The USS Arizona – 5 Facts You May Not Know and 30 Photos

Most people are familiar with the iconic ship and the amazing memorial to her in Pearl Harbor. Here are some things you may not know and some great photos of her.

Dozens of Brothers Were Serving Aboard

There were 38 sets of brothers aboard the Arizona when the Japanese strike occurred. By the end of the attack, only 15 sets remained alive. Following this, U.S officials suggested that the practice of having siblings aboard the same ship should be discontinued. However, this was never enforced.

A Burial Ground for Survivors Also

The wreck of the USS Arizona currently lies in Pearl Harbor. Several of the crew members who survived the attack requested that this site serve as their burial ground. Cremated remains of these crewmen are put in an urn which would is placed under one of the ship’s gun turrets by a diver. The surviving crewmen see this as a way of getting back in touch with their fallen comrades.

U.S. Navy Lt. Terry Bewley, a chaplain, reads a prayer while the remains of Seaman 1st Class Wallace F. Quillin are handed to National Park Service divers during an interment at the USS Arizona Memoria

Elvis Presley Performed to Raise Funds for the Memorial

Around 10% of the total cost of the USS Arizona memorial was raised by the KING, Elvis Presley. About fifty thousand dollars was raised in a concert at Pearl Harbor’s Block Arena. This memorial is visited by millions of people yearly.

Elvis Presley

Arizona’s Flag Officer was First to be killed in the Pacific War

The USS Arizona’s Rear Admiral, Isaac C. Kidd, died during the Japanese air strike on the ship. He turned out to be the first U.S Navy flag officer killed by enemy fire in the Pacific theaters. He was posthumously awarded the medal of honor.

Captain Isaac C. Kidd

Fuel Still Seeps From the Wreck of Arizona

Prior to the Pearl Harbor attack on 7th December 1941, the USS Arizona took on an enormous load of fuel in preparation for a trip later that month. During the attack, it began to leak out underwater. Fuel still seeps out of Arizona’s wreckage today at a rate of 8 liters per day. It is called “The Black Tears of Arizona.”

The “tears of the Arizona”. Oil slick visible on water’s surface above the sunken battleship. ©James G. Howes

The keel of the USS Arizona was laid down on 16th March 1914 and the ship was launched 15 months later. It was one of the two ships that made up the Pennsylvania class of warships and the largest navy ship at the time. The ship was commissioned in 1916 and was named after the Union’s newest state at that time, but it did not see any action in World War I.

USS Arizona in New York City

In 1918, Arizona sailed with 37 other ships to escort President Woodrow Wilson aboard the George Washington so he could attend the Paris peace conference. The Arizona joined the Pacific fleet in 1931, was sent to Pearl Harbor in 1940, and it was there that the ship met the end of its career.

Photograph taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on Pearl Harbor.

During the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Arizona was attacked by ten Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers, hitting it from amidships to stern and in the bow area. The last bomb hit near the ship’s second turret, probably penetrating the armored deck and hitting the ammunition magazines at the ship’s forward section. This resulted in a cataclysmic explosion that destroyed the forward part of the ship and effectively tore the Arizona apart. The ship lost 1177 crewmen in that attack.

USS Arizona during the attack

Due to the level of damage inflicted on the Arizona in the Pearl Harbor attack, it was placed temporarily out of service on 29th December 1940 and by December 1942, its name was removed from the naval vessels register. It was scrapped and the salvaged armament reused on other ships.

More photos

USS Arizona. Underway during the 1930s.

 

 

Arizona (BB39) port bow, before being modernized at Norfolk Naval Shipyard between May 1929 and January 1930

 

USS Arizona. Underway during the 1930s.

 

The burning wreckage of the U.S. Navy battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

 

USS Arizona (BB-39) sunk and burning furiously, 7 December 1941.

 

USS Arizona, Submerged off Ford Island, Pearl Harbor.

 

The burned-out, sunken wreck of USS Arizona (BB-39), photographed some days after the attack.

 

Arizona in the 1950s.

 

An aerial view of the USS Arizona Memorial

 

USS Arizona: collection of photographs of salvage operations at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard taken by the shipyard during the period following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which initiated US participation in World War II. The photographs are found in a number of files in several shipyard records series.

 

USS Arizona (BB39) Foremast structure, conning tower, and top of turret

 

USS Arizona: Ship’s complement posing on her forecastle, forward turrets and superstructure, circa 1924.

 

USS Arizona, View from main mast. Bow projecting from water- forward

 

USS Arizona: collection of photographs of salvage operations at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard taken by the shipyard during the period following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which initiated US participation in World War II. The photographs are found in a number of files in several shipyard records series.

 

 

USS Arizona Memorial

 

USS Arizona Memorial. By Ben Weir – CC BY-SA 3.0

 

USS Arizona memorial interior. The Shrine Room.

 

USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) manning rails for USS Arizona

 

An NPS diver with the forward guns on the No. 1 Turret of the submerged USS Arizona (BB-39)

 

An NPS diver examines & documents the wreckage of the USS Arizona in 2015.

Read another story from us: Closed: The USS Arizona Memorial is Taken Out of Commission

Steel Worker 1st Class Jesse Hamblin, with Underwater Construction Team (UCT) 2 Construction Dive Detachment (CDD) Alpha, spreads the ashes of his grandfather, WWII veteran Donald Booth, at the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.