Today is the 70th anniversary of the Japanese Cabinet ratifying Prime Minister Tojo's decision to go to war on December 8th with the United States, the Netherlands, and Great Britain.
The Pearl Harbor Striking Force is already at sea, having sailed in secret from Tankan Bay in the Kurile Islands on November 26th (refer to the above pictures). Their orders are to continue on their northerly course and if detected, are to turn back and abort their mission, unless they're discovered on the 6th, in which case they'll sink the discovering ship, and continue at full speed to their launching point. Fortunately for them (and unfortunately for the Americans), only one ship is encountered on their passage, and it happens to be Japanese.
Admiral Husband Kimmel, commander of the United States Pacific Fleet, has received intelligence that some of the carrier radio chatter is no longer present in Tokyo Bay, but he disregards it as insignificant, not imagining that they are in fact on their way to strike at his anchorage, as attacks on the Philippines and Guam are much more likely in his mind.
The Striking Force has been battering its way through very rough seas and thick fog, with lookouts being washed overboard in the harsh conditions. But the northerly route was chosen to avoid detection, and it ends up working perfectly in terms of achieving surprise. The Striking Force consists of:
Light cruiser Abukuma (leading the destroyers).
Destroyers: Urakaze, Isokaze, Tanikaze, Hamakaze, Kagero, Shiranuhi, Arare, Kasumi, Sazanami, and Ushio. The destroyers are steaming in line abreast ahead of the main body, to act as a screen and sink any foreign vessel encountered to prevent them raising an alarm. The last two are steaming on the left flank, and will serve as a bombarding force that will attack Midway Island.
Heavy cruisers: Tone, Chikuma. The heavy cruisers are serving as the vanguard of the carriers, and will launch float planes before the Pear Harbor strike to reconnoiter the harbor beforehand.
Carriers: Akagi (Red Castle, flagship of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo), Kaga (Increased Joy), Soryu (Blue Dragon), Hiryu (Flying Dragon), Shokaku (Flying Crane), Zuikaku (Fortunate Crane). The carriers will be delivering the strike. 408 aircraft are slated to be used, with 360 in two attack waves and 48 for combat air patrol or CAP.
Battleships: Kirishima, Hiei. The battleships are bringing up the rear, and acting as the heavy escorts in case significant trouble comes their way, but the Japanese encounter nothing on the way out.
In addition to this, Force Z, a powerful force consisting of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, battlecruiser Repulse, and destroyers Electra, Express, Encounter, and Jupiter, are only a day away from Singapore, after having rendezvoused in the Indian Ocean. They are part of the British battle plan to deter Japanese aggression in the Dutch East Indies/Malay Peninsula area. It is under the command of Admiral Tom Phillips, in the Prince of Wales. Unlike the Americans, Dutch, and Australians, who by and large are focusing on defending the Dutch East Indies from Surabaya, the British are focusing at Singapore, as they believe it to be impregnable, with the rest of the allies disagreeing on that. No formal battle plan has been adopted by the joint allied command in the southwest Pacific, and the allied command is fractious with no solid idea on how they're going to focus on defending their territories, only that they're going to work together to curb Japanese aggression from spreading further south.
