftheair #8thairforce #mightyeighth #100thbombgroup #bloodyhundredth #b17 #boeing #airforce wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #hollywood #movie #movies #books #oldbreed #1stMarineDivision #thepacific #Peleliu #army #marines #marinecorps #worldwar2 #worldwar #worldwarii #leytegulf #battleofleytegulf #rodserling #twilightzone #liberation #blacksheep #power #prisoner #prisonerofwar #typhoon #hurricane #weather #iwojima#bullhalsey #ace #p47 #p38 #fighter #fighterpilot #b29 #strategicstudying #tokyo #boeing #incendiary #usa #franklin #okinawa #yamato #kamikaze #Q&A #questions #questionsandanswers #history #jaws #atomicbomb #nuclear #nationalarchives #nara #johnford #hollywood #fdr #president #roosevelt #doolittle #doolittleraid #pearlharborattack

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hello and welcome to episode 517 of the Unauthorized History of the Pacific War podcast.
0:47.7	My name is Seth Feridon, historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum.
0:51.7	And with me, as always, is my co-host.
0:53.5	Good buddy, John P buddy john partial how are you
0:55.3	this fine july 22nd john i'm hanging in there uh yeah as you know i uh suffered a computer crash
1:04.2	over the weekend and had to go out and buy myself a new box and uh yeah so i'm in the process of hauling down terabytes worth of cloud backups from the old
1:15.4	machine and reinstalling all the applications.
1:18.3	And I'm deep in the editing for the 1942 thing.
1:21.8	And it's just, yeah, my hair is on fire.
1:25.0	And I don't even have any hair.
1:26.8	So, yeah, I'm doing great. Clearly it's on fire because
1:29.5	it's not there. Anyone, it's gone. So this is this will be good. A little, little distraction,
1:36.3	a little, a little chat about Pearl Harbor. Indeed. Yeah, we've been building up to this for
1:42.4	crying out loud. I don't know, weeks.
1:45.6	Yeah. Weeks and weeks and weeks. So here we go. This is going to be the beginning of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1:50.8	So the warships cleaved through the seas at 24 knots. Their crews on high alert.
1:57.1	The six carriers were in the middle of the formation surrounded by escorts. The tiny destroyers ringing the formation of Japanese ships like sheep dogs watching for wolves.
2:05.9	The battleships Karishima and Hei, which had been in the middle of the vanguard during the night to guard against any unforeseen encounters,
2:12.4	began slipping to the sides of the flotilla. The carriers began loosening their formation to gain the room for conducting
2:17.8	flight operations. At around 0.330, the pilots began to stir, and the ready rooms the pilots
	...

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