Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor
1. a harbor near Honolulu, on S Oahu, in Hawaii: surprise attack by Japan on the U.S. naval base and other military installations December 7, 1941.
2. any significant or crippling defeat, betrayal, loss, etc., that comes unexpectedly.

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Inlet, southern coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, U.S. It lies 6 mi (10 km) west of Honolulu, forming a landlocked harbour connected with the Pacific Ocean.

In 1887 Hawaii granted the U.S. the exclusive use of the harbour as a coaling and repair station, and in 1908 a naval station was established. In 1941 the harbour was attacked without warning by the Japanese air force, causing great loss of life and precipitating U.S. entry into World War II. It is now the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

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▪ naval base, Hawaii, United States
 naval base and headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Honolulu county, southern Oahu Island, Hawaii, U.S. In U.S. history the name recalls the Japanese surprise air attack on Dec. 7, 1941, that temporarily crippled the U.S. Fleet and resulted in the United States' entry into World War II. (See Pearl Harbor attack.) Pearl Harbor centres on a cloverleaf-shaped, artificially improved harbour on the southern coast of Oahu, 6 miles (10 km) west of Honolulu. The harbour is virtually surrounded (west to east) by the cities of Ewa, Waipahu, Pearl City, Aiea, and Honolulu. It has 10 square miles (26 square km) of navigable water and hundreds of anchorages and covers a land area of more than 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares). Its four lochs are formed by the Waipio and Pearl City peninsulas and Ford Island. Pearl Harbor Entrance (channel) connects its virtually landlocked bay with the Pacific Ocean.

      Pearl Harbor was called Wai Momi (“pearl waters”) by the Hawaiians because of the pearl oysters that once grew there. In 1840 Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (Wilkes, Charles) of the U.S. Navy made the first geodetic survey and urged the dredging of the coral-bar entrance to the harbour. About 30 years later, Colonel John McAllister Schofield further recommended that the United States secure harbour rights. A subsequent treaty (1887) granted the United States the exclusive use of the harbour as a coaling and repair station, but work was not begun until after 1898, when the Spanish-American War indicated its strategic value as a Pacific base. A naval station was established after 1908, and a drydock was completed in 1919.

      During the Pearl Harbor Attack in 1941 the USS Arizona sank with a loss of more than 1,100 men; a white concrete and steel structure now spans the hull of the sunken ship, which was dedicated as a national memorial on May 30, 1962. Present facilities at Pearl Harbor include a naval shipyard, supply centre, and submarine base. The naval supply centre is on Pearl City Peninsula. Pearl Harbor Entrance is bounded on the east by Hickam Air Force Base and on the west by a naval reservation. During the Korean and Vietnam wars the harbour complex was a staging area for forces and equipment bound for the combat zones.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Pearl Harbor — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Para otros usos de este término, véase Pearl Harbor (desambiguación). Vista aérea de Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor es un complejo portuario y base militar, ubicado en la isla de Oahu, perteneciente …   Wikipedia Español

  • Pearl Harbor —   [ pəːl hɑːbə], Flottenstützpunkt der USA an der Südküste der Hawaii Insel Oahu, westlich von Honolulu. Am 7. 12. 1941 gelang es den Japanern, kurz vor der Kriegserklärung an die USA mit einem Überraschungsangriff trägergestützter Kampfflugzeuge …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Pearl Harbor — er en amerikansk flådebase på øen Oahu, Hawaii. Flådebasen var ramme om slaget om Pearl Harbor der var Japans indledende angreb på USA under 2. verdenskrig …   Danske encyklopædi

  • Pearl Harbor —    Film de guerre de Michael Bay, avec Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr.   Pays: États Unis   Date de sortie: 2001   Technique: Couleurs   Durée: 3 h 02    Résumé    Spectaculaire reconstitution de l attaque surprise… …   Dictionnaire mondial des Films

  • Pearl Harbor — (izg. pȅrl hàrbor) m DEFINICIJA ratna luka u istoimenom zaljevu na J obali otoka Oahua (Havajsko otočje); iznenadnim napadom 7. 12. 1941. japanske pomorsko zračne snage onesposobile su značajan dio američke pacifičke flote usidrene u luci i time… …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • Pearl Harbor — [after the pearl oysters once there] inlet on the S coast of Oahu, Hawaii, near Honolulu: site of a U.S. naval base bombed by Japan, Dec. 7, 1941 …   English World dictionary

  • Pearl Harbor — es un complejo portuario y base militar, ubicado en la isla de Oahu, perteneciente al archipiélago de las Hawai, célebre por haber sido objetivo de un ataque preventivo por parte de Japón, ante el bloqueo económico que estaba ejerciendo Estados… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Pearl Harbor — base aéronavale des È. U., dans l île d Oahu (une des Hawaii). Le 7 déc. 1941, sans déclaration de guerre, les Japonais y détruisirent une partie import. de la flotte américaine du Pacifique et 159 avions; cette agression provoqua l entrée en… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Pearl Harbor — a U.S. Navy base in Hawaii that was attacked on December 7, 1941, by Japanese airplanes. Because of the attack, the U.S. announced that it would fight in World War II …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Pearl Harbor — This article is about the historical naval base. For its current operations as a military base, see Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam. For other uses, see Pearl Harbor (disambiguation). Pearl Harbor, U.S. Naval Base U.S. National Register of… …   Wikipedia

  • Pearl Harbor — 21°22′00″N 157°57′00″O / 21.366667, 157.95 (Pearl Harbor) …   Wikipédia en Français

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