Pearl Harbor, west of Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, is a U.S. Navy deep-water naval base and headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is also Hawaii’s most popular tourism location. A variety of Pearl Harbor naval tours exist to take you to the numerous military memorials and museums commemorating the attack by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, which brought the U.S. into World War II.
Pearl Harbor [was originally|began as] a large, shallow bay teeming with oysters. It was called Wai Momi or Pu’uloa by the native Hawaiians, who considered it the home of the shark goddess Ka’ahupahau and her brother Kahi’uka. To allow easy access for canoes and larger vessels, the Ewa chief Keaunui widened and deepened the Pearl River estuary. After the annexation of Hawaii in the 19th century, the Americans took possession of Pearl Harbor in 1887, designating it “Naval Station, Hawaii”.
The Attack’s Aftermath
The American navy lost 9 ships, and 21 warships were severely damaged. Not only did 68 civilians die, but the total death toll reached 2,350. [In addition, |]1,178 non-casualties were injured. Out of the military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were crew of the USS Arizona.
The Attack: How it Happened
Aircraft and midget submarines of the Japanese Navy began an attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at 6:05am on December 7, 1941. Six Japanese carriers under the command of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto launched a first wave of 183 airplanes, hitting outlying Hawaii-based ships and military installations at 7:51am, and military airfields of Ford Island.
The battleship Arizona was gouged with an armor-piercing bomb that detonated the forward ammunition magazine, sinking the ship in a matter of seconds. At 8:30am, a second volley of 170 Japanese planes, mostly containing torpedo bombers, attacked the American navy anchored in Pearl Harbor.
Battleship Arizona Memorial
The Arizona Memorial, located just off Ford Island on Pearl Harbor’s “Battleship Row,” invites more than 1,500,000 visitors per year. The 184-foot-long white structure, Operated by the National Parks Service, was built to honor the 2,350 people who died during the attack, including the 1,177 crew still entombed in the battleship.
Completed in 1961, the Memorial was dedicated a year later, and contained three main sections: the entry and assembly room; a central area designed for ceremonies and general observation; and the shrine room containing a marble wall where the names of those killed on the Arizona are engraved. Included in this tour are a brief documentary movie about the Pearl Harbor surprise attack and a boat shuttle ride to the Arizona.
Battleship Missouri Memorial Tour
The USS Missouri was the last of four battleships that were named after Missouri, and is the Iowa-class battleship known as “Mighty Mo”. Its monumental 16-inch guns could fire a 2,700-pound shell 20 miles. The Missouri was commissioned on June 11, 1944, and weighed 45,000 tons and was more than 885 feet in length.
The signing officially marking the end of World War II took place aboard the Missouri on September 2, 1945, when the Japanese surrendered. The Battleship was decommissioned for the [final|last] time on March 31, 1992, after serving in both the Korean and Gulf Wars. The USS Battleship Missouri Memorial opened to the public on Jan 29, 1999.
USS Bowfin Submarine Museam & Park
More than 3,500 submariners and 52 American submarines were lost in the second World War, the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park was made as a tribute to those lost. After its launch on December 7, 1942, the Bowfin destroyed 44 enemy ships during nine successful war patrols. In 1980, the submarine was brought to Pearl Harbor and docked [next to|by] the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center. On April 1, 1981, guests were allowed to visit the “museum ship”. In 1986, the Bowfin was designated a National Historic Landmark.
Pacific Aviation Museum
Located within former WWII airplane hangars on Pearl Harbor’s Ford Island, the Pacific Aviation Museum is an immersive aviation museum complete with interactive simulators and exhibits revealing the stories behind authentic WWII fighter planes and bombers. Similar to the one used in the famous “Doolittle Raid” on Japan in 1942, a B-25B Bomber is displayed alongside authentic an Japenese Zero in Hangar 37, a 42,000 square foot airplane hangar that survived the Pearl Harbor attack.
USS Oklahoma Memorial
The USS Oklahoma Memorial was dedicated on December 7th, 2007, in honor of 429 crewmen who died in the Pearl Harbor bombing. Approximately [nine|9] torpedoes hit “The Okie,” capsizing this 35,000-ton battleship in only 12 minutes. Some crewmen, trapped in compartments below deck after the ship capsized, used hammers and wrenches to signal rescue crews on the surface. Only 32 men were rescued from its overturned hull, after the attack 2 days later.