Pearl Harbor: The USS Arizona

The USS Arizona, laid down in 1914 and launched in 1915, was the greatest tragedy in the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. She was one of two Pennsylvania-Class super-dreadnaughts built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and given the hull number BB-39. The Arizona sported four turrets, each armed with three 14-inch guns. With a complement of just over a thousand sailors and a total displacement of 29,158 long tons, Arizona was among the largest in the United States’ arsenal at the time of her construction.

On this day, December 7th, 1941, the USS Arizona became a symbol of the greatest tragedy America had faced to date. The Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack against the American Pacific Fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Although several ships were lost to Japanese carrier-borne aircraft, the USS Arizona took several armor-piercing bombs that detonated her forward magazine and completely devastated the ship.

Of the 2403 American lives lost in Pearl Harbor, 1177 of them were aboard the USS Arizona. Throughout World War Two, calls to “Remember Pearl Harbor,” and “Remember the Arizona,” rang out from every corner of the United States. Of the ships that sank, the battleships USS California and USS West Virginia were refloated and carried on the fight against the Japanese.

Side by side with the USS Tennessee and other ships, they would face off against the Japanese fleet in the last battleship vs battleship engagement, the Battle of Surigao Strait, 1944. There, the crews of these American battleships would properly avenge the Arizona by sinking battleships IJN Fuso and IJN Yamashiro along with numerous other vessels at the cost of 39 American lives, about 100 less than the Japanese lost over Pearl Harbor.

Today, the USS Arizona rests where she sank. In 1962, the Arizona Memorial was built. The bright white observation building sits over the top of the Arizona’s hull, and she is treated now as a tomb containing fallen heroes.

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