Battleship Row was the grouping of seven U.S. battleships in port at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. [1] These ships bore the brunt of the Japanese assault. They were moored next to Ford Island when the attack commenced. The ships were Arizona, California, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia. A repair ship (former coal ship), Vestal, was also present, moored next to Arizona. [1]
When the United States Navy decided in 1919 to establish a major naval base in Pearl Harbor, the southeastern side of Ford Island was ceded from control of the Army Air Service at the behest of Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. Due to its location in the center of the harbor, where the water was deepest and the potential for maneuvering greater than along the shores, this coast of Ford Island became the de facto mooring location for the Pacific Fleet's battleships and took on the nickname "Battleship Row".
Arizona, California, Oklahoma, and West Virginia were sunk during the attack. Arizona suffered the most serious damage and loss of life, an explosion in a forward magazine breaking the hull in two. Of the other four, West Virginia, and, to a lesser degree, Nevada, had serious damage. [1] Pennsylvania was in dry dock, making attack difficult, and, as a result, was relatively undamaged. Vestal was also damaged. Battleship Row was not visible from Hickam Field because of the thick black smoke. Following the attack, operations immediately commenced to refloat and repair the damaged ships. The first to be completed was Nevada on April 19, 1942. By the end of the war, all except Arizona and Oklahoma had returned to service. Each of the six surviving battleships saw service in the Pacific island hopping campaign. Nevada also served in the Atlantic and supported the invasion of Normandy. All six were decommissioned soon after the war was over. Nevada and Pennsylvania were expended in atomic bomb tests in the Pacific. [1] The rest were scrapped in the late 1950s. Oklahoma was eventually refloated but not repaired, and capsized and sank while being towed back to the mainland for scrapping. Arizona's hull remains a memorial, one of the most popular tourist attractions on the island. [1]
Utah was in port at Pearl Harbor, but was not moored with the rest of the battleships, as she had since been converted to a target ship. However, she was still sunk within a few minutes of the battle. [1]
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, just before 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The United States was a neutral country at the time; the attack led the U.S. to formally enter World War II on the side of the Allies the following day. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning.
The Type A Ko-hyoteki class was a class of Japanese midget submarines (Kō-hyōteki) used during World War II. They had hull numbers but no names. For simplicity, they are most often referred to by the hull number of the mother submarine. Thus, the midget carried by I-16-class submarine was known as I-16's boat, or "I-16tou."
USS Arizona was a battleship built for the United States Navy in the mid-1910s. Named in honor of the 48th state, she was the second and last ship in the Pennsylvania class. After being commissioned in 1916, Arizona remained stateside during World War I but escorted President Woodrow Wilson to the subsequent Paris Peace Conference. The ship was deployed abroad again in 1919 to represent American interests during the Greco-Turkish War. Two years later, she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet, under which the ship would remain for the rest of her career.
USS Nevada (BB-36), the third United States Navy ship to be named after the 36th state, was the lead ship of the two Nevada-class battleships. Launched in 1914, Nevada was a leap forward in dreadnought technology; four of her new features would be included on almost every subsequent US battleship: triple gun turrets, oil in place of coal for fuel, geared steam turbines for greater range, and the "all or nothing" armor principle. These features made Nevada, alongside her sister ship Oklahoma, the first US Navy "standard-type" battleships.
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was a Nevada-class battleship built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation for the United States Navy, notable for being the first American class of oil-burning dreadnoughts. Commissioned in 1916, the ship served in World War I as a part of Battleship Division Six, protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic. After the war, she served in both the United States Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet. Oklahoma was modernized between 1927 and 1929. In 1936, she rescued American citizens and refugees from the Spanish Civil War. On returning to the West Coast in August of the same year, Oklahoma spent the rest of her service in the Pacific.
USS Utah (BB-31/AG-16) was the second and final member of the Florida class of dreadnought battleships. The first ship of the United States Navy named after the state of Utah, she had one sister ship, Florida. Utah was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, laid down in March 1909 and launched in December of that year. She was completed in August 1911, and was armed with a main battery of ten 12-inch (305 mm) guns in five twin gun turrets.
USS Maryland (BB-46), also known as "Old Mary" or "Fighting Mary" to her crewmates, was a Colorado-class battleship. She was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the seventh state. She was commissioned in 1921, and serving as the flagship of the fleet, cruised to Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.
USS West Virginia (BB-48) was the fourth dreadnought battleship of the Colorado class, though because Washington was cancelled, she was the third and final member of the class to be completed. The Colorado class proved to be the culmination of the standard-type battleship series built for the United States Navy in the 1910s and 1920s; the ships were essentially repeats of the earlier Tennessee design, but with a significantly more powerful main battery of eight 16-inch (406 mm) guns in twin-gun turrets. West Virginia was built between her keel laying in 1920 and her commissioning into the Navy in 1923. The ship spent the 1920s and 1930s conducting routine training exercises, including the typically-annual Fleet Problems, which provided invaluable experience for the coming war in the Pacific.
USS Skate (SS-305) was a Balao-class submarine in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was used as a target ship in the 1946 atomic bomb tests and finally sunk as a target ship in October 1948.
USS Vestal (AR-4) was a repair ship in service with the United States Navy from 1913 to 1946. Before her conversion to a repair ship, she had served as a collier since 1909. Vestal served in both World Wars. She was damaged during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and received two battle stars for her World War II service.
The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is a United States Navy shipyard located in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 148 acres. It is one of just four public shipyards operated by the United States Navy. The shipyard is physically a part of Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam.
Cassin Young was a captain in the United States Navy who received the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Francis Charles Flaherty was an officer in the United States Naval Reserve and a recipient of America's highest military decoration — the Medal of Honor. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for helping his crewmates escape the sinking USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at the expense of his own life, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Hoga (YT-146/YTB-146/YTM-146) is a United States Navy Woban-class district harbor tug named after the Sioux Indian word for "fish." After World War II, the tug was known as Port of Oakland and then City of Oakland when she was a fireboat in Oakland, California.
Ensign John Charles England was an officer in the United States Navy. He died on USS Oklahoma after it was torpedoed and sank in the Japanese Empire's attack on Pearl Harbor. The circumstances of his death have been described as heroic, and he is the namesake of two U.S. Navy vessels. He was also awarded a Purple Heart. His remains were identified and returned home after seven decades and an intense inquiry.
USS Avocet (AM-19/AVP-4) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper initially acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.
USS Widgeon (AM-22/ASR-1) was an Lapwing-class minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing. Later converted to a submarine rescue ship. Widgeon was named by the Navy after the widgeon, a freshwater duck.
Ford Island is an islet in the center of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It has been known as Rabbit Island, Marín's Island, and Little Goats Island; its native Hawaiian name is Mokuʻumeʻume. The island had an area of 334 acres (135 ha) when it was surveyed in 1825, which was increased during the 1930s to 441 acres (178 ha) with fill dredged out of Pearl Harbor by the United States Navy to deepen the harbor.