890 [REVY] Lord_Slayer Members 2,558 posts 13,777 battles Report post #1 Posted February 17, 2020 (edited) We all know that the majority of the USS Arizona still sits where she sank on Dec 7th, 1941. We know that her 2 aft turrets were removed to be made into shore batteries to defend Oahu, and that one was completed and test fired by V-J day. We also know her guns were salvaged from Turret 2 and I believe ended up being put back into service on either the Nevada or the Pennsylvania. Her 5in guns were also removed. But what about the rest of her? Spoiler After she was declared a constructive loss, not much was done with her other then removing the superstructure that remained above the water line. Spoiler She then remained pretty much 'as-is' until the Memorial was built. But what happened to the removed superstructure? The Maintop and much of the after portion of the superstructure was still intact. The Foretop itself was intact, though it was burnt out. Can't really say the forward superstructure was intact as it had pretty much melted, but the armored conning tower remained, though also burnt out. I had always kinda assumed that it had been scrapped out and rebuilt into other ships at some point. And then I saw a show on Pearl Harbor and found out a little known fact: Some USS Arizona's superstructure still exists. Spoiler Apparently, when the Memorial was built, the Arizona still had too much hull sticking out of the water. So it was removed and 'dumped' on Waipio Peninsula near the West Locke https://www.google.com/maps/@21.3430784,-157.9741879,61m/data=!3m1!1e3 Here it sits, and slowly rusts away. So what brought me to look into this? Someone on Facebook 'claimed' the Foretop still existed. Naturally, no evidence provided, no photos, and no one questioning this. But after reading the post, I did remember that show and the rusted wreckage. That led to me doing a quick search and finding out about the superstructure removed for the memorial. What happened to the parts removed during WW2? Those are likely long since remade into something else. But some of the ship is on dry land, and apparently available to donated to Memorials and museums and such. Edited February 17, 2020 by Lord_Slayer 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1,722 theLaalaa Members 1,818 posts 27,079 battles Report post #2 Posted February 17, 2020 (edited) It looks like this is the place, surrounded (since the above pictures were taken?) by fencing: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pearl+Harbor/@21.3430487,-157.9739727,54m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x7c006569de4312db:0xd77a90edb572a52d!8m2!3d21.3518051!4d-157.97621?hl=en&authuser=0 Edit.... sorry, didn't realize a link to maps was also in the above posting. Edited February 17, 2020 by theLaalaa Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2,091 [GWG] AVR_Project Members 7,283 posts 14,089 battles Report post #3 Posted February 17, 2020 I've salvaged a few newspapers from under linoleum laid out in the 1946-1949 era. You would think there never was any kind of war that had just happened. The nation was not only tired of war, but had turned into denial and didn't even talk about it. Famous ships were being scrapped away faster than a forest fire. Implements of war were being bulldozed into the ocean. Halsey tried to save the Enterprise.. nope. It was a modernistic time of jets, H-bombs, ICBMs, Sputnik... Cold War. The troops were so excited to be home that they never wanted to look back..... until... some time in the middle 1960s when their children wanted to learn about this thing called war... That's when all the museums and monuments went up. They went scrambling for every vessel that hadn't been hit by the torch. TV shows popped up in popularity. Silly shows that had killing with no blood and guts. My dad who fought at Nuremburg watched Combat. I recall him saying, "It ain't nothing like that". Then he looked at me and told me he never wants me to see that kind of war for real... Movies like 'Fury' 'Dunkirk', and 'Saving Private Ryan' shined light upon what he was talking about. Arizona would have been completely removed by the late 60s if it weren't for this 'museum' movement. Before that, it was a worthless hunk of scrap metal littering the harbor. War Grave ???? There was no such thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
912 [4HIM] Morpheous [4HIM] Beta Testers 2,156 posts 15,383 battles Report post #4 Posted February 17, 2020 Good information...never knew this...thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2,471 [REVY] Sventex Members 8,138 posts 6,118 battles Report post #5 Posted February 17, 2020 (edited) On 2/16/2020 at 5:30 PM, AVR_Project said: I've salvaged a few newspapers from under linoleum laid out in the 1946-1949 era. You would think there never was any kind of war that had just happened. The nation was not only tired of war, but had turned into denial and didn't even talk about it. Little reason for a newspaper to print war news when the war was long over. news /n(y)o͞oz/ noun newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent or important events. Edited February 18, 2020 by Sventex Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
