Adams Almanac- The Battleship Arizona

The 110th anniversary of the Battleship Arizona was commissioned on October 17, 1916. Built in the Brooklyn Navy Yards as a battleship, she never fired a shot in her first 25 years of service. In that time, she escorted two Presidents, provided disaster relief, and even starred in a James Cagney movie. She was given her name in honor of the 48th state—Arizona.

December 7th, 1941

At 8:06 AM on the morning of December 7th, 1941, barely 10 minutes after the first air raid sirens went off, a 1700 pound armored-piercing bomb ripped through the Arizona’s forward deck and landed in the ammunition magazine. The resulting explosion tore the Arizona apart. What was left of the Arizona sank in minutes.

There were 1,512 men assigned to the battleship that morning. We don’t know how many were aboard. We DO KNOW that 1,177 men were killed in action aboard the Arizona on December 7th. 900 of those sailors and marines are still onboard to this day.

A Living Memorial

Arizona was the only battleship at Pearl Harbor not restored to service during the war. The damage was too extensive. But to this day, Arizona remains in service as a war grave and memorial to the men who are still there and all who died on December 7th, 1941.

Up until just two years ago, survivors of the Arizona were given the right to be laid to rest with their shipmates upon their deaths. The last Arizona survivor died in 2024 at the age of 102. All the men of the Arizona now rest in peace, many of them still at their posts.

The Arizona’s war career lasted barely 10 minutes, which is surpassed by nearly every ship in the fleet during World War 2, but in one crucial way, Arizona has gone beyond all her peers. She still honors her dead. Even now, 85 years, she still stands as a memorial to their service and sacrifice.

Building History

We are builders. We think about the men of the Brooklyn Navy Yards that built the Arizona—they believed, with good reason, they were building a warship. She was built to the best of their ability to FIGHT. But, as it so often does, fate has a way to turning our first intentions upside down.

Most of the ships that came out of the Brooklyn Navy Yards were eventually reduced to scrap. They did not know it at the time, but what those men were actually building was history’s greatest war memorial.

We think about the men on the Arizona, who were at war 10 minutes before making the ultimate sacrifice for their country and each other.

A Reminder For Today

As we work and build projects large and small, this story reminds us that we can never control the future or what lies ahead—we can only pour ourselves into what is in front of us now—our work, our families, our community. We do that, and the future can take care of itself.