As Jim, Irene and the Lurline set sail that day and headed East a different group of ships was approaching Honolulu from about 600 miles to the North. This grouping was comprised of six aircraft carriers carrying 360 bomber, torpedo and fighter aircraft along with other assorted warships with the objective to destroy, in one blow, the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor. The approximate position of the Japanese task force (that had left Japanese waters on November 26th) on December 5th is below.

At 10:15 am ship's time on December 7th, Commodore Charles Berndtson received news of the attack. A notice was distributed to the passengers to gather for the Commodore to inform them of what had happened and how they were going to proceed.

The ship was diverted from her regular course to avoid detection by enemy submarines and began speeding home at 22 knots. The Lurline's deck gang brought all available dark paint out of storage and painted the glass of every porthole and window to "blackout" the ship. The problem was the moon was full and the sky was clear so the great white ship was actually fully illuminated from above. All passengers were required to wear their clothes and life vests at all times. The ship arrived safely at 3:30 pm on December 10th. Jim immediately hopped the Southern Pacific "Daylight" to Los Angeles and he was back in the cockpit the next day.

This is Jim's entry in his flight log of these events.

American isolationism had ended and as Jim took off in a Douglas A20 C light bomber on December 11th, he did so as an important part of a vital industry of a nation suddenly at war.