Third and fourth terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese struck the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor with a surprise attack, knocking out the main American battleship fleet and killing 2,403 American servicemen and civilians. The great majority of scholars have rejected the conspiracy thesis that Roosevelt, or any other high government officials, knew in advance about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese had kept their secrets closely guarded, and while senior American officials were aware that war was imminent, they did not expect an attack on Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt had anticipated that the first attack would take place in the Dutch East Indies, Thailand, or the Philippines.
Japanese submarines in the Pacific War
The sank the heavy cruiser shortly after it delivered parts for the atomic bomb Little Boy to the island of Tinian. The loss of the "Indianapolis" was not noticed for four days, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of American sailors at sea, and constituted the greatest loss of life at sea in a single incident in the history of the United States Navy (the sinking of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor resulted in greater deaths).