Wikipedia:Today's featured article/December 7, 2011



USS Arizona was a Pennsylvania-class battleship built for the United States Navy in the mid-1910s. Commissioned in 1916, the ship remained stateside during World War I. In 1919 the vessel represented American interests in the Mediterranean during the Greco-Turkish War. Several years later, she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet and was assigned to it for the rest of her career. Arizona spent most of her time between the wars training, including participation in the annual Fleet Problems, and aided survivors of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. In 1940, she joined the Pacific Fleet in its new base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to deter the Japanese Empire. During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Arizona was bombed, exploded and sunk, killing 1,177 officers and crewmen. The next day, the United States declared war on Japan. Unlike many of the other ships sunk or damaged that day, Arizona was not repaired. Her wreck still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, and is the final resting place for the remains of most of those who died. They are commemorated by the USS Arizona Memorial which straddles her hull. (more...)

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