Last update May 27, 1998
USS ARIZONA (BB-39)
GENERAL DATA
Source: USS Arizona Ship Data/A Photographic History
The USS Arizona (BB-39) was laid down on March 16, 1914, launched on June 19, 1915, and commissioned on October 17, 19916. The Arizona departed New York on November 16 for shakedown training off the Virginia Capes.
Within months the United States entered World War I. The Arizona operated out of Norfolk throughout the war, serving as a gunnery training ship and patrolling the waters of the eastern seaboard. The Arizona served as part of the honor escort convoying American President Woodrow Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference in December of 1918. In 1929 she was in yard hands for 20 months for alterations. She was placed back in full commission on March 1, 1931. Over the next decade, Arizona continued to operate with the Battle Fleet out of San Pedro, California, and too part in a series of fleet problems that took the ship all over the Pacific and to the west coast of the United States. The United States Fleet was retained in Hawaiian waters in 1941 and based at Pearl Harbor. Over the next 5 months , she continued exercises and battle problems in the Hawaiian operation area. The Arizona moored in Pearl Harbor on December 5, 1941. On the morning of December 7, among the men on board the Arizona were Admiral Issac Kidd and the battleship's commander, Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh. Shortly before 0800, Japanese aircraft from 6 fleet carriers struck the Pacific Fleet as it lay in port at Pearl Harbor. Arizona's Air raid alarm went off about 0755, and the ship went into general quarters soon thereafter. A cataclysmic explosion ripped through the forward part of the ship, touching off fierce fires that burned for 3 days. The blast that destroyed the Arizona and sank her at her berth alongside of Ford Island, consumed the lives of 1,177 of the 1,513 men attached, representing over half the casualties suffered by the entire fleet on the "Day of Infamy." On March 7, 1950, Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Commander-in-chief of the Pacific fleet at that time, instituted the raising of colors over Arizona's remains.
NAME: Arizona
HULL NUMBER: BB-39
BUILDER: New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York
KEEL LAID: March 16, 1914
LAUNCHED: June 19, 1916
COMMISSIONED: October 17, 1916
DIMENSIONS: 608' 0" Overall length
600' 0" Waterline length
97' 1/2" Maximum Beam - 1916
106' 2 3/4" Maximum Beam - 1941
DISPLACEMENT: 31,400 tons Standard - 1916
32,567 tons Full Load - 1916
32,600 tons Standard - 1941
37,654 tons Full Load - 1941
RECONSTRUCTED: Norfolk Navy Yard, July 1929 - February 1931
RECOMMISSIONED: March 1, 1931
SUNK: December 7, 1941
Stricken from Naval Register December 1, 1942
GUNS: Twelve 14" Guns, three per turret (2 fore/2aft)
DECKING: Main decking made of Teak wood
ANCHORS: Two 19,585 pound anchors, 1 port - 1 starboard
(one is on display at the USS Arizona Memorial
Visitor Center, one is in Phoenix, Arizona, at
the state capitol)
BOILERS: 1941 - SIX Bureau Express type; 300 psi/472
degrees F operating temperature.
MAXIMUM SPEED: 21.0 knots - 1916
20.7 knots - 1941
MASTS: 1916 - 2 cage masts (Main and Fore)
(After reconstruction - 2 tripod masts)
PROPELLERS: FOUR, three bladed, 12' 7" diameter - 1941
COMPLEMENT: 1941 - total 1,731 (92 officers and warrants,
1,639 enlisted normally - December 7, 1941
had 1,512 men.)
BELLS: The USS Arizona had two bells. Currently one
is on display at the USS Arizona Memorial, the
other is at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
MEMORIAL AUTHORIZED: May 16, 1958
MEMORIAL COMPLETED AND DEDICATED: Memorial Day, 1962
BACK TO USS ARIZONA MEMORIALAMMA HOMEPAGE | BOOKSTORE | MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM