Japanese Sub shells the Santa Barbara area
Before I started working on my WWII section I thought, like most others do, that the US had not been attacked directly during the war, except for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Yet it turns out that the US was shelled and bombed both in the war.
This part deals with a submarine attack on California on February 23, 1942. It was a lone sub and it fired perhaps 25 shells at an oil refinery. The attack was somewhat less than successful, however, and according to one article it did about $500 total damage. Still, from a morale point, it would have helped the Japanese.
Where
 The Port Arthur News from March 6, 1942. The map shows where the attack took place, quite near Santa Barbara. |
There was not doubt that this was major news. It either was the main headline, or in the headlines, of numerous newspapers all over the country.
Headline News
 The Gettysburg Times, Feb. 24, 1942 |
 The Galveston Daily news, Fweb. 24, 1942 |
 The article points out that the attack started just as FDR was delivering one of his “fireside chats” |
 Clearfield Progress, Feb. 24, 1942 |
 The article notes that the attack lasted about 25 minutes. |
 Mansfield News-Journal, Feb. 24, 1942 |
 A blackout was started, but not until almost a half hour after the shelling had finished. |
What is somewhat surprising to me is that this incident wasn't repeated numerous times. The sub got in and out safely. Although the shelling itself wasn't effective, it still could have been and, from the Japanese viewpoint, it showed how vulnerable the west coast was to direct attack.
Photographs
 The Oakland Times, Feb. 25, 1942 |
 The Oakland Tribune, Feb. 24, 1942 |
These two articles show some of the results of the shelling. The first one has an interesting short article about FDR calling the shelling “political warfare.” The second article was on a page which included an article about two Japanese-American teenagers being arrested in Ventura for trying to phone long-distance to Los Angeles. They were somewhere in the area of the shelling and were thus apparently suspicious characters to the police.
Other articles
 Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Feb. 24, 1942 |
 same source |
 The Sheboygan Press, Wisconsin, Feb. 24, 1942 |
 same source |
From the Japanese viewpoint
 Wisconsin Rapier Daily Tribune, May 28, 1942 |
 Nevada State journal, May 29, 1942 |
There are, of course, at least two sides to everything. The first article is from over three months after the shelling and gives Tokyo's report of the attack. The Japanese newspapers had a way of stretching the truth (as do almost all newspapers, come to think of it), and this was quite apparent the longer the war went on. Again, it's interesting to note that, in the Japanese report, there were no US patrols which encountered the sub which, again, causes me to wonder why this type of thing wasn't done on a frequent basis.
The second article is a shorter version of the story.
Let's turn a profit on this
As always, there are people ready to turn a profit on virtually anything as the following ad shows:
 Long Beach Independent, Feb. 27, 1942 |
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