USS Arizona - After all this time . . .

[CyValley]

the last survivor of the battleship destroyed on December 7, 1941, dies. He had a helluva career.

Lou Conter, Last Survivor of the Battleship Arizona, Dies at 102 (Published 2024)

Escaping injury in the Japanese attack on the ship in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, he went on to help in recovering bodies and putting out fires.

tinyurl.com

USS Arizona's final moment. (Click on "YouTube" link. If interested, scroll down for a video illustration of what happened to the ship.)

 

[Drew0311]

I sat at a bar one time at Pearl when I was in the Marines and their were 2 old timers that were there that day. I just sat and listened. This was back in the 90's. It was a special day for a couple of us to be able to sit there and hear them talk.

 

[CyValley]

When I first saw this photo, from1944 at Pearl Harbor, I was startled. It depicts only 27 years difference in technology and design.

Inboard of the USS Wisconsin, an Iowa Class battleship, is the hulk of the USS Oklahoma, which capsized, killing many of her crew, on December 7. Oklahoma was similar in size to the other ships tied up on battleship row off Ford Island.

Wisconsin was on her way to the Pacific Theater of war (and is now a museum in Norfolk, Va.).



The Iowa Class was nearly a football field longer (Iowa vs. Arizona); speed: 33 knots vs 21 knots; 212,000 hp vs. 33,000 hp. A lot of development in a short time.

 

[DGC]

When I first saw this photo, from1944 at Pearl Harbor, I was startled. It depicts only 27 years difference in technology and design.

Inboard of the USS Wisconsin, an Iowa Class battleship, is the hulk of the USS Oklahoma, which capsized, killing many of her crew, on December 7. Oklahoma was similar in size to the other ships tied up on battleship row off Ford Island.

Wisconsin was on her way to the Pacific Theater of war (and is now a museum in Norfolk, Va.).

View attachment 126843

Interesting how the Oklahoma was refloated, then determined to be too obsolete for use, attempted to be towed to California for scrapping, only to sink and never be found again.

 

[CyValley]

It required a colossal effort to right the Oklahoma.

I'm chilled and saddened every time I happen to think about her crew. Many were trapped inside the capsized hull. Teams of sailors frenetically attempted to reach them; cutting torches, irrc, consumed air in the hull during cutting, suffocating some.

It was nearly Christmas, again iirc, before metal tapping sounds from doomed men ceased.

 

[83cy]

When I first saw this photo, from1944 at Pearl Harbor, I was startled. It depicts only 27 years difference in technology and design.

Inboard of the USS Wisconsin, an Iowa Class battleship, is the hulk of the USS Oklahoma, which capsized, killing many of her crew, on December 7. Oklahoma was similar in size to the other ships tied up on battleship row off Ford Island.

Wisconsin was on her way to the Pacific Theater of war (and is now a museum in Norfolk, Va.).

View attachment 126843

The Iowa Class was nearly a football field longer (Iowa vs. Arizona); speed: 33 knots vs 21 knots; 212,000 hp vs. 33,000 hp. A lot of development in a short time.

27 Months?

 

[CyValley]

27 Months?

Sorry, I don't know what you mean.

Arizona was commissioned in 1916, Iowa in 1943. I didn't make it clear what subjects I was talking about, maybe? I clip my comments often, leery of going on and on, as I do too often.

Let me know more, please.

 

[CyValley]

Iowa sister ship USS Missouri stands guard over the remains of USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. World War II ended on the deck of Missouri when surrender documents were signed in Tokyo Bay. (Iowa was nearby, serving as guard of honor for the ceremony.)

Arizona, whose destruction propelled the United States into the conflict. Missouri, on whose deck saw the final end of a war that killed 70 million human beings. (Missouri, as are all four Iowa Class battleships, is a museum.)



Sept. 2, 1945, a Japanese delegation signed surrender papers on Missouri's quarterdeck, in Tokyo Bay. In this photo, shot from aboard Missouri, USS Iowa is seen anchored nearby. The sky is just beginning to fill with a flyover of hundreds of Allied aircraft from numerous aircraft carriers positioned some miles at sea. (Iowa was home to Adm. Bull Halsey at the time.)

 

[DGC]

Iowa sister ship USS Missouri stands guard over the remains of USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. World War II ended on the deck of Missouri when surrender documents were signed in Tokyo Bay. (Iowa was nearby, serving as a guard of honor.)

Arizona, whose destruction propelled the United States into the conflict. Missouri, on whose deck saw the final end of a war that killed 70 million human beings. (Missouri, as are all four Iowa Class battleships, is a museum.)

View attachment 126848

The Navy will say that the Missouri is the only battleship moored pointing inland, watching guard over the Arizona. However the Alabama is also moored pointing inland in Mobile Bay.

 

[BCClone]

Iowa sister ship USS Missouri stands guard over the remains of USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. World War II ended on the deck of Missouri when surrender documents were signed in Tokyo Bay. (Iowa was nearby, serving as guard of honor for the ceremony.)

Arizona, whose destruction propelled the United States into the conflict. Missouri, on whose deck saw the final end of a war that killed 70 million human beings. (Missouri, as are all four Iowa Class battleships, is a museum.)

View attachment 126848

Sept. 2, 1945, a Japanese delegation signed surrender papers board Missouri in Tokyo Bay. In this photo, shot from aboard the Missouri, USS Iowa is seen anchored nearby. The sky is just beginning to fill with a flyover of hundreds of Allied aircraft from numerous aircraft carriers positioned some miles at sea.

View attachment 126850

Treaty was supposed to be on Iowa but Truman was from Missouri, so……….

 

[cedarstrip]

Sad, I will be visiting the Arizona in a few weeks.

 

[CyValley]

The Navy will say that the Missouri is the only battleship moored pointing inland, watching guard over the Arizona. However the Alabama is also moored pointing inland in Mobile Bay.

And Wisconsin, too, at Norfolk.





And another Iowa sister, New Jersey at Camden on the Delaware River across from Philadelphia, her stilletto bow points up river. I wonder if the Navy counts this as pointing inland?

(The "Big J" just went into drydock for a $20 million hull inspection, repair and renovation, so the museum is closed for a couple of months. BTW, the white-hulled vessel on the Penn side of the river is USS Olympia, Admiral Dewey's flagship. It also is a museum.)

 

[CyValley]

Sad, I will be visiting the Arizona in a few weeks.

Please shoot photos.

 

[cymac2408]

I sat at a bar one time at Pearl when I was in the Marines and their were 2 old timers that were there that day. I just sat and listened. This was back in the 90's. It was a special day for a couple of us to be able to sit there and hear them talk.

I was at Pearl from 83 to 86. Looks like we’ve stomped some of the same grounds. We’re you stationed at Kaneohe?

 

[DGC]

Treaty was supposed to be on Iowa but Truman was from Missouri, so……….

I have heard that, I have also heard that the Missouri was just a little bit newer, cleaner, and nicer at the time.

 

[CyValley]

Treaty was supposed to be on Iowa but Truman was from Missouri, so……….

There is discussion about this, I've read.

Iowa returned to San Francisco in January 1945 to repair damage from Typhoon Cobra the previous month. While in the yard, Iowa received a powerful radio suite whose purpose was to relay the surrender ceremony to the world.

Other reasons for believing Iowa was the surrender ship designee: She was the first of her class and FDR chose the name; the top Navy admiral and close FDR advisor, William D. Leahy, was from Hampton, Iowa; FDR's chief aide and intimate friend was Sioux City's Harry Hopkins. The Navy's highest percentage of sailors were Iowans, and Iowa's congressional delegation lobbied hard.

IIRC, only Iowa of the four sisters (the largest and easily the fastest ever built by the United States) was built with fleet admiral quarters (also accommodating the admiral's large staff).

When FDR died nearly 5 months before the surrender, many assumed that Missourian Harry Truman intervened. He was fond of the Missouri.

But, then, there's this: At the time of the surrender, the Missouri was serving as a flagship. Flagship designation fluctuated among ships and also according to which admiral was the top man at the time - it rotated.

As I understand it, to this day it's unknown to a final degree why Missouri, the last Iowa Class warrior to reach the Pacific Theater, was selected to host the ceremony. Anyway. . . .

 

[DGC]

Prior to the Japanese surrender there was a Japanese delegation that flew to meet with General MacArthur to discuss the terms of the surrender. American leaders told the Japanese to paint large green crosses on the Bettys they were flying in. The Japanese were afraid they would be shot down by Americans mistaking them for hostile enemies. Americans were afraid they would be shot down by Japanese insurgents that didn't believe in the surrender. This flight was also escorted by a large number of American aircraft. My grandfather served in one of the squadrons assigned escort duty. On display on the USS Alabama is a photo of the same type of plane my grandpa flew in, a B17 modified for air to sea rescue, with his squadron markings on it. The tail number of the plane is not legible in the photo. I do not know if that was his plane or if he flew on that mission or not.

 

[motorcy90]

The Navy will say that the Missouri is the only battleship moored pointing inland, watching guard over the Arizona. However the Alabama is also moored pointing inland in Mobile Bay.

so is the battleship North Carolina in Wilmington NC.

 

[CyValley]

I have heard that, I have also heard that the Missouri was just a little bit newer, cleaner, and nicer at the time.

Iowa and New Jersey entered the Pacific in the first days of January 1944. Wisconsin arrived on scene Sept.-Oct. 1944. Missouri finally made it in mid-November 1944.

Although Iowa steamed nearly 200,000 miles in the Pacific, she was drydocked and rehabbed in early 1945. Here's Iowa in mid-March 1945 looking pretty spiffy before returning to far western seas.

 

[cdnlngld]

My grandpa(deceased U.S. navy retired CW4) was aboard the USS North Hampton on that day. They were out to sea as part of the Enterprise task force. They got back to pearl the day after the attack. I remember grandpa talking about it once, he said the harbor was covered in an oil slick, fire and bodies everywhere. Said he hoped to never see anything like it again. After doing a little research I learned that same carrier group was part of the famous Doolittle raid immediately after.

The North Hampton was sunk in '42. He spent a night afloat keeping one of his shipmates from dying.