2,403 Americans died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. That total includes 2,008 Navy sailors, 218 Army soldiers and airmen, 109 Marines, and 68 civilians. Another 1,178 Americans were wounded. Nearly half of all the dead, 1,177 men, were aboard a single ship: the USS Arizona.
Key Highlights
- Total killed: 2,403 Americans (2,335 military plus 68 civilians), with 1,178 wounded, according to the official casualty count.
- Worst single loss: the USS Arizona, where 1,177 officers and crewmen died in under nine minutes when her forward magazine exploded at about 8:10 a.m.
- By branch: Navy 2,008 dead, Army 218 dead, Marine Corps 109 dead, plus 68 civilians killed and 35 wounded.
- Other side: Japan lost 64 servicemen, 29 aircraft, and five midget submarines; Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki was captured, the first Japanese prisoner of war of World War II.
- Paying respects: the USS Arizona Memorial spans the sunken wreck, the USS Utah Memorial sits off Ford Island, and more than 900 of the Arizona’s dead remain entombed in the hull.
The Total: 2,403 Americans Killed
The official death toll from the December 7, 1941 attack is 2,403. That is the number compiled from ship muster rolls, hospital records, and graves registration after the chaos of the morning. The first wave of Japanese aircraft arrived over Oahu shortly before 7:55 a.m., and by the time the attack ended shortly before 10:00 a.m., the United States Pacific Fleet had lost 2,403 of its people and 1,178 more had been wounded.
The military dead numbered 2,335: 2,008 members of the Navy, 218 members of the Army, and 109 Marines. The Navy bore the heaviest share by far, more than 80 percent of all deaths, because the attack concentrated on the battleships and warships moored in the harbor. The 68 civilians are counted in the same official total of 2,403.
Ship-by-Ship: Where the Losses Fell
Casualties were not spread evenly. A handful of ships account for most of the dead, and the USS Arizona towers over every other loss.
USS Arizona: 1,177 dead
At approximately 8:10 a.m., a Japanese bomb, believed to be a converted 16-inch armor-piercing shell, slammed through the Arizona’s deck and ignited her forward ammunition magazine. The ship exploded and sank in less than nine minutes, taking 1,177 officers and crewmen with her. That is roughly 49 percent of the entire day’s death toll, aboard one vessel. Survivors were few, roughly 330 men. The wreck was never raised; it remains a war grave, and the USS Arizona Memorial now spans the sunken hull. The shrine room of the memorial carries the names of all 1,177 on its marble wall. Oil still seeps from the wreck into the harbor, a slow leak visitors often describe as the ship weeping.
USS Oklahoma: 429 dead
The Oklahoma took the second-heaviest loss of the day. Her port side was struck by as many as eight torpedoes in the opening minutes of the attack, and she rolled over in less than twelve minutes until her masts touched the harbor bottom. Hundreds of men were trapped inside and underwater. Only 32 were pulled alive from the overturned hull. 429 crew members died. The Oklahoma was later righted and raised in 1943, but she was never returned to service. To learn more about this ship’s story, read our tribute to the Pearl Harbor Arizona Memorial and her sister ships.
USS California: 103 dead
Two torpedoes pierced the California’s port side while she lay moored off Ford Island, and a bomb hit soon after. She fought the flooding for three days before slowly settling to the bottom. 103 crewmen died. The ship was later raised and repaired, and she served through the Pacific War. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has worked for years to identify California unknowns, including sailors buried as unknowns in Honolulu.
USS West Virginia: 106 dead
The West Virginia absorbed six torpedoes and two bombs and sank upright at her mooring. Her commanding officer died in the fighting, and the ship’s Medal of Honor recipient Dorie Miller, a mess attendant who manned an anti-aircraft gun without training, became one of the first heroes of the war. 106 crewmen died. The West Virginia was salvaged in 1942, rebuilt, and fought in the later Pacific battles, even being present in Tokyo Bay at the Japanese surrender.
USS Nevada: 57 dead
The Nevada suffered at least six bomb hits and one torpedo strike, and more than 100 of her crew were wounded. She famously got underway during the first wave and tried to make for the open sea, but the second wave pounded her as she steamed down the channel. To keep the entrance to the harbor clear, she was run aground at Hospital Point. 57 crewmen died, with over 100 wounded, according to the National Park Service.
USS Utah: 58 dead
Moored off Ford Island at berth Fox-11, the Utah had been converted from a battleship into a target ship and anti-aircraft gunnery training vessel. Japanese pilots mistook her timber deck planking for a carrier’s flight deck. Struck by two torpedoes, she rolled over in about ten minutes. 58 men died, including Medal of Honor recipient Chief Watertender Peter Tomich, who stayed in the fire room to secure the boilers so his watch could escape. The salvage attempt to right her failed in 1943, and her hull still rests off Ford Island as a war grave, marked by the USS Utah Memorial, which you can see when visiting the harbor today.
Airfields and smaller vessels
The death toll was not confined to battleships. Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Ewa Marine Corps Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, Bellows, and Schofield Barracks were all hit, with planes destroyed on the ground and hundreds of airmen and soldiers killed or wounded. Smaller ships also lost men, including the destroyer USS Shaw, whose forward magazine exploded in dry dock. For a broader picture of the attack’s timeline and targets, see our 30 facts about Pearl Harbor.
The Civilians: 68 Dead
The 68 civilians killed that morning are easy to overlook, but they matter. Thirty-five more civilians were wounded. Most of the civilian deaths were not caused by Japanese bombs at all. American anti-aircraft guns fired furiously at the attackers, and shells that had been improperly fused fell back on Honolulu, where residents mistook them for Japanese bombs. Shrapnel tore through homes across the city. The victims included families in their backyards, workers caught at Hickam Field, and a Honolulu firefighter who died battling flames at the airfield.
Japanese Losses and the Lone Prisoner
Japan’s losses were light beside America’s: 64 servicemen killed, 29 aircraft destroyed, and five midget submarines lost. None of the five midget submarine crews returned. One man survived. Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki’s two-man midget submarine, HA-19, ran aground on a reef off Waimanalo Beach on Oahu’s eastern shore after a depth-charge attack. His crewmate drowned, and Sakamaki washed ashore, where an American soldier found him unconscious. He became the first Japanese prisoner of war taken by the United States in World War II. Japanese command struck his name from the records and told his family he had died in action. Our piece on the attack on Pearl Harbor from the submarine perspective tells this story in more detail.
Where the Dead Are Remembered
Today you can stand at the places where the losses are memorialized. The USS Arizona Memorial, dedicated in 1962 and managed by the National Park Service, is free to visit, though the boat ride to the memorial requires a timed reservation through recreation.gov. The memorial straddles the sunken wreck; in the shrine room, the 1,177 names are carved in marble. Below, the hull still holds the remains of the great majority of the dead.
The USS Utah Memorial sits on the northwest shore of Ford Island near the wreck, reachable only with a military escort, and marks the 58 men lost there. A memorial to the Oklahoma’s 429 stands on Ford Island too. Thousands of the dead rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, the Punchbowl crater in Honolulu, where the Court of the Missing carries the names of those never recovered. Fifteen Medals of Honor were awarded for actions during the attack, many of them posthumously. If you are planning to visit, the Battleship Missouri Memorial, moored nearby at Ford Island, bookends the war that began that morning: it is the ship on whose deck Japan formally surrendered in 1945.
How the 2,403 Number Was Established
The count was not easy. Ships were burning, records were destroyed, and some men were listed as missing for weeks before being declared dead. The official total was built from ship muster rolls, hospital admissions, graves registration reports, and survivor accounts. Some historians argue the true figure may be a few higher or lower, but 2,403 is the number the National Park Service and the Navy use, and it sits comfortably within a small margin of the various historical tallies. Advances in DNA analysis continue to put names to unknown remains; in recent years, sailors from the Oklahoma and the California have finally been identified after eight decades.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s address to Congress on December 8, 1941, calling December 7 “a date which will live in infamy,” turned the losses into the rallying cry that carried America into World War II. The dead of Pearl Harbor are remembered each December 7 at ceremonies across the harbor.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people died in the attack on Pearl Harbor?
2,403 Americans died in the attack on December 7, 1941: 2,008 Navy personnel, 218 Army soldiers and airmen, 109 Marines, and 68 civilians. Another 1,178 Americans were wounded. This is the official count compiled from ship muster rolls, hospital records, and graves registration after the attack.
Which ship lost the most men at Pearl Harbor?
The USS Arizona suffered the greatest single loss: 1,177 officers and crewmen died when a Japanese bomb ignited her forward magazine at about 8:10 a.m. and she sank in under nine minutes. That is roughly half of the entire day’s death toll. The wreck was never raised, and the names of all 1,177 are inscribed on the marble wall in the memorial’s shrine room.
How many civilians died at Pearl Harbor?
68 civilians were killed and 35 were wounded in the attack. Most of the civilian deaths were caused not by Japanese bombs but by American anti-aircraft shells that had been improperly fused and fell back onto Honolulu. Shrapnel struck homes and streets across the city, killing residents who had assumed the explosions were part of the bombing.
Did any Japanese die in the attack on Pearl Harbor?
Yes. Japan lost 64 servicemen, 29 aircraft, and five midget submarines in the attack. All five midget submarine crews were lost except one man, Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, who was captured after his submarine ran aground. He became the first Japanese prisoner of war of World War II, and Japan told his family he had been killed in action.
Were all the bodies of Pearl Harbor victims recovered?
No. Hundreds of the dead were never recovered, and many remain entombed in the wrecks. More than 900 of the USS Arizona’s 1,177 dead still rest inside her hull, and the USS Utah’s hull also remains a war grave. Ongoing DNA work by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has identified some unknown remains, including sailors from the USS Oklahoma and USS California, after more than 80 years.
Where can I visit to honor those who died at Pearl Harbor?
The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor is the main place of remembrance; it spans the sunken wreck and is free to visit, with a timed boat reservation booked through recreation.gov. The USS Utah Memorial off Ford Island honors the 58 men lost there, and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl in Honolulu holds the graves of thousands of the dead. December 7 remembrance ceremonies are held across the harbor each year.