The USS Arizona Memorial is fully open following the completion of preservation work

Ships & Submarines of Pearl Harbor

The vessels that fought and fell the morning of December 7th.
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.

Facts about the USS Arizona (BB-39)

May 15, 2017 ·  
When people discuss the attack on Pearl Harbor, it’s difficult not to bring up the USS Arizona. Considered one of the greatest tragedies of that day, the mighty Pennsylvania-class battleship suffered multiple torpedo and bomb strikes, causing her to explode and sink to the harbor floor. In the chaos of the December 7th, 1941 Japanese […]
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Facts About the USS Utah

May 10, 2017 ·  
Though the USS Utah (BB-31) was reclassified and demilitarized into a target ship ten years prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, that didn’t save her from suffering the wrath of the Japanese. In the early minutes of the assault, the Utah was struck by two torpedoes and started flooding. Of her crew of 525, 64 officers […]
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The Technologies of Pearl Harbor

May 08, 2017 ·  
When humans first walked the Earth, their wars and conflicts were fought with sticks, stones, and whatever natural features they could use to their advantage. Far from the technology we know today, it was primitive but it served as well as it needed to. Keep that in mind as we look back a mere 75 years […]
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Turning Point: The Battle of Midway

May 06, 2017 ·  
  On December 7th, 1941, an aerial force of the Imperial Japanese Navy entered American airspace and commenced one of the worst attacks ever felt on American soil. The Territory of Hawaii came under fire as Japanese bombers and fighter planes fired off a relentless barrage, devastating the US Pacific Fleet. Over 2,400 Americans died […]
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The US Navy's Recovery After Pearl Harbor

May 05, 2017 ·  
There’s a reason Japan set its sights on Pearl Harbor. It wasn’t just to send a message to the United States, to show that it wouldn’t stand by while the Americans placed an embargo on the country’s trade. It was a preemptive maneuver to try and diminish the usefulness of the US Navy in the […]
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The Battleships of Pearl Harbor

April 22, 2017 ·  
There was a reason the Japanese had their sights set on Pearl Harbor: it was home to the US Pacific Fleet and they knew that the ships based there would prove a nuisance in the Pacific. Though no aircraft carriers were present on the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked other targets in their efforts to […]
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Where the Japanese Went Wrong at Pearl Harbor

April 21, 2017 ·  
Looking at the events of Pearl Harbor, it may seem like the United States suffered the greatest blow it could have that day, but in retrospect, the outcome could have been far worse. The United States was able to recover from the blow quickly—something Japan had not counted on—and become a formidable foe in the […]
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USS Utah: From Battleship to Memorial

April 20, 2017 · Chris 
When you visit the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, you may hear of a memorial that’s only open to military personnel. On the opposite side of Ford Island, away from the USS Arizona Memorial and the Battleship Missouri, is the memorial for the men of the USS Utah (BB-31), a battleship that, since […]
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All-in-One Pass to Pearl Harbor

April 14, 2017 ·  
Over 75 years ago, the United States mainland was waking up to news that Japan had attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor. Panic set in and speculation spread throughout the nation; most importantly, a sense of patriotism erupted across the country. Back at Pearl Harbor, over 2,400 American sailors had died and multiple battleships had […]
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USS Nevada - The Navy’s First Super-Dreadnought

April 11, 2017 ·  
On December 7th, 1941, eight battleships were moored in a grouping at Pearl Harbor, making up what’s become known as Battleship Row. The USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma, two of Pearl Harbor’s ill-fated vessels, were moored there and received the brunt of the Japanese attack, but they were far from the only tragedies felt that […]
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