Battleship Row was the grouping of eight U.S.

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

s in port at

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the ...

, when the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

attacked on 7 December 1941. These ships bore the brunt of the Japanese assault. They were moored next to

Ford Island Ford Island ( haw, Poka Ailana) is an islet in the center of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It has been known as Rabbit Island, Marín's Island, and Little Goats Island, and its native Hawaiian name is ''Mokuumeume''. The isl ...

when the attack commenced. The ships were , , , , , , , and . A repair ship (former coal ship), , was also present, moored next to ''Arizona''.

Creation

When the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

decided in 1919 to establish a major naval base in Pearl Harbor, the southeastern side of Ford Island was ceded from control of the

Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...

at the behest of

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

Newton D. Baker Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (December 3, 1871 – December 25, 1937) was an American lawyer, Georgist,Noble, Ransom E. "Henry George and the Progressive Movement." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 8, no. 3, 1949, pp. 259–269. w ...

. Due to its location in the center of the harbor, where the water was deepest and the potential for maneuvering greater than along the shores, this coast of Ford Island became the de facto mooring location for the Pacific Fleet's battleships and took on the nickname "Battleship Row".

Attack and aftermath

''Arizona'', ''California'', ''Oklahoma'', and ''West Virginia'' were sunk during the attack. ''Arizona'' suffered the most serious damage and loss of life, an explosion in a forward

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

breaking the hull in two. Of the other four, ''West Virginia'', and, to a lesser degree, ''Nevada'', had serious damage. ''Pennsylvania'' was in

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

, making attack difficult, and, as a result, was relatively undamaged. ''Vestal'' was also damaged. Battleship Row was not visible from Hickam Field because of the thick black smoke. Following the attack, operations immediately commenced to refloat and repair the damaged ships. The first to be completed was ''Nevada'' on April 19, 1942. By the end of the war, all except ''Arizona'' and ''Oklahoma'' had returned to service. Each of the six surviving battleships saw service in the Pacific

island hopping campaign Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea is to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to captu ...

. ''Nevada'' also served in the Atlantic and supported the

invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

. All six were decommissioned soon after the war was over. ''Nevada'' and ''Pennsylvania'' were expended in atomic bomb tests in the Pacific. The rest were scrapped in the late 1950s. ''Oklahoma'' was eventually refloated but not repaired, and capsized and sank while being towed back to the mainland for scrapping. ''Arizona''s hull remains a memorial, one of the most popular tourist attractions on the island. was in port at Pearl Harbor, but was not moored with the rest of the battleships, as she had since been converted to a

target ship A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammuniti ...

. However, she was still sunk within a few minutes of the battle.

Ships that were attacked

* : (

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of Battleship Division One) hit by an armor-piercing bomb, exploded; total loss. 1,177 dead. * : hit by five torpedoes, capsized; total loss. 429 dead. Refloated November 1943; capsized and lost while under tow to the mainland May 1947. * : hit by two bombs, seven torpedoes, sunk; returned to service July 1944. 106 dead. * : hit by two bombs, two torpedoes, sunk; returned to service January 1944. 100 dead. * : hit by six bombs, one torpedo, beached; returned to service October 1942. 60 dead. * : hit by two bombs; returned to service February 1942. 5 dead. * : hit by two bombs; returned to service February 1942. 4 dead (including floatplane pilot shot down). * (flagship of the

U.S. Pacific Fleet The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...

):Prange, Goldstein, Dillon. ''At Dawn We Slept'' page 49 in

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

with ''Cassin'' and ''Downes'', hit by one bomb, debris from USS ''Cassin''; remained in service. 9 dead. * : hit by two torpedoes, capsized; total loss. 64 dead. Was commissioned as a target ship at the time of the attack and was docked on the west side of Ford Island, opposite Battleship Row.

References

{{Pearl Harbor attack Attack on Pearl Harbor World War II battleships of the United States

Creation

Attack and aftermath

Ships that were attacked

See also

References