U.S. Navy announces updates for preservation of Pearl Harbor’s USS Arizona

One out of every three sailors and Marines who died in the 1941 attack are considered to have their final resting place in the USS Arizona, which is deemed a war grave. The USS Arizona Memorial was established at Ford Island, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, in 1962. The U.S. Navy has disclosed its initiative for a preservation project for the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, in collaboration with the National Park Service. This project involves the removal of its deteriorating mooring platforms. The USS Arizona, a battleship of the Pennsylvania class that entered service in 1916, was hit directly by Japanese forces in December 1941 while stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Within minutes, the ship sank, resulting in the loss of 1,177 crew members out of 1,512. About 900 of these individuals are still interred within the ship, which is now a war grave. Although the ship will remain submerged and untouched, efforts are necessary to ensure the preservation of the site, now home to a national memorial, and to prevent further harm to the environment. Following the attack, mooring platforms were attached to the sunken vessel in 1942 to assist in the salvage of the ship’s weaponry and equipment to support the war effort after the U.S. entered World War II. The removal of these platforms is now being overseen by Captain Lee Shannon, who praised the Navy and the people of Hawaii for their exceptional salvage efforts during and after the war. The deteriorating mooring platforms pose a risk to the ship, the memorial established on the site in 1962, and the nearby environment. An incident in October 2023, in which one of the platforms partially collapsed, highlighted concerns about their stability. The Navy has therefore decided to install a temporary mooring system to aid in the removal of the aging platforms. This temporary system will also be taken out once the operation is completed. Containment buoys and anchors will be placed in the waters surrounding the USS Arizona Memorial site starting May 19 to ensure the safe execution of the removal operation later this year. The impact of the preservation work on the site’s visitors, who number around 2 million annually and can only access the site by boat, remains uncertain.