I figured I'd say this on the forums before anyone else. Pearl harbor. The day the United States of America's Pacific Fleet base of Pearl Harbor was attacked by a Japanese air raid of over 300 hundred aircraft, from 6 carriers hundreds of miles off shore. Orchestrated by Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the attack sunk multiple ships, including 4 battleships(of which a few were floated back up after the battle). The Japanese hit the US with 2 raids, destroying or damaging multiple ships and hundreds of aircraft. The US aircraft carriers survived the battle, having been on assignments elsewhere. The Japanese achieved a tactical success, but the US declared war on Japan, which ended in it's downfall. This was when the US became completely involved in WWII, and became the superpower it is today.
Edit: 74th anniversary of it.
R.I.P. To those still encased in the USS Arizona
@Brields95 If you're insinuating that the US is not the world's largest superpower, that's just objectively false.
I mean I know it's kinda fun to take shots at some of the policies and methods of the United States (we do have lots of issues), but there is no denying that we are, by definition, the dominant superpower in the world and have been since the Soviet Union broke up.
@NovaTopaz @Brields95 One word: F-22
Also, the great ship USS Tennessee survived the attack and was present at the surrender.
@Brields95 IIRC, they are still technically a superpower. And I live in the United states... And yes, US went bankrupt. But they are still a superpower, and still control a large % of the world's GDP.
Superpower... Where have you been since 2012?
don't worry if there is errors, I'll get to them