The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 19, 2026

A horizontal black-and-white photograph is dominated by a massive, dark column of billowing smoke filling the upper right. A listing battleship tilts to our left, its stern draped in a white awning. To our right, a small boat with several figures approaches the vessel. Churning gray water fills the foreground, while more smoke obscures the distant horizon. A dark, hazy shape protrudes from the bottom right.

Ship Under Attack, Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

1941

America

gelatin silver print
Image: 9.4 x 12.4 cm (3 11/16 x 4 7/8 in.); Sheet: 11.2 x 14.2 cm (4 7/16 x 5 9/16 in.)
Gift of Judith K. McMillan 2024.131
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The surprise attack by the Japanese on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as “a date which will live in infamy.”

Description

Photography’s unique ability to freeze an instant in time and make viewers feel as if they are living through it themselves is exemplified in this dramatic seascape showing a ship under attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The image captures a key moment in the history of the United States, evoking the terror and destruction of the attack from the air.
  • ?–2024
    Judith K. McMillan, Chardon Township, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    September 9, 2024–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Ship Under Attack, Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941|url=false|author=|year=1941|access-date=19 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.131