In the years to follow, those 335 survivors would go on to new duties, new lives. Just 335 from the big battleship would survive the defining moment of that day, that lifetime. More than half the military deaths, 1,177 sailors and Marines, were on the Arizona, the greatest loss of life ever on a U.S. Fifteen hundred men, rising to a new day.īy the end of the day, the attack would kill more than 2,000 military personnel and civilians at Pearl Harbor. 7, 1941, the men of the Arizona went about their business aboard a fearsome battleship moored in a cramped naval port on the southern coastline of Oahu. No one would scrub decks or holystone the teak wood on the quarterdeck, not on Sunday.įor two hours and 25 minutes on Dec. Some of the ranking officers made their way to the wardroom for coffee. The men in the mess hall served breakfast. Supply crews had filled the oil tanks on the Arizona, which was scheduled to head out to the mainland in the coming week.Ī crew set up chairs for church. Its crew had finished odd fix-it jobs on Saturday. The repair ship Vestal floated to the port side, tied to the Arizona. The first boat ashore left early, barely seven hours after the last boat tied up the night before with stragglers racing curfew. The weather was warm, so the uniform of the day was white shorts and a T-shirt. On board Sunday, some of the crew dressed for liberty in Honolulu, their first time off the ship in days.
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A week of watching, waiting, chasing ghosts, ever on alert. The big battleship had steamed into Pearl Harbor on Friday after almost a week at sea, a week of target practice and maneuvers with other vessels in the Pacific Fleet. But on a Sunday, the USS Arizona was slower to awaken.