U.S. Warships: USS Bowfin, Pearl Harbor Museum Ship

From the Paralyzed Veterans of America April 2021 calendar.

This is a museum ship located in Pearl Harbor by the USS Arizona Museum.

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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

BUILDER:  Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

LAUNCHED:  December 7, 1942

HOMEPORT:  Honolulu, Hawaii

DISPLACEMENT:  Approximately 1,525 tons (surface), 2,412 tons (submerged)

LENGTH:  312 feet

CREW:  63 enlisted, 7 officers

ARMAMENT:  Ten 21" torpedo tubes (6 forward, 4 aft)

24 torpedoes

One 5" /.25 caliber deck gun, plus various combinations of antiaircraft guns.

--Cooter

Lauren Bruner Will Be the 44th and Final Crew Member Interred on the USS Arizona

From the December 6, 2019, Concord Monitor "California man will be then 44th and final crew member interred on the USS Arizona" by Audrey McAvoy, AP.

On December 7, 1941, the then 21-year-old Lauren Bruner was the second-to-last man to leave his stricken ship, the USS Arizona.  He lived to be 98, married twice and outlived both wives.

This weekend, divers will place Bruner's ashes inside the wreckage of the USS Arizona.  He will be the 44th and last Arizona crew man to be placed on the ship as the other three Arizona survivors still alive have opted to be buried with their families.

Bruner said he wants to be buried at the Arizona as few people go to cemeteries and millions visit the Memorial.  Plus, he wants to be with old friends who never made it off the ship.

The Navy began interring survivors on their old ships in 1982, but there are only two ships from Pearl harbor still there, the Arizona and USS Utah.  The other ships there that day were repaired and put back into service except for the USS Oklahoma.

Remembering Pearl Harbor on 78th Anniversary of the Attack

These are some headlines in newspapers around the country.

**  Pearl Harbor veteran is now the last survivor living in Butte County.

**  Pearl Harbor anniversary to be marked with events in Tucson and Hawaii.

**  Editorial:  How could Pearl Harbor be forgotten.

**  California man will be the 44th and final crew member interred in the USS Arizona.

**  78 years later, efforts continue to ID Pearl Harbor service members.

**  Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day:  Three local sailors were stationed on Battleship Row.

**  World War II veteran recalls Pearl Harbor attack.

Brooklyn Navy Yard in Greenport, NY City: Famous U.S. Warships Built Here

From the May 2017, Smithsonian "Wet and Wild" by Tony Perrottet.

New York City is taking advantage of its famed waterfront.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard opened in 1801 and was one of the first naval repair facilities in the United States.

It was here that the USS Monitor was clad with iron plate in the Civil War.  The USS Maine was also built here, only to be sunk in Havana Harbor.  So were the USS Arizona which went down in Pearl Harbor, and the USS Missouri, upon whose deck the Japanese surrendered in 1945.

At its height in World War II, over 70,000 people worked on the sprawling 300-acre site.  It was the headquarters of the North Atlantic Fleet during World War II.  After its closure in 1966, the city bought the yard and reopened it as an industrial park

--GreGen

Five Great Places to Honor Our Veterans This Veterans Day

From the November 10, 2017, USA Today  "10 great places to honor military on Veterans Day" Larry Bleiberg.

He has more written about each site.  I'm just listing them.

1.  Lejeurne Memorial Gardens--  Jacksonville, North Carolina

2.  USS Alabama Battleship Park--  Mobile, Alabama

3.  USS Arizona Memorial--  Honolulu, Hawaii

4.  National Museum of the Marine Corps--  Triangle, Virginia

5.  Soldiers' National Cemetery--  Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

I'd like to add the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Here's Hoping That Everyone Will Do Something Today to Honor Our Veterans.  --Cooter

Naval Technology in 1916-- Part 1: Superdreadnaught USS Arizona Commissioned

From a 1916 Scientific American "Technology of Naval Warfare, 1916."  This is in the form of a slide show.

1.  Naval aviation.  A picture of a battleship carrying seaplanes.

2.  Catapult for aircraft on a battleship.

3.  Destruction of landmarks taken by Germany along the Belgium coast.  They destroyed anything that could be used by the Allies to navigate.  The picture showed a lighthouse being blown up.

4.  The USS Arizona, superdreadnaught, shown leaving Brooklyn Navy Yard after commissioning in 1916.  It was the U.S. navy's largest and most modern battleship.

5.  Submarine warfare.

Latest in 1916.  --Cooter

December 7, 1941-- Part 2: Two More Who Died on the USS Arizona

From the Dec. 6, 2015, Concord Monitor "Lost at Pearl Harbor, Edmund lives on in Epson" by Ray Duckler.

Bruce Roosevelt Edmunds was born November 10, 1907, and was the "first Epsom boy to lose his life in World War II."  His picture hangs in the Epsom American Legion hall.

Also, Edmund Cloues of Warner was killed on the Arizona.  His body is also still entombed on the ship  It is not clear if the two of them knew each other.

December 7, 1941-- Part 1: Nephew of Sailor Killed at Pearl Harbor Remembers the Date

From the Dec. 6, 2015, Sioux City (Iowa) Journal by Nick Hytrek.

John Christopher Thorman of Granville, Iowa, died on the USS Arizona that day.  His body is still entombed aboard his ship.

Jan George, his nephew, a history and government teacher at Sioux City West High School remembers his uncle though he died many years before he was born.

Mr. George has the Western Union telegram dated December 20, 1941 from Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs informing John and Marie Thorman that their son was among the missing.

He also has a piece of the USS Arizona taken from an area of the boat deck gallery which he got 11 years ago after learning that families of the Arizona's victims were able to get a piece as a way to connect them to their loved ones.

It took his grandmother a long time to come to grips with her son's death.

Pearl Harbor's 70th Anniversary

From the Dec. 5th Denver Post.

Guy Piper was brushing his teeth in the barracks on Ford Island when the attack came. he also served in the Korean War.

Two survivors who died after living into their nineties will be interred on their battleship this week.

On December 6th, Navy and NPS divers will lower Lee Soucy's cremated remains into the USS Utah. he died last year in Plainview, Texas, at age 90. He will be joining some 50 who perished when the ship sank and 8 whose ashes have been interred since.

On December 7th, divers will place Vernon Olsen's ashes on the USS Arizona. he was one of the 334 who survived that day and died at Port Charlotte, Florida, in April at age 91.

A very Fitting Burial Place.

Hazards Bubble Up from Old Wrecks-- Part 3: USS Arizona

A priority list will be drawn up.

Some of the old wrecks are already leaking. The most notable of them is the 608-foot USS Arizona, sunk at Pearl Harbor on that fateful day back on Dec. 7, 1941 (of which we are approaching the 70th anniversary in a few weeks). It sank with a loss of 1,177 lives and 1.1 million gallons of fuel, about half of which still remains and leaks into the harbor.

I have seen the oil bubbles coming up from the hull by the Arizona Memorial. I'd estimate there are about 4-5 bubbles a minute, not enough to really damage the harbor, but if a tank ruptures and all of it escapes at once, that would have a major negative impact.

As it stands, though, those bubbles are somewhat comforting and a connection to that event from 70 years ago. The ship still lives.

At a Baltimore conference in June, David Conlin of the NPS said that new studies show that the previously intact fuel tanks are corroding, rupturing and releasing their contents. However, there is "no pressing need" for "invasive" procedures to enter the ship.

"Three hundred and sixty years from now, in the core part of the USS Arizona, the oil bunkers here will still have significant structural integrity," he said.

This is a bit confusing information. How safe are the Arizona's fuel bunkers?

I probably spent ten minutes with those bubbles when I was there. A real connection with history.

A Day of Infamy. --DaCoot

The USS Arizona After the Attack-- Part 2-- The Arizona Arises

The two aft turrets and their guns and the three from #2 were used by the government later in the war.

The turret and guns of #3 and #4 were removed and became the US Army's Coast Artillery Corps Battery Arizona on the west coast of Oahu and Battery Pennsylvania at Mohapa Point.

The #2 turret guns were later installed on the USS Nevada and in the fall of 1944, received payback for the Arizona when they fired on Japanese forces at Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

I was unable to find out what happened to the two Army batteries on Oahu. It would be something if they are still in place, but I kind of doubt it.

Interesting History. --DaCoot

USS Arizona After the Attack-- Part 1

Back on May 12th, I had an entry about a former member of the USS Arizona during the attack having his ashes buried aboard the ship.

It got me to thinking about what happened to the ship after the attack.

From Wikipedia

The ship was struck from the Naval Vessel Register December 1, 1942. The rumor that it is perpetually in commission is just that. Instead, it is a last resting place for the crew and a memorial.

The wreck was unfortunately cut down so that little remains above water today. I would have liked to have left it just the way it appears in the post-battle photographs (I also would have liked for them to have left the collapsed part of the World Trade Center as a memorial).

I would have liked for them especially to have left the collapsed tower and front turret #2 as a fitting memorial. That would have driven home the enormity of the attack even more.

The two aft main battery turrets and their guns were removed as were the guns from Turret #2 forward. Both forward turrets remain on the wreck with #1 still mounting its three guns.

The USS Arizona had four turrets in its main battery, each mounting three 14-inch guns.

Next, the Arizona Arises. --Cooter

USS Arizona Survivor's Ashes Buried on the Ship

I did not know that survivors of the USS Arizona have the opportunity to have their ashes buried with their shipmates on the ship once they have died.

From the May 11th Hawaii News.

Anthony Schubert died in Hutchinson, Kansas, on August 12, 2009 and his ashes were just interred on the USS Arizona along with 1,100 of his former shipmates who died that fateful day on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

He said he was shaving in the head when the attack came and spent the rest of it helping wounded sailors onto boats.

His daughter Tina Hayward learned that his remains could be buried aboard the ship after his death and said she was sure her father would have considered it an honor.

I certainly do.

The Greatest Generation. --RoadDog

Pearl Harbor

I am attempting to get as many Pearl Harbor stories as I can collect before it is too late.

Tjhe December 6, 2008, LaCrosse (Wi) Tribune, had an article about Don "Dutch" Albitz, who was on the USS Oklahoma when the attack began. He had just come from Mass "when all of a sudden this plane came in real low." He was a 19-year-old gunner at the time.

"The officer of the deck looked up an said, 'My God, those are Japs.' We were getting hit right and left by (aeriel) torpedoes. When the the Oklahoma started to list, the order came to abandon ship." He jumped into the water covered with fuel oil. "You couldn't swim in it. I was tired and fatigued."

The crew of a small boat pulled him and other survivors out, and took them to the USS Maryland.

Four LaCrosse residents died in the attack: Helmar Hanson, Daryl Hess, and George Naegle Of the Navy, and Lee Amundson, of the Marines. He had talked to Hess and Naegle the night before the attack. Hess, of the USS Arizona had told him that he had just gotten married.

To Be Continued. --Coot