December 7, 1941. The day that the Empire of Japan attacked the US Navy Base at Pearl Harbor. The carefully planned 3-hour attack sunk or destroyed 3/4ths of the USA's "Capital Ships" of the day, which were the Great Battleships. One bomb hit USS Arizona just right, her magazine blew up, and she sank in less than a minute. She had been preparing to steam away, and had most of her crew aboard, and 1,117 died on that one ship alone. A mere 15 bodies were recovered, the other 1,102 remain entombed within her hull. Among them is my Great Uncle Jack, who died a decade before I was born, a First Class Engineman on duty somewhere below. I once saw a photo of him in his dress blues, complete with "Liberty Cuffs" and forearm tattoos and "Dixie Cup" hat. Three decades ago, I read his name at the USS Arizona monument.
The Japanese used six aircraft carriers and did in fact destroy 3/4ths of the US active duty battleships that day. Ironicly they proved conclusively that battleships were obsolete when they did so. The rest of that war was largely naval aviation and submarines and amphibious assaults. Within four months, four of those same six aircraft carriers would be sunk by carriers of the US Navy. Among the US aviators in that war was a young Gearge HW Bush in a torpedo bomber.
The cause of the war was fundamentally the fact that other countries were embargoing oil. When Japan occupied southern French Indochina in July of 1941, putting her forces within striking distance of Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies, the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands responded embargoing oil and gasoline to Japan. Japan promtly joined the Axis powers of Europe (Germany and Italy) and the greatest armed conflict ever fought began. Fundamentally a resource war over petroleum, at least for Japan.