USS Ward fired the first American shots during the Pearl Harbor attack.
At about 6:37 a.m. on December 7, 1941, the destroyer reported seeing a small submarine near the entrance to Pearl Harbor. Ward attacked the vessel with gunfire and depth charges, then reported the contact to naval authorities. The submarine was later identified as a Japanese midget submarine.
Ward’s action occurred before the first Japanese aircraft reached their targets. The submarine was sunk outside the harbor entrance, and its wreck was located decades later. Although the report moved through the military communications system, the warning did not lead to a full defensive response before the air attack began.
The phrase “first shots” refers to the first confirmed American combat fire against the Japanese operation, not to the first bombs or aircraft fire at the harbor. The destroyer was an older Wickes-class ship that had been converted for additional wartime duties. USS Ward survived the attack but was later sunk in the Pacific in December 1944.