The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Heroes
Ships and Aircraft
September 11th
Major Speeches
Video Footage
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From: DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN NAVAL FIGHTING SHIPS, Vol. IA, pp. 379-81.
U.S.S Arizona
BB-39
displacement. 31,400 tons
length. 608'
beam. 97'1"
draft. 28'10" (mean)
speed. 21 k.
complement. 1,081
armament. 12x14", 22x5", 4x3", 2x21" torpedo tubes.;
class. Pennsylvania
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The second Arizona (Battleship No. 39) was laid down on 16 March 1914
at the New York Navy Yard; launched on 19 June 1915; sponsored by Miss Esther
Ross, daughter of a prominent Arizona pioneer citizen, Mr. W. W. Ross of
Prescott, Ariz.; and commissioned at her builder's yard on 17 October 1916,
Capt. John D. McDonald in command.
Arizona departed New York on 16 November 1918 for shakedown training
off the Virginia capes and Newport, proceeding thence to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Returning north to Norfolk on 16 December to test fire her battery and to
conduct torpedo-defens e exercises in Tangier Sound. The battleship returned to
her builders yard the day before Christmas of 1916 for post-shakedown overhaul.
Completing these repairs and alterations on 3 April 1917, she cleared the yard
on that date for Norfolk, arriving there on the following day to join Battleship
Division 8.
Within days, the United States forsook its tenuous neutrality in the global
conflict then raging and entered World War I. The new battleship operated out of
Norfolk throughout the war, serving as a gunnery training ship and patrolling
the waters of the eastern seaboard from the Virginia Capes to New York. An oil-
burner, she had not been deployed to European waters owning to a scarcity of
fuel oil in the British Isles-the base of other American battleships sent to aid
the Grand Fleet.
A week after the armistice of 11 November 1918 stilled the guns on the
western front, Arizona stood out of Hampton Roads for Portland, England,
and reached her destination on 30 November 1918, putting to sea with her
division on 12 December to rendezvous with the transport George
Washington, the ship carrying President Woodrow Wilson to the Paris Peace
Conference. Arizona, one of the newest and most powerful American
dreadnoughts, served as part of the honor escort convoying the American President to Brest, France, on 13 December 1918.
Embarking 238 homeward-bound veterans in the precursor of a "Magic Carpet"
operation of a later war, Arizona sailed from Brest for New York on 14
December, and arrived off Ambrose Light on the afternoon of Christmas Day, 1918.
The next day, she passed in review before Secretary of the Navy Josephus
Daniels, who was embarked in the yacht Mayflower off the Statue of
Liberty, before entering New York Harbor in a great homecoming celebration. The
battleship then sailed for Hampton Roads on 22 January 1919, returning to her
base at Norfolk on the following day. Arizona sailed for Guantanamo Bay
with the Fleet on 4 February 1919, and arrived on the 8th. After engaging in
battle practices and maneuvers there, the battleship saile d for Trinidad on 17
March, arriving there five days later or a three-day port visit. She then
returned to Guantanamo Bay on 29 March or a brief period, sailing for Hampton
Roads on 9 April. Arriving at her destination on the morning of the 12th, she
got underway late that afternoon for Brest, France, ultimately making arrival
there on 21 April 1919.
The battleship stood out of Brest harbor on 3 May, bound for Asia Minor, and
arrived at the port of Smyrna eight days later to protect American lives there
during the Greek occupation of that port-an occupation resisted by gunfire from
Turkish nationa ls. Arizona provided temporary shelter on board for a
party of Greek nationals, while the battleship's marine detachment guarded the
American consulate; a number of American citizens also remained on board
Arizona until conditions permit ted them to return ashore. Departing
Smyrna on 9 June for Constantinople, Turkey, the battleship carried the United
States consul-at-large, Leland E. Morris, to that port before sailing for New
York on 15 June. Proceeding via Gibraltar, Arizona reached her
destination on 30 June.
Entering the New York Navy Yard for upkeep soon thereafter, the battleship
cleared that port on 6 January 1920 to join Battleship Division 7 for winter and
spring maneuvers in the Caribbean. She operated out of Guantanamo Bay during
this period, and also visited Bridgetown, Barbados, in the British West Indies,
and Colon, in the Canal Zone, before she sailed north for New York, arriving
there on 1 May 1920. Departing New York on 17 May, Arizona operated on
the Southern Drill Grounds, and t hen visited Norfolk and Annapolis, before
returning to New York on 25 June. Over the next six months, the ship operated
locally out of New York. During this time she was given the alphanumeric hull
designation, BB-39, on 17 July 1920, and, on 23 Augus t, she became flag ship
for Commander Battleship Division 7, Rear Admiral Edward V. Eberle. Sailing from
New York on 4 January 1921, Arizona joined the feet as it sailed for
Guantanamo Bay and the Panama Canal Zone. Arriving at Colon, on the At lantic
side of the isthmian waterway, on 19 January, Arizona transited the
Panama Canal for the first time on that day, arriving at Panama Bay on the 20th.
Underway for Callao, Peru, on the 22d, the fleet arrived there nine days later,
on the 3 1st, for a six-day visit. While she was there Arizona was
visited by the President of Peru. Under way for Balboa on 5 February 1921,
Arizona arrived at he destination on the 14th; transiting the canal again
the day after Washington's Birt hday, the battleship reached Guantanamo Bay on
the 6th. She operated thence until 24 April 1921, when she sailed for New York,
steaming via Hampton Roads.
Arizona reached New York on 29 April, and remained under overhaul
there until 15 June. She steamed thence for Hampton Roads on the latter date,
and on the 21st steamed off Cape Charles with Army and Navy observers to witness
the experimental bo mbings of the ex-German submarine U-117. Proceeding thence
back to New York, the battleship there broke the flag of Vice Admiral John D.
McDonald (who, as a captain, had been Arizona's first commanding officer)
on 1 July and sailed for Panama an d Peru on 9 July. She arrived at the port of
Callao on 22 July as flagship for the Battle Force, Atlantic Fleet, to observe
the celebrations accompanying the centennial year of Peruvian independence. On
27 July, Vice Admiral McDonald went ashore and represented the United States at
the unveiling of a monument commemorating the accomplishments of San Martin, who
had liberated Peru from the Spanish yoke a century before.
Sailing for Panama Bay on 9 August, Arizona became flagship for
Battleship Division 7 when Vice Admiral McDonald transferred his flag to
Wyoming (BB-33) and Rear Admiral Josiah S. McKean broke his flag on board
as commander of the divisio n on 10 August at Balboa. The following day, the
battleship sailed for San Diego arriving there on 21 August 1921.
Over the next 14 years, Arizona alternately served as flagship for
Battleship Divisions 2, 9 or 4. Based at San Pedro, during this period,
Arizona operated with the fleet in the operating areas off the coast of
southern California or in t he Caribbean during fleet concentrations there. She
participated in a succession of fleet problems (the annual maneuvers of the
fleet that served as the culmination of the training year), ranging from the
Caribbean to the waters off the west coast of central America and the Canal
Zone; from the West Indies to the waters between Hawaii and the west coast.
Following her participation in Fleet Problem IX (January 1929),
Arizona transited the Panama Canal on 7 February for Guantanamo Bay,
whence she operated through April. She then proceeded to Norfolk Navy Yard, entering it on 4 May 1929 to prepare for
modernization.
Placed in reduced commission on 15 July 1929, Arizona remained in yard
hands for the next 20 months; tripod masts, surmounted by three-tiered fire
control tops, replaced the old cage masts; 5-inch, 25-caliber antiaircraft guns
replaced the 3-inc h, 50s with which she had been equipped. She also received
additional armor to protect her vitals from the fall of shot and blisters to
protect her from torpedo or near-miss damage from bombs. In addition, she
received new boilers as well as new main and cruising turbines. Ultimately, she
was placed in full commission on 1 March 1931.
A little over two weeks later, on 19 March 1931, President Herbert C. Hoover
embarked on board the recently modernized battleship, and sailed for Puerto Rico
and the Virgin Islands, standing out to sea from Hampton Roads that day.
Returning on 29 Marc h, Arizona disembarked the Chief Executive and his
party at Hampton Roads, and then proceeded north to Rockland, Maine, to run her
post-modernization standardization trials. After a visit to Boston, the
battleship dropped down to Norfolk, whence she sailed for San Pedro on 1 August
1931, assigned to Battleship Division 3, Battle Force.
Over the next decade, Arizona continued to operate with the Battle
Fleet, and took part in the succession of fleet problems that took the fleet
from the waters of the northern Pacific and Alaska to those surrounding the West
Indies, and into the waters east of the lesser Antilles.
On 17 September 1938, Arizona became the flagship for Battleship
Division 1, when Rear Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (later to become
Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet) broke his flag on board. Detached 27 May 1939
to become Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Nimitz was relieved on that day by
Rear Admiral Russell Willson.
Arizona's last fleet problem was XXI. At its conclusion, the United
States Fleet was retained in Hawaiian waters, based at Pearl Harbor. She
operated in the Hawaiian Operating Area until late that summer, when she
returned to Long Beach on 30 S eptember 1940. She was then overhauled at the
Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton Wash., into the following year. Her last flag
change-of-command occurred on 23 January 1941, when Rear Admiral Wilson was
relieved as Commander, Battleship Division 1 by Re ar Admiral Isaac C. Kidd.
The battleship returned to Pearl Harbor on 3 February 1941 to resume the
intensive training maintained by the Pacific Fleet. She made one last visit to
the West coast, clearing "Pearl" on 11 June 1941 for Long Beach, ultimately
returning to her Hawai ian base on 8 July. Over the next five months, she
continued exercises and battle problems of various kinds on type training and
tactical exercises in the Hawaiian operating area. She underwent a brief
overhaul at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard commenc ing on 27 October 1941, receiving
the foundation for a search radar atop her foremast. She conducted her last
training in company with her division mates Nevada (BB-36) and
Oklahoma (BB-37), conducting a night firing exercise on the nig ht of 4
December 1941. All three ships moored at quays ("keys") along Ford Island on the
5th.
Scheduled to receive tender availability, Arizona took the repair ship
Vestal (AR-4) along side on Saturday, the 6th. The two ships were thus
moored together on the morning of 7 December; among the men on board
Arizona that morning were Rear Admiral Kidd and the battleship's captain,
Capt. Franklin van Valkenburgh.
Shortly before 0800, Japanese aircraft from six fleet carriers struck the
Pacific Fleet as it lay in port at Pearl Harbor, and in the ensuing two attack
waves, wrought devastation on the Battle Line and on air and military facilities
defending Pearl Harbor.
On board Arizona, the ship's air raid alarm went off about 0755 and
the ship went to general quarters soon thereafter. Insofar as it could be
determined soon after the attack, the ship sustained eight bomb hits; one hit on
the forecastle, glanci ng off the face plate of turret II to penetrating the
deck to explode in the black powder magazine, which in turn set off adjacent
smokeless power magazines. A cataclysmic explosion ripped through the forward
part of the ship, touching off fierce fi res that burned for two days; debris
showered down on Ford Island in the vicinity.
Acts of heroism on the part of Arizona's officers and men were many,
headed by those of Lt. Comdr. Samuel G. Fuqua, the ship's damage control
officer, whose coolness in attempting to quell the fires and get survivors off
the ship earned him the Medal of Honor. Posthumous awards of the Medal of Honor
also went to Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd, the first flag officer to be killed in the
Pacific war, and to Capt. Van Valkenburgh, who reached the bridge and was
attempting to fight his ship when the bo mb hit on the magazines destroyed her.
The blast that destroyed Arizona and sank her at her berth alongside
of Ford Island consumed the lives of 1,103 of the 1,400 on board at the
time-over half of the casualties suffered by the entire fleet on the "Day of
Infamy ."
Placed "in ordinary" at Pearl Harbor on 29 December 1941, Arizona was
struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1942. Her wreck was cut down
so that very little of the superstructure lay above water; her after main
battery turrets and guns were removed to be emplaced as coast defense guns.
Arizona's wreck remains at Pearl Harbor, a memorial to the men of her
crew lost that December morn in 1941. On 7 March 1950, Admiral Arthur W.
Radford, Commander in Chief of the Pacific F leet at that time, instituted the
raising of colors over Arizona's remains, and legislation during the
administrations of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy
designated the wreck a national shrine. A memorial was built; it was dedicated
on 30 May 1962.
Arizona (BB-39) was awarded one battle star for her service in World
War II.
Transcribed and edited by: Larry W. Jewell
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