Japanese war crimes
The U.S. officially classified all 3,649 military and civilian casualties and destruction of military property at Pearl Harbor as non-combatants as there was no state of war between the U.S. and Japan when the attack occurred. Joseph B. Keenan, the chief prosecutor in the Tokyo Trials, says that the attack on Pearl Harbor not only happened without a declaration of war but was also a treacherous and deceitful act. In fact, Japan and the U.S. were still negotiating for a possible peace agreement which kept U.S. officials very distracted when Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor. Keenan explained the definition of a war of aggression and the criminality of the attack on Pearl Harbor:
USS Neches (AO-5)
"Neches" slowly settled forward and the list to starboard increased steadily. She sank at 04:37, with a loss of fifty-seven men, at , approximately west of Pearl Harbor. Three injured men were picked up by a seaplane after sunrise. A destroyer arrived by noon to pick up the rest of the men in the life boats. A total of 126 survivors were rescued, a few men were on a lifeboat for several days before rescue. including the captain in his pajamas.