Arizona BB-39 1915 (1:1250 Scale)

USS Arizona (BB-39) was the second and last of the Pennsylvania class of "super-dreadnought" battleships built for the United States Navy in the mid-1910s. Named in honor of the 48th state's recent admission into the union and commissioned in 1916, the ship remained stateside during World War I. Shortly after the end of the war, Arizona was one of a number of American ships that briefly escorted President Woodrow Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference. The ship was sent to Turkey in 1919 at the beginning of the Greco-Turkish War to represent American interests for several months. Several years later, she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet and remained there for the rest of her career.


Aside from a comprehensive modernization in 1929–1931, Arizona was regularly used for training exercises between the wars, including the annual Fleet Problems (training exercises). When an earthquake struck Long Beach, California, on 10 March 1933, Arizona's crew provided aid to the survivors. In July 1934, the ship was featured in a James Cagney film, Here Comes the Navy, about the romantic troubles of a sailor. In April 1940, she and the rest of the Pacific Fleet were transferred from California to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a deterrent to Japanese imperialism.

On 7 December 1941, Arizona was hit by Japanese torpedo bombers that dropped armor-piercing bombs during the attack on Pearl Harbor. After one of their bombs detonated in a magazine, she exploded violently and sank, with the loss of 1,177 officers and crewmen. Unlike many of the other ships sunk or damaged that day, Arizona was irreparably damaged by the force of the magazine explosion, though the Navy removed parts of the ship for reuse. The wreck still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor beneath the USS Arizona Memorial. Dedicated on 30 May 1962 to all those who died during the attack, the memorial straddles but does not touch the ship's hull.


Namesake: State of Arizona
Ordered: 4 March 1913
Builder: Brooklyn Navy Yard
Cost: $16,000,000
Laid down: 16 March 1914
Launched: 19 June 1915
Commissioned: 17 October 1916
Decommissioned: 29 December 1941
Stricken: 1 December 1942
Identification: Hull number: BB-39
Fate: Sunk during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941
Status: Memorial wreck


Class and type: Pennsylvania-class battleship

Displacement:
29,158 long tons (29,626 t) (standard)
31,917 long tons (32,429 t) (deep load)

Length: 608 ft (185.3 m)
Beam: 97 ft (29.6 m)
Draft: 29 ft 3 in (8.9 m) (deep load)
Installed power: 12 water-tube boilers; 29,366 shp (21,898 kW) (on sea trials)
Propulsion: 4 shafts; 4 sets of steam turbines
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range: 8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 1,087 (1,358 in 1931)

Armament:
4 × triple 14 in (356 mm) guns
22 × single 5 in (127 mm) guns
4 × single 3 in (76 mm) AA guns
2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

Armor:
Belt: 13.5–8 in (343–203 mm)
Bulkheads: 13–8 in (330–203 mm)
Barbettes: 13 in (330 mm)
Turrets: 18 in (457 mm)
Decks: 5 in (127 mm)
Conning tower: 16–14 in (406–356 mm)