USS Arizona Memorial – Virtual Tour

The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 sailors and Marines killed on USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The Memorial and commemorates the events of that day and the attack on Pearl Harbor that directly led to the United States’ involvement in World War II.

Accessible only by boat, the memorial structure straddles the sunken hull of the battleship. The battleship’s sunken remains were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

Following the end of World War II, Arizona’s wrecked superstructure was removed, and efforts began for the erect a memorial at the submerged hull.

The United States Navy specified the Memorial be in the form of a bridge floating above the ship.

The Memorial architecture is explained by its designer as:

“Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory …
The overall effect is one of serenity.
Overtones of sadness have been omitted,
to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses
… his innermost feelings.”

The USS Arizona Memorial is one of several sites in Hawaii that are part of the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

The national Memorial has three main parts, the entry, the assembly room, and the shrine. The assembly room features seven large open windows on each of the walls and the ceiling. The number of windows commemorates the date of the attack, the 7th of December.

The total number of 21 windows has also been seen as symbolically representing a 21-gun salute or as 21 Marines standing at eternal parade rest over the tomb of the fallen.

The Memorial also has an opening on the floor overlooking the sunken decks. Visitors pay their respects by tossing flowers in honor of the fallen sailors through this opening.

Any surviving crew members of Arizona or their families on their behalf can have their ashes interred within the wreck.

The visible remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona,
with an oil leakage from her fuel tanks which continues to the present day
and is called “The Tears of the Arizona”

Highlights of the USS Arizona Memorial

Historical information about the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941
Arizona’s 19,585-pound (8,884 kg) anchor is displayed at the visitor center’s entrance
The shrine is a marble wall that bears the names of all those killed on Arizona
The plaque that bears the names of thirty crew members who survived the 1941 sinking
The “tears of the Arizona,” an oil slick is visible on water’s surface above the sunken battleship.
The USS Missouri is docked behind, and in line, with USS Arizona
The visitor center museum with exhibits about the Pearl Harbor attack
A documentary film depicting the attack on Pearl Harbor
USS Bowfin, a World War II diesel submarine

USS Arizona Memorial

Museum: USS Arizona Memorial
City: Honolulu
State: Hawaii
Country: United States
Establish 1962
Type: Military and War Museum and Memorial
Location: Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii

USS Arizona Memorial

USS Arizona Memorial – 360 Views

USS Arizona Memorial- 360 Views

USS Arizona Memorial

A Tour of the Top Museums in the USA

USS Arizona Memorial

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“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Photo Credit: DoD photo by: PH3(AW/SW) JAYME PASTORIC, USN / Public domain; United States Navy Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Kittie VandenBosch / Public domain; James G. Howes / Attribution