As Yamamoto put it he wanted to destroy the "dagger pointed at our throat". (Beck, Roger. Black, Linda. Krieger, Larry. Naylor, Phillip. Ibo Shabaka, Dahia. "World History" pg.827 - 830).
Yamamoto devised a clever plan that would have the attacking Japanese follow a storm front and keep strict radio silence to avoid being detected by American radar. The Japanese attack was led by Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo and consisted of 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, and 2 cruisers. They got within 275 miles of Oahu before they launched their first attack wave at 6:00 AM, which arrived at Pearl Harbor at 7:55 AM and ended their attack at 9:45 AM. The first wave was made up of 49 bombers, 40 torpedo planes, 51 dive-bombers, and 43 fighters. The second wave started shortly after the first wave ended and was composed of 54 bombers, 78 dive-bombers, and 36 fighters. After the first two waves all 8 battleships in Pearl Harbor were sunk or disabled as well as 11 other ships. 164 planes were destroyed and 2,335 military personnel were killed along with 68 civilians. Even though Yamamoto's plan of attack called for a third wave of attack that would target 4.5 billion gallons of fuel and support facilities Nagumo called off the strike. He thought that there was enough damage, but the U.S. did end up rebuilding and launching a counterstrike. (www.history.navy.mil) (http://campus.northpark.edu).
The Unite States responded to the attack on Pearl Harbor in a few ways. The first thing that President Franklin D. Roosevelt did after the attack on Pearl Harbor was issue Executive Order 9066. This called for the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese-Americans for up to four years, most of which were legal U.S. citizens. The camps were enclosed shelters that were guarded by military. The conditions were so harsh that some Japanese Americans died. Poor medical care and emotional stresses endured in the camps contributed to the ones that died, but also some Japanese Americans were shot by guards for allegedly resisting orders.