The USS Arizona Memorial stands over the sunken remains of the Battleship Arizona. At approximately 8:06 a.m., 11 minutes after the attack on Pearl Harbor began by the Japanese, the USS Arizona exploded after being hit by a 1,760 armor-piercing bomb that dropped through its front deck and into its forward ammunition magazine. In less than nine minutes she had sank, coming to her final resting place on the bottom of Pearl Harbor and taking with her 1,177 sailors with her.
The 184-foot-long Memorial structure you see today was constructed in 1961 and dedicated in 1962. The architect of the Memorial, Alfred Preis, commented on the design, "wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat over 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 flagpole aboard the memorial is attached to the severed mainmast of the sunken battleship as a special tribute to the ship and its lost crew.
On board the memorial you can visit the Shrine room-in here you can find the names of the 1,177 men who lost their lives on board the Arizona that morning. You can also see the names of the Arizona survivors who choose to have their ashes interred within the ship after they pass away, bringing them back to be with their fellow sailors who lost their lives Sunday morning, December 7, 1941.
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