![Sinking at Pearl Harbor](arizona_destroyed.jpg)
BB-39 USS Arizona
Pennsylvania class battleship:
Displacement: 31,400 tons (normal) / 35,929 tons (full load)
Length: 608'
Beam: 106'3"
Draft: 33'6"
Speed: 21 knots
Armament: 4x3 14"/45, 12x1 5"/51, 8x1 5"/25, 8x1 .50-caliber MG,
2 21" tt; 3planes
Complement: 2555
Propulsion: Steam turbines, 12 boilers, 4 shafts, 31,500 hp
Built at New York Navy Yard and commissioned 17 Oct 1916
Reconstructed at Norfolk Navy Yard 1931 :
7 Dec 41; bombed and torpedoed at Pearl Harbor
![](ship_arizona.jpg)
The Arizona is a symbol of the start of America's war in the Pacific.
In Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, it was torn apart
when a bomb crashed into an ammunition magazine, sending the battleship
to the harbor floor in less than nine minutes. Its loss of 1,177 crewmen
-- 77 percent of them assigned to the ship at the time -- constitutes
the single greatest naval disaster in American history .
![Memoial wall inside memorial](Ph1.1.gif)
Photo taken by T. Temple (1989)
My dad served in the US NAVY during WWII and says that when his ship
came into Pearl Harbor, almost a month after the attack, his entire
ship's company was called to the abovedeck and a right-hand salute
as they passed by the ARIZONA, to honor her men and crew. He also
said that the ship was still smoking and smoldering. He said that
it was the most chilling experience he ever had.