"The message above was sent by the office of the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet just minutes after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began.
It went out to ships and naval stations throughout the Pacific region and word of it quickly spread beyond.
It was the first official correspondence acknowledging an event that would change the course of history in so many ways—one that still hangs over strategic decision making and national security policy to this very day.
The telegram was sent at 7:58am on December 7th, 1941 by Lieutenant Commander Logan Ramsey who had just witnessed first-hand low-flying airplanes with big red meatballs on their sides attacking Ford Island.
The message informed Navy vessels of the attack, including the carriers that, by a stroke of sheer luck, were out at sea that fateful day and were spared from the onslaught of Yamamoto's planned waves of aerial bombardment on the strategic American outpost in the Pacific."
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