Apr 27, 2023 - Sale 2634

Sale 2634 - Lot 79

Price Realized: $ 2,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(WORLD WAR II--HAWAII)
The attack on Pearl Harbor begins, the torpedoed USS West Virginia at the center, taken from a Japanese plane. Two attacking Japanese planes can be seen: one over USS Neosho and one over the Naval Yard. Silver print, the image measuring 5 5/8x7 7/8 inches (14.3x20 cm.), the mount 7 1/2x10 1/2 inches (19.1x26.7 cm.), with a printed caption label in Japanese on mount verso. December 7, 1941

Provenance: Gary Edwards Gallery, Southampton, New York

Several photographs were taken over Pearl Harbor, but this historic image is acknowledged as the one that started America's involvement in WWII. The photograph was taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island shortly after the beginning of the Pearl Harbor attack. The view looks about east, with the supply depot, submarine base, and fuel tank farm in the right center distance. A torpedo has just hit USS West Virginia on the far side of Ford Island (center). Other battleships moored nearby are (from left): Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee (inboard of West Virginia), Oklahoma (torpedoed and listing) alongside Maryland, and California. On the near side of Ford Island, to the left, are light cruisers Detroit and Raleigh, target and training ship Utah, and seaplane tender Tangier. Raleigh and Utah have been torpedoed, and Utah is listing sharply to port. U.S. Navy planes on the seaplane ramp are on fire.