The battle ships of Pearl Harbor

In October 1941 approval was given by the Japanese naval general staff to a plan devised by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to crush the American navy at Pear Harbor, Hawaii. The plan called for a surprise air strike to attack the battleships, cruisers, and airfields.

Shortly after dawn on December 7, 1941 and two hundred miles north of the island of Oahu, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo launched the attack from six aircraft carriers, twenty-four supporting ships and a group of submarines that were to sink any American ships that escaped the strike force. The first wave of fighters, dive-bombers and torpedo bombers consisted of 181 planes.

As the crew of the USS Utah (AG-16) raised the flag at 8:00, the first wave of bombers hit. Finding the battleships sitting like ducks in a shooting gallery, the loss of human lives and ships along Battleship Row were staggering in the first half hour alone. Within minutes and against orders of Japanese flight commander Lt. Heita Matsamura, the life of this grand old ship that began December 23, 1909, would be over by 8:10.

The USS West Virginia (BB-48) quickly sank after receiving six torpedo hits. It would be May 17, 1942 before the ship would be pumped out after being patched. During the initial repairs, the bodies of 70 crewmen were found as well as a calendar that had days scratched off all the way to December 23 1941.

Before being decommissioned on January 9, 1947, the USS West Virginia would receive five battle stars for meritorious service.

The heroic USS Maryland (BB-46) received two hits by bombs during the attack and was able to bring all her anti-aircraft guns into action against the Japanese planes. Shielded from heavier damage by the USS Oklahoma (BB-37), the crew was also able to send firefighting parties to aide the other ships. She would return from the attack at Pearl Harbor to perform admirably during the remainder of the war. Decommissioned on April 3, 1947, she would receive seven battle stars.

The USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was quickly hit by five torpedoes and began to turn turtle. Within twenty minutes she came to rest with her masts touching the bottom of the harbor floor. Her keel would be clear and her starboard side showing. Twenty officers and 395 enlisted men were either killed or missing and thirty-two would be trapped inside the hull. Thanks to the heroic efforts of a civilian yard worker by the name of Julio DeCastro, these men would be rescued. Although extensive salvage efforts were made, the USS Oklahoma would be decommissioned shortly after entering dry dock on September 1, 1944.

Thanks to being moored alone, the USS Nevada (BB-36) became the only ship to be able to maneuver and attempt to head out to sea. Her engineers were able to get steam up and the gunners began firing upon the Japanese bombers. Before being able to leave the harbor itself, she was struck by two torpedoes and three bombs. Fearing the ship may sink and block the channel the captain gave the order to beach her at Hospital Point. The USS Nevada lost 60 of her crewmembers that day. Refloated in February 1942, she served valiantly during the war, was inspected and reassigned as a target ship during the Bikini atomic experiments. The toughness of this ship showed through once again as she survived the tests and returned to Pearl Harbor to be decommissioned on August 29, 1946. With her final fate decided, aerial torpedoes near Hawaii sank her on July 31, 1948. The USS Nevada received seven battle stars for service during World War II.

Of the battleships along the Row that morning, the USS Tennessee (BB-43) had the lightest damage. Although her engineers were able to get steam up, the Tennessee couldn’t get underway due to being trapped by the capsized Oklahoma and the sunken West Virginia. Struck by only two bombs, the USS Tennessee was able to head for repairs on December 16, 1941. Surviving many fierce battles during World War II, she would earned a Navy Unit Commendation and 10 battles stars for World War II service and be placed in “mothballs” on February 14, 1947.

The flagship of the Pacific Fleet was the USS CALIFORNIA (BB-44) was moored at the southernmost area of Battleship Row when the attack began. She had been informed of a material inspection that was to begin that morning and suffered great damage since watertight integrity was not at its best. Shortly after 8:00, a bomb hit and set off a magazine of antiaircraft ammunition that was stored below decks, killing about 50 men. As a second bomb destroyed her bow plates, the incoming water could not be held back and the California sank into the mud with only her superstructure to be seen. After the attack, it was found that she had lost ninety-eight members of her crew. Refloated on March 26, 1942, she headed for Puget Sound Naval yard for repairs. For valiant service during the war, she received seven battle stars and was decommissioned on Valentine’s Day, 1947.

The most famous of all the battleships on Battleship Row that morning, the USS Arizona (BB-39) received a mortal blow when an armor-piercing bomb hit the battleship and promptly ignited the ship’s black powder magazine. This explosion caused the adjacent smokeless powder magazines to ignite as well. The cataclysmic explosion that followed tore through the bow of the ship and set off fires that burned for two full days. Ships and the nearby area of Ford Island suffered damages from the debris that showered down after the explosion. The commander of the USS Arizona, Capt. Van Valkenburgh and Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd were aboard when the ship was struck. Both officers received posthumous Medal of Honor awards, as did several other members of the Arizona’s crew. Of the 1,400 men on board the ship that morning, 1,103 went down with the ship and their bodies were never removed. Most of the remaining superstructure of the ship was removed and the Arizona was left where she lay. On March 7, 1950 the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Radford started the tradition of raising the colors over the ship’s remains. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy were instrumental in having it designated a national shrine and on May 30, 1962, the memorial for the USS Arizona was dedicated.

At the end of December 7th, all of the battleships at Pearl Harbor that morning had received damage with five having been sunk. Of the other ninety ships present, including cruisers and destroyers, eleven were also badly damaged and 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians lost their lives.