USS Arizona (BB-39) was a Pennsylvania -class battleship of the United States Navy. The vessel was the first to be named "Arizona". This was done specifically in honor the 48th state's admission into the union, which had happened just the year before the battleship was authorized by Congress. She was commissioned in 1916 and served stateside during World War I. Arizona is best known for her cataclysmic and dramatic sinking, with the loss of 1,177 lives, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the event that brought about US involvement in World War II. The wreck was not salvaged, and continues to lie at the floor of the harbor. It is the site of a memorial to those who perished on that day.
On 4 March 1913, Congress authorized the construction of Arizona , the second and last of the Pennsylvania class of "super-dreadnought" battleships. Her keel was laid at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 16 March 1914. She was launched on 19 June 1915, sponsored by Miss Esther Ross—daughter of a prominent Arizona pioneer, Mr. W.W. Ross of Prescott, Arizona. Her remaining machinery was installed, which included new Parson turbines, and she was then commissioned at her builder's yard on 17 October 1916, Captain John D. McDonald in command.
World War I
Arizona departed New York on 16 November 1916 for shakedown training off the Virginia Capes and Newport, Rhode Island, proceeding thence to Guantánamo Bay. She returned north to Norfolk on 16 December to test fire her battery and to conduct torpedo-defense exercises in Tangier Sound. The battleship returned to her builder's 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 (BatDiv 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 owing to a scarcity of fuel oil in the British Isles — the base of other coal-fueled American battleships sent to aid the Grand Fleet.
Inter-war period
A week after the armistice of 11 November 1918 stilled the guns on the western front, Arizona stood out of Hampton Roads for the Isle of Portland, England and reached her destination on 30 November, putting to sea with her division on 12 December to rendezvous with 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 President Wilson to Brest, France on 13 December.
In a precursor of World War II's Operation Magic Carpet, Arizona embarked 238 homeward-bound veterans and sailed from Brest for New York on 14 December. She arrived off Ambrose light station on the afternoon of Christmas Day. The next day, she passed in review before Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, who was embarked in 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 Guantánamo Bay with the fleet on 4 February, and arrived on the 8th. After engaging in battle practices and maneuvers there, the battleship sailed for Trinidad on 17 March, arriving there five days later for a three-day port visit. She then returned to Guantánamo Bay on 29 March for 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, ultimately making arrival there on 21 April.
The battleship stood out of Brest harbor on 3 May, bound for Asia Minor, and arrived at the port of Smyrna (later known as İzmir) eight days later to protect American lives there during the Greek occupation of that port—an occupation resisted by gunfire from Turkish nationals. 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 onboard Arizona until conditions permitted them to return ashore. Departing Smyrna on 9 June for Istanbul, Turkey, the battleship carried the United States consul-at-large, Leland F. 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 (including removal of six of the original 22 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal guns) soon thereafter, the battleship cleared that port on 6 January 1920, to join BatDiv 7 for winter and spring maneuvers in the Caribbean. She operated out of Guantánamo Bay during this period, and also visited Bridgetown, Barbados in the British West Indies, and Colón, Panama in the Canal Zone, before she sailed north for New York, arriving there on 1 May. Departing New York on 17 May, Arizona operated on the Southern Drill Grounds, and then visited Norfolk and Annapolis, Maryland 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 classification symbol BB-39 on 17 July, and on 23 August she became flagship for Commander Battleship Division 7 (ComBatDiv 7), Rear Admiral Edward V. Eberle.
Sailing from New York on 4 January 1921, Arizona joined the fleet as it sailed for Guantánamo Bay and the Panama Canal Zone. Arriving at Colón, Panama, on the Atlantic side of the isthmian waterway, on 19 January, Arizona traveled through the Panama Canal for the first time on that day, arriving at Panama Bay on the 20th. Underway for Callao, Peru on the 22nd, the fleet arrived there on the 31st for a six-day visit. While she was there, Arizona was visited by the president of Peru. Underway for Balboa on 5 February, Arizona arrived at her destination on the 14th. Crossing through the canal again the day after Washington's birthday, the battleship reached Guantánamo Bay on the 26th. She operated thence until 24 April, 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 bombings of 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 and 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 José de San Martín, who had liberated Peru from the Spanish a century before.
Sailing for Panama Bay on 3 August, Arizona became flagship for BatDiv 7 when Vice Admiral McDonald transferred his flag to Wyoming and Rear Admiral Josiah S. McKean broke his flag on board as commander of the division on 10 August at Balboa. The following day, the battleship sailed for San Diego, arriving there on 21 August.
Over the next 14 years, Arizona alternately served as flagship for BatDivs 2, 3 and 4. Based at San Pedro, California during this period, Arizona operated with the fleet in the operating areas off the coast of southern California or in the 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 crossed through the Panama Canal on 7 February for Guantánamo Bay, whence she operated through April. She then proceeded to Norfolk Navy Yard, entering it on 4 May, to prepare for modernization.
Placed in reduced commission on 15 July, Arizona remained in yard hands for the next 20 months; tripod masts, surmounted by three-tiered fire control tops, replaced the old hyperboloid cage masts; the number of 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal guns was reduced to 12 and re-positioned one deck higher, and eight 5 in (130 mm)/25 cal anti-aircraft guns replaced the 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns with which she had been equipped. She also received additional armor to protect her vitals from the fall of shot an
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