Various non-combat operations dotted her 1930s activities and sea trials were undertaken in Rockland, Maine before she joined her sister ship for service along the American west coast. Foreshadowing the attack on Pear Harbor, Hawaii still some years off, USS Arizona participated in a 1932 scenario which simulated a successful aerial naval attack on the harbor. She then joined in relief efforts at Long Beach, California following an earthquake.
In mid-1940, the vessel joined others in the Pacific Fleet to be based in Hawaiian waters as a show of force against possible Japanese aggression. Another overhaul greeted the warship from October 1940 to January of the following year at Puget Sound Naval Yard of Bremerton, Washington. She received more AA guns during the process. Following some gunnery work in early December 1941, she berthed with others along Ford Island in Pearl Harbor.
On December 7th, 1941 aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) struck in the Harbor in an effort to silence the USN Pacific carriers (which were not in harbor during the attack). Arizona received bomb hits from several IJN attack aircraft in the early going as battle stations had sounded and some attempts were made to thwart the assault. Four bombs impacted directly with three falling close by. It is believed that the last bomb hit caused the fatal detonation of her magazine stores near the bow of the ship. Of the 1,512 crew on the warship during the attack, 1,177 were killed from this massive blast alone. On fire and heavily damaged, Arizona's fighting days were clearly behind her as she sunk where she berthed - taking more lives with her. The attack on the Harbor proved a tactical victory for the Japanese but missed out on destruction of the American carrier fleet in the region. It also led to the formal declaration of war by the U.S. government on the nation of Japan that would forever change the course of the war.
Unable to be raised for possible salvage, she was instead saved as a memorial. She was struck from the Naval Register on December 1st, 1942 and had her superstructure removed for scrap. Her aft guns were recovered and served as coastal guns on Oahu and on the Mokapu Peninsula over Kaneohe Bay. The guns of Turret No. 2 were mounted on USS Nevada during 1944 and were appropriately used in anger against Japanese forces at both Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Arizona's forward turrets were allowed to remain on the sunken vessel.
The USS Arizona memorial remains both a somber and popular destination for many despite the decades that have passed since the Pearl Harbor attack - oil still trickles from her severed, battered hull. In a touching tribute, survivors of the USS Arizona attack are allowed interment in the hull by way of ceremony and specially-trained divers which allows past crewmembers to join their comrades for a final voyage.
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