| Act of 4 March 1913: |
"._._. The President
is hereby authorized to have constructed one first-class battleship, carrying
as heavy armor and as powerful armament as any vessel of its class, to have
the highest practicable speed and greatest desirable radius of action, and
to cost, exclusive of armor and armament, not to exceed $7,425,000:
Provided, that the battleship herein authorized shall be built in
a Government navy yard.
._._." |
| The second U.S. ship built to bear the name Arizona (BB-39)
was laid down on 16 March 1914 at the New York Navy Yard; launched on 19
June 1915; sponsored by Miss Esther Ross, daughter of a prominent Arizona
pioneer citizen, Mr. W. W. Ross of Prescott, Arizona; and commissioned at
her builder;s yard on 17 October 1916, Capt. John D. McDonald in
command. |
| Arizona departed New York on 16 November 1916 for shakedown
training off the Virginia capes and Newport, proceeding thence to Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba. Returning 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 then yard on that date for Norfolk, arriving there on the
following day to join Battleship Division 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 form the Virginia
capes to New York. An oil-burner, she had not been deployed to European waters
owing th a scarcity of fuel oil in the British Isles -- the base of other
American battleships sent to aid the Grand Fleet. |
| A week after the armistice of 11 November 1918 stilled the guns
on the western front, Arizona stood out of Hampton Roads for Portland,
England, and reached her destination on 30 November 1918, putting to sea
with her division on 12 December to rendezvous with the transport George
Washington, the ships 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 the American President
to Brest, France, on 13 December 1918. |
| Embarking 238 homeward-bound veterans in the precursor of a "Magic
Carpet" operation of a later war, Arizona sailed from Breast for New
York on 14 December, and arrived off Ambrose Light on the afternoon of Christmas
Day, 1918. The next day, she passed in review before Secretary of the Navy
Josephus Daniels, who was embarked in the yacht 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 Guantanamo Bay with the Fleet on 4 February
1919, 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 Guantanamo Bay
on 29 March for a brief period, sailing for Hampton Roads on 9 April. Arriving
at her destination of the morning of the 12th, she got underway late that
afternoon for Brest, France, ultimately making arrival there on 21 April
1919. |
| The battleship stood out of Brest harbor on 3 May, bound for Asia
Minor, and arrived at the port of Smyrna 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
on board Arizona until conditions permitted them to return ashore.
Departing Smyrna on 9 June for Constantinople, Turkey, the battleship carried
the United States consul-at-large, Leland E. 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 soon thereafter, the
battleship cleared that port on 6 January 1920 to join Battleship Division
7 for winter and spring maneuvers in the Caribbean. She operated out of
Guantanamo Bay during this period, and also visited Bridgetown, Barbados,
in the British West Indies, and Colon, in the Canal Zone, before she sailed
north for New York, arriving there on 1 May 1920. Departing New York on 17
May, Arizona operated on the Southern Drill Grounds, and then visited
Norfolk and Annapolis, 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 designation, BB-39, on 17 July 1920,
and, on 23 August, she became flagship for Commander Battleship Division
7, Rear Admiral Edward V. Eberle. |
| Sailing from New York on 4 January 1921, Arizona joined
the fleet as it sailed for Guantanamo Bay and the Panama Canal Zone. Arriving
at Colon, on the Atlantic side of the isthmian waterway, on 19 January,
Arizona transited the Panama Canal for the first time on that day,
arriving at Panama Bay on the 20th. Underway for Callao, Peru, on the 22and,
the fleet arrived there nine days later, 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 1921, Arizona arrived at her destination
on the 14th; transiting the canal again the day after Washington's Birthday,
the battleship reached Guantanamo Bay on the 26th. She operated thence until
24 April 1921, 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 War4my and Navy
observers to witness the experimental bombings of the ex-German submarine
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 San Martin, who had liberated Peru from
the Spanish yoke a century before. |
| Sailing for Panama Bay on 3 August, Arizona became flagship
for Battleship Division 7 when Vice Admiral McDonald transferred his flag
to Wyoming (BB-33) 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
1921. |
| Over the next 14 years, Arizona alternately served as flagship
for Battleship Division 2, 3 or 4. Based at San Pedro, during this period,
Arizona operated with the fleet in the operating areas of the coast
of souther5n 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; form the West Indies to the waters between Hawaii and the
west coast. |
| Following her participation in Fleet Problem IX (January 1929),
Arizona transited the Panama Canal on 7 February for Guantanamo Bay,
whence she operated through April. She then proceeded to Norfolk Navy Yard,
entering it on 4 May 1929 to prepare for modernization. |
| Placed in reduced commission on 15 July 1929, Arizona remained
in yard hands for the next 20 months; tripod masts, surmounted by three-tiered
fire control tops, replaced the old cage masts; 5-inch, 25 caliber antiaircraft
guns replaced the 3-inch, 50s with which she had been equipped. She also
received additional armor to protect her vitals from the fall of shot and
blisters to protect her farm torpedo or near-miss damage from bombs. In addition,
she received new boilers as well as new main and cruising turbines. Ultimately,
she was placed in full commission on 1 March 1931. |
| A little over two weeks later, on 19 March 1931, President Herbert
C. Hoover embarked on board the recently modernized battleship, and sailed
for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, standing out to sea from Hampton
Roads that day. Returning on 29 March, Arizona disembarked the Chief
Executive and his party at Hampton Roads, and then proceeded north to Rockland,
Maine, to run her post-modernization standardization trials. After a visit
to Boston, the battleship dropped down to Norfolk, whence she sailed for
San Pedro on 1 August 1931, assigned to Battleship Division 3, Battle
Force. |
| Over the next decade, Arizona continued to operate with
the Battle Fleet, and took part in the succession of fleet problems that
took the fleet form the waters of the northern pacific and Alaska to those
surrounding the West Indies, and into the waters east of the lesser
Antilles. |
| On 17 September 1938, Arizona became the flagship for
Battleship Division 1, when Rear Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (later to become
Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet) broke his flag on board. Detached 27 May
1939 to become Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Nimitz was relieved on
that day by Rear Admiral Russell Wilson. |
| Arizona's last fleet problem was XXI. At its conclusion,
the United States Fleet was retained in Hawaiian waters, based at Pearl Harbor.
She operated in the Hawaiian Operating Area until lat that summer, when she
returned to Long Beach on 30 September 1940. She was then overhauled at the
Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, into the following year. Her
last flag change-of-command occurred on 23 January 1941, when Rear Admiral
Wilson was relieved as Commander, Battleship Division 1 by Rear Admiral Isaac
C. Kidd. |
| The battleship returned to Pearl Harbor on 3 February 1941 to
resume the intensive training maintained by the Pacific Fleet. She made one
last visit to the west coast, clearing "Pearl" on 11 June 1941 for Long Beach,
ultimately returning to her Hawaiian base on 8 July. Over the next five months,
she continued exercises and battle problems of various kinds on type training
and tactical exercises in the Hawaiian operating area. She underwent a brief
overhaul at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard comencing on 27 October 1941, receiving
the foundation for a search radar atop her foremast. She conducted her last
training in company with her division mates Nevada (BB-36) and
Oklahoma (BB-37), conducting a night firing exercise on the night
of 4 December 1941. All three ships moored at quays ("keys") along Ford Island
on the 5th. |
| Scheduled to receive tender availability, Arizona took
the repair ship Vestal (AR-4) alongside on Saturday, the 6th. The
tow ships were thus moored together on the morning of 7 December; among the
men on board Arizona that morning were Rear Admiral Kidd and the
battleship's captain, Capt. Franklin van Valkenburgh. |
| Shortly before 0800, Japanese aircraft from six fleet carriers
struck the Pacific Fleet as it lay in port at Pearl Harbor, and in the ensuing
two attack waves, wrought devastation on the Battle Line and on air and military
facilities defending Pearl Harbor. |
| On board Arizona, the ship's air raid alarm went off about
0755, and the ship went to general quarters soon thereafter. Insofar as it
could be determined soon after the attack, the ship sustained eight bomb
hits; one hit on the forecastle, glancing off the face plate of turret II
to penetrating the deck to explode in the black powder magazine, which in
turn set off adjacent smokeless powder magazines. A cataclysmic explosion
ripped through the forward part of the ship, touching off fierce fires that
burned for two days; debris showered down on Ford Island in the
vicinity. |
| Acts of heroism on the part of Arizona's officers and men
were many, headed by those of Lt. Comdr. Samuel G. Fuqua, the ship's damage
control officer, whose coolness in attempting to quell the fires and get
survivors off the ship earned him the Medal of Honor. Posthumous awards of
the Medal of Honor also went to Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd, the first flag officer
to be killed in the Pacific war, and to Capt. Van Valkenburgh, who reached
the bridge and was attempting to fight his ship when the bomb hit on the
magazines destroyed her. |
| The blast that destroyed Arizona and sank her at
her berth alongside of Ford Island consumed the lives of 1,103 of the 1,400
on board at the time -- over half of the casualties suffered by the entire
fleet on the "Day of Infamy." |
| Placed "in ordinary" at Pearl Harbor on 29 December 1941
Arizona was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1942.
Her wreck remains at Pearl Harbor, a memorial to the men of her crew lost
that December morn in 1941. On 7 March 1950, Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Commander
in Chief of the Pacific Fleet at the time, institute the raising of colors
over Arizona's remains, and legislation during the administration
of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy designated the wreck
a national shrine. A memorial was built; it was dedicated on 30 May
1962. |
 |
| Arizona (BB-39) was awarded one battle star for her
service in World War II. |
|
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