Ships & Submarines of Pearl Harbor

The Japanese plan for December 7, 1941 had one objective above all others: cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet at its moorings before American industrial capacity could be brought to bear. By 9:55 a.m., the harbor held the answer — four battleships sunk, four damaged, three cruisers and three destroyers wrecked, and 188 aircraft destroyed before they could leave the ground. The three U.S. aircraft carriers, by chance, were all at sea — a fact that would prove decisive within six months at Midway.

This collection profiles the ships of Battleship Row and the Japanese Kido Butai carrier force that struck them: USS Arizona, Oklahoma, West Virginia, California, Nevada, Tennessee, Maryland, and Pennsylvania on the American side; Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku for the Japanese strike group. You'll find ship-by-ship profiles, damage and salvage reports, and the ongoing questions about whether the Arizona will ever be raised from her resting place beneath the memorial. You'll also find articles on the U.S. submarine force, whose untouched boats at the Pearl Harbor submarine base would soon devastate Japanese merchant shipping across the Pacific in one of the most successful undersea campaigns in naval history.

To walk the deck of an actual WWII submarine, tour the USS Bowfin and the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum. The USS Battleship Missouri Memorial bookends the war — the deck where the Japanese formally surrendered.

From the wreckage on the harbor floor to the warships still afloat, the vessels below tell the war story in steel.