USS Arizona underway.
The Navy will name the first two Block V Virginia-class attack submarines in honor of the crews of a pair of battleships forever enshrined in the memory of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Aerial photograph taken from a Japanese plane during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Battleship row is seen near the top, with, from left to right, USS Nevada (BB-36); USS Arizona (BB-39) with USS Vestal (AR-4) outboard; USS Tennessee (BB-43) with USS West Virginia (BB-48) outboard; USS Maryland (BB-46) with USS Oklahoma (BB-37) outboard; USS Neosho (AO-23) and USS California (BB-44). National Archives Photo
On the 76th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy is posthumously honoring two sailors from USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and USS Vestal (AR-4) for bravery.
USS Arizona underway.
The Imperial Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 inflicted a brutal blow on the U.S. Pacific fleet but only two active ships were a total loss – U.S.S. Oklahoma and U.S.S. Arizona. Oklahoma was eventually refloated but was too badly damaged to repair and return to service. Arizona, however, had been devastated by a cataclysmic explosion caused by a bomb crashing through the deck and igniting the ship’s forward magazine. Nearly 80 percent of Arizona’s 1,512 crewmen were lost with most of them being entombed in the sunken ship. Read More
