"A day that will live in infamy..."

".....As we approached Pearl Harbor, huge columns of smoke could be seen arising and I, like the others, assumed the oil tanks had been bombed. On arrival at the dock we learned it was my ship, the West Virginia, from which the smoke emerged. She had been hit hard and was afire. From the landing Ens. Smith staggered up completely covered in oil and he told us the West Virginia had been abandoned and was completely surrounded by oil fires. He also told us of the death of our captain. On the dock was a milling crowd of blue jackets and across the way could be seen a capsized battleship. Smith told me the West Virginia had fired all the ammunition she had ready but an early torpedo had put the ammunition supply out."
                                                                - Lt. Richard Mueller Nixon, USN