USS Arizona

Arizona during the 1920s
History
United States
Name	Arizona
Namesake	State of Arizona
Ordered	4 March 1913
Builder	Brooklyn Navy Yard
Laid down	16 March 1914
Launched	19 June 1915
Commissioned	17 October 1916
Decommissioned	29 December 1941[1]
Stricken	1 December 1942[1]
Identification	Hull number: BB-39
Fate	Sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941
Status	Memorial wreck
General characteristics (as completed)
Class and type	Pennsylvania-class battleship
Displacement	29,158 long tons (29,626 t) (standard)
Length	608 ft (185.3 m)
Beam	97 ft (29.6 m)
Draft	29 ft 3 in (8.9 m) (deep load)
Installed power	12 Babcock & Wilcox boilers 33,376 shp (24,888 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 sets of steam turbines
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range	8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	1,087 (1,358 in 1931)
Armament	4 × triple 14 in (356 mm) guns 22 × single 5 in (127 mm) guns 4 × single 3 in (76 mm) AA guns 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 13.5–8 in (343–203 mm) Bulkheads: 13–8 in (330–203 mm) Barbettes: 13 in (330 mm) Turrets: 18 in (457 mm) Decks: 5 in (127 mm) Conning tower: 16–14 in (406–356 mm)

USS Arizona was a battleship built for the United States Navy in the mid-1910s. Named in honor of the 48th state, she was the second and last ship in the Pennsylvania class. After being commissioned in 1916, Arizona remained stateside during World War I but escorted President Woodrow Wilson to the subsequent Paris Peace Conference. The ship was deployed abroad again in 1919 to represent American interests during the Greco-Turkish War. Two years later, she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet, under which the ship would remain for the rest of her career.

The 1920s and 1930s saw Arizona regularly deployed for training exercises, including the annual Fleet Problems, excluding a comprehensive modernization between 1929 and 1931. The ship supported relief efforts in the wake of a 1933 earthquake near Long Beach, California, and was later filmed for a role in the 1934 James Cagney film Here Comes the Navy before budget cuts led to significant periods in port from 1936 to 1938. In April 1940, the Pacific Fleet's home port was moved from California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a deterrent to Japanese imperialism.

On 7 December 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and Arizona was hit by several air-dropped armor-piercing bombs. One detonated an explosive-filled magazine, sinking the battleship and killing 1,177 of its officers and crewmen. Unlike many of the other ships attacked that day, Arizona was so irreparably damaged that it was not repaired for service in World War II. The shipwreck still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor beneath the USS Arizona Memorial. Dedicated to all those who died during the attack, the memorial is built across the ship's remains.