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HISTORY
USS Arizona (BB-39) was a
Pennsylvania-class battleship built for and by the United States
Navy in the mid-1910s. Named in honor of the 48th state's recent
admission into the union, the ship was the second and last of the
Pennsylvania class of "super-dreadnought" battleships. Although
commissioned in 1916, the ship remained stateside during World War
I. Shortly after the end of the war, Arizona was one of a number of
American ships that briefly escorted President Woodrow Wilson to the
Paris Peace Conference. The ship was sent to Turkey in 1919 at the
beginning of the Greco-Turkish War to represent American interests
for several months. Several years later, she was transferred to the
Pacific Fleet and remained there for the rest of her career.
Aside from a comprehensive modernization in 1929–31, Arizona was
regularly used for training exercises between the wars, including
the annual Fleet Problems (training exercises). When an earthquake
struck Long Beach, California, on March 10, 1933, the Arizona's crew
provided aid to the survivors. In July 1934, the ship was featured
in a Jimmy Cagney film, Here Comes the Navy, about the romantic
troubles of a sailor. In April 1940, she and the rest of the Pacific
Fleet were transferred from California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a
deterrent to Japanese imperialism.
During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941,
Arizona was bombed. After a bomb detonated in a powder magazine, the
battleship exploded violently and sank, with the loss of 1,177
officers and crewmen. Unlike many of the other ships sunk or damaged
that day, Arizona was irreparably damaged by the force of the
magazine explosion, though the Navy removed parts of the ship for
reuse. The wreck still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and the
USS Arizona Memorial, dedicated on 30 May 1962 to all those who died
during the attack, straddles the ship's hull.
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