in the Pearl Harbor and
More-Stories of WWII: December 1941, my story, “I
am an American” includes a scene that takes place in
Merced, California a week and a half after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In it,
Ellen Okita, a Nisei (Japanese-American) is confronted by a trio of hostile
older teenage boys. One makes mention that his brother had been on the Arizona. He was not coming back home.
Ever.
To remember
Pearl Harbor Day, which commemorates the bombing of Pearl Harbor, I chose to
focus on the history of the USS
Arizona. Almost half of the casualties at Pearl Harbor occurred on the
naval battleship USS Arizona, which
was hit four times by Japanese bombers and eventually sank.
 |
| USS Arizona about 1915 |
The USS
Arizona (BB-39) was a Pennsylvania-class battleship of the United States Navy in
the mid-1910s. The vessel was the third to be named in honor of the 48th state
by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, not long after statehood
for Arizona was achieved. The keel of battleship number 39 was laid on the morning
of 16 March 1914 with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt
in attendance. The ship was the second and last of the Pennsylvania
class of "super-dreadnought" battleships.
 |
| Launch of the USS Arizona |
The plan
had been to have the ship completed in ten months. However, it was not
launched until fifteen months later on June 19, 1915. Esther Ross, the daughter
of an Arizona pioneer family, was given the honors of ship sponsor and
christening. After the launch, Arizona was towed to the Brooklyn Navy
Yard for fitting-out.
 |
| Capt John Daniel McDonald Commanding Officer Arizona Sep. 17, 1915-Feb. 18, 1918 |
The USS Arizona was commissioned into the Navy on 17 October 1916 with
John D. McDonald as captain and departed New York on 10 November 1916. The ship
sailed south for her initial cruise. Outside Guantanamo Bay, a stripped turbine
on 7 December forced the navy to order Arizona back to New York for
repairs.
 |
| USS Arizona in New York Harbor, December 25, 1916 |
The Pennsylvania-class
ships were significantly larger than their predecessors, the Nevada class. Details of what qualified the USS Arizona to be considered a super dreadnought may be found on Wikipedia.
 |
USS Arizona at Guantanamo Bay, 1920
|
The Pennsylvania-class
design continued the all-or-nothing principle of armoring only the most
important areas of the ship begun in the Nevada class. Different areas
of the ship had different thicknesses of armor plating.
 |
| Half ton armor piercing shells loaded on Dreadnoughts before sailing to European waters |
Not long after the ship was completed, the United
States declared war on Germany. However, the ship stayed stateside. The USS Arizona was assigned to Battleship
Division 8 operating out of the York River, and was only employed as a
gunnery training ship for the crewmen on armed merchant vessels crossing the
Atlantic in convoys. Shortly after the war began, eight of her 5-inch guns (the
four guns farthest forward and the sternmost four guns) were removed to equip
merchant ships. Arizona rarely ventured into the ocean for fear of U-boats, and
when she did, it was only in the company of other battleships and escort ships.
 |
| Full crew of USS Arizona, 1924 |
Along with training, Arizona's crew participated in the Battenberg Cup race
was able to win the Battenberg Cup in July 1918 by beating the team from Nevada
by three lengths over the three-mile course.
 |
| USS Arizona returning home after escorting President Wilson 1919 |
The Great War ended in November 1918 with an
armistice. The USS Arizona left the United States for the United
Kingdom, arriving on 30 November 1918. After two weeks berthed at Portland
Harbor, Arizona sailed for France.
On 13 December 1918, Arizona joined nine battleships and twenty-eight
destroyers escorting President Woodrow Wilson on the ocean liner George
Washington into Brest for one day on Wilson's journey to the Paris Peace
Conference
 |
| USS Arizona in 1918 with wartime modifications |
The ten battleships departed France the next day,
taking less than two weeks to cross the Atlantic, and arrived in New York on 26
December to parades, celebrations, and a full naval review by Secretary
Daniels. Arizona was the first in line and rendered a nineteen-gun
salute to Daniels. Along with many of the other members of the recently
returned fleet, she was anchored off New York City for the next several weeks
and open to the public.
 |
| USS Arizona in Panama Canal lock, 1921 |
The ship
was sent to Turkey in 1919 at the beginning of the Greco-Turkish War for
several months to represent American interests.
 |
USS Arizona undergoing moderization, 1930
|
The USS
Arizona underwent comprehensive modernization in 1929–31. The ship was often
used for training exercises between the wars, including the annual training
exercises known as the Fleet Problems.
 |
| USS Arizona after modernization, 1931 |
When an
earthquake struck Long Beach, California, in 1933, Arizona's crew provided aid to the survivors.
Two years
later, the ship was featured in a Jimmy Cagney film, Here Comes the Navy,
about the romantic troubles of a sailor.
 |
Modernized USS Arizona, 1930s
|
In the
early morning of July 26, 1934, Arizona collided with a fishing trawler,
Umatilla. Two men aboard the Umatilla were killed in the
collision and the Navy convened a Court of Inquiry to investigate the incident.
The court recommended that the ship's captain, Captain MacGillivray Milne, be
court-martialed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, while the ship was
participating in that year's Fleet Problem off the East Coast. Milne was judged
guilty and replaced several months later by Captain George Baum after the ship
returned to the West Coast. In the meantime, Rear Admiral Samuel W. Bryant
assumed command of Battleship Division Two on 4 September, with Arizona
as his flagship. There were several changes of leadership in the following
years.
After the fleet problem exercise off Hawaii in
April–May 1940, the United States Pacific Fleet was based at Pearl Harbor to
deter Japanese imperialism. Her last flag change-of-command
occurred on 23 January 1941, when Willson was relieved by Isaac Kidd, by that
time a rear admiral. Captain Harold C. Train assumed command of the ship on 3
February.
The USS Arizona was
overhauled at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, from October
1940 to January 1941. During this refit, her anti-aircraft armament was
increased to twelve 5-inch guns, the foundation for a search radar was added
atop her foremast, her anti-aircraft directors were upgraded and a platform for
four water-cooled .50-inch (12.7 mm) caliber M2 Browning machine guns was
installed at the very top of the mainmast.
The battleship's last training exercise was
night-firing in company with the battleships Nevada and Oklahoma,
on the night of December 4, 1941. All
three ships moored at quays along Ford Island on the following day. On 6
December, the repair ship Vestal came alongside to assist the ship's
crew with minor repairs.
 |
USS Arizona under attack at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941
|
The USS Arizona is best known for her cataclysmic
and dramatic sinking, with the loss of 1,177 lives, during the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Shortly before 08:00 local time on 7
December 1941, Japanese aircraft from six aircraft carriers struck the Pacific
Fleet as it lay in port at Pearl Harbor with devastating effects. On board the Arizona,
the ship's air raid alarm went off at about 07:55, and the ship went to general
quarters soon after. Shortly after 08:00, 10 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo
bombers, five each from the carriers Kaga and Hiryū, attacked Arizona.
All of the aircraft were carrying 410-millimeter (16.1 in) armor-piercing
shells modified into 797-kilogram (1,757 lb) bombs. Flying at an estimated
altitude of 3,000 meters (9,800 ft), Kaga's
aircraft bombed Arizona from amidships to stern. Soon after, Hiryu's bombers hit the bow area.
The aircraft scored four hits and three near misses
on and around Arizona. The near miss off the port bow is believed to
have caused observers to believe that the ship had been torpedoed, although no
torpedo damage has been found. The sternmost bomb ricocheted off the face of
Turret IV and penetrated the deck to detonate in the captain's pantry, causing
a small fire. The next forwardmost hit was near the port edge of the ship,
abreast the mainmast, probably detonating in the area of the anti-torpedo
bulkhead. The next bomb struck near the port rear 5-inch AA gun.
 |
What was left of the USS Arizona after the Pearl Harbor attack.
|
The last bomb hit at 08:06 in the vicinity of Turret
II, likely penetrating the armored deck near the ammunition magazines located
in the forward section of the ship. About seven seconds after the hit, the
forward magazines detonated, in a horrific explosion, mostly venting through
the sides of the ship and destroying much of the interior structure of the
forward part of the ship. The explosion touched off fierce fires that burned
for two days Debris showered down on Ford Island in the vicinity. The blast
from this explosion also put out fires on the repair ship Vestal, which
was moored alongside. The bombs and subsequent explosion killed 1,177 of the
1,512 crewmen on board at the time, approximately half of the total lives lost during
the Pearl Harbor attack.
Arizona was placed
"in ordinary," meaning she was declared to be temporarily out of
service, at Pearl Harbor on December 29th. The ship was struck from the Naval
Vessel Register on 1 December 1942. She was not thought fit for service even if
she could be salvaged. Her surviving superstructure was scrapped in 1942. Some
of her armaments were salvaged for use on other vessels.
Today, the Arizona is under the control of the National Park Service although the
U.S. Navy still retains the title. Arizona retains the right, in
perpetuity, to fly the United States flag as if she were an active,
commissioned naval vessel.
 |
USS Arizona Memorial
|
The wreck of Arizona remains at Pearl Harbor
to commemorate the men of her crew lost that December morning in 1941. Legislation
during the administrations of presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F.
Kennedy resulted in the designation of the wreck as a national shrine in 1962.
 U |
| Aerial view
of the USS Arizona Memorial. |
A memorial was built across the ship's sunken remains, including a shrine room
listing the names of the lost crew members on a marble wall. The national
memorial was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic
Places on 15 October 1966. The ship herself was designated a National Historic
Landmark on 5 May 1989.
 |
| Interment ceremony aboard the Arizona |
Upon their death, survivors of the attack may
have their ashes placed within the ship, among their fallen comrades. Veterans
who served aboard the ship at other times may have their ashes scattered in the
water above the ship.
5 Facts About Pearl Harbor and USS Arizona:
1. Twenty-three sets of brothers died aboard USS
Arizona.
There were 37 confirmed pairs or trios
of brothers assigned to USS Arizona on December 7, 1941. Of these 77 men, 62
were killed, and 23 sets of brothers died. Only one full set of brothers,
Kenneth and Russell Warriner, survived the attack; Kenneth was away at flight
school in San Diego on that day and Russell was badly wounded but recovered.
Both members of the ship’s only father-and-son pair, Thomas Augusta Free and
his son William Thomas Free, were killed in action.
2. USS Arizona’s entire band was lost in the attack.
3. Fuel continues to leak from USS Arizona’s
wreckage.
4. Some former crewmembers have chosen USS Arizona
as their final resting place.
The bonds between the crewmembers of
Arizona have lasted far beyond the ship’s loss on December 7, 1941. Since 1982,
the U.S. Navy has allowed survivors of USS Arizona to be interred in the ship’s
wreckage upon their deaths.
 |
Elvis Presley at the 1961 USS Arizona benefit concert
|
5. A memorial was built at the USS Arizona site,
thanks in part to Elvis Presley.
In March 1961, entertainer Elvis
Presley, who had recently finished a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, performed
a benefit concert at Pearl Harbor’s Block Arena that raised over $50,000—more
than 10 percent of the USS Arizona Memorial’s final cost.
 |
Elvis Presley visiting the USS Arizona memorial in 1965
|
Along
with the information on Wikipedia, you may find more information about the
Arizona on the following websites:
U
