[1][2] The planning for Operation K began in the weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the Imperial Japanese Navy high command considered how to take advantage of the capabilities of the long-range Kawanishi H8K flying boats.

[3] In a repeat of events just prior to the 7 December attack, American codebreakers warned that the Japanese were preparing for reconnaissance and disruption raids, refueling at French Frigate Shoals, and again were largely ignored by their superiors.

Edwin T. Layton's staff included Lieutenant Jasper Holmes, who, writing under the pen name Alec Hudson, had a story entitled Rendezvous published in an August, 1941, Saturday Evening Post.

In addition to their reconnaissance mission, they were to bomb the "Ten-Ten" dock – named for its length, 1,010 feet (310 m) – at the Pearl Harbor naval base[3] to disrupt salvage and repair efforts.

[4] American radar stations on Kauai (and later Oahu) picked up and tracked the two planes as they approached the main Hawaiian Islands, prompting a search by Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters.

[3] Hashizume, having lost sight of his wingman, and only able to see small patches of the island, dropped his four bombs on the slopes of Tantalus Peak, an extinct volcano cinder cone just north of Honolulu sometime between 02:00 and 02:15 HST.

[1] Japanese media repeated an unsubstantiated Los Angeles radio report of "considerable damage to Pearl Harbor" with 30 dead sailors and civilians, with 70 wounded.

However, the Americans had become aware French Frigate Shoals was a possible IJN rendezvous point, and naval patrols were increased, per Admiral Chester Nimitz's orders.

[3] The Japanese submarine I-123[9] found the area mined and spotted two American warships at anchor there, prompting a cancellation of the plan, despite the proposed use of Necker Island as an alternative refueling site.