Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
United States Navy — Battleship BB-39

USS Arizona

Pennsylvania-class battleship

USS Arizona
Photographer: Unknown Retouched by: Mmxx — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate — BB-39 Arizona (BB39) port bow, before being modernized at Norfolk Naval Shipyard between May 1929 and January 1930

Service

  1. United States Navy as Arizona17 October 1916 — 29 December 1941849 days of the war
Full service history About 2,343 words
Pennsylvania-class battleship Particulars
Name
USS Arizona
Pennant / hull number
BB-39
Namesake
Arizona
Builder
Brooklyn Navy Yard
Ordered
4 March 1913
Laid down
16 March 1914
Launched
19 June 1915
Commissioned
17 October 1916
Decommissioned
29 December 1941
Struck
1 December 1942
Fate
Sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941 by Japanese aircraft
By aircraft (1941)
Status
Wreck

Specifications

Displacement, standard
29,158 long tons (29,626 t)
Length
185.32 m (608 ft)
Beam
29.57 m (97 ft)
Draught
8.84 m (29 ft)
Speed
21 knots (38.9 km/h, 24.2 mph)
Range
8,000 nmi (14,816 km)
Complement
1,087
Main gun
356 mm (14 in)

Named for the state of Arizona, admitted to the Union on 14 February 1912. The term was probably coined by melding the words "arid" and "zone," to designate the dry area in the southwestern United States at the time of the state's being admitted to the Union. Some authorities maintain that the name was derived from the Aztec Native American word Arizuma, which can be translated as "silver bearing".

Battleship No. 39: displacement 31,400 tons; length 608 feet; beam 97 feet 1 inch; draft 28 feet 10 inches (mean); speed 21 knots; complement 1,081; armament 12 14-inch guns, 22 5-inch guns, 4 3-inch guns, 2 21-inch torpedo tubes; class Pennsylvania )

The second Arizona (Battleship No. 39) was laid down on 16 March 1914 at the New York Navy Yard; Brooklyn, N.Y.,;launched on 19 June 1915; sponsored by Miss Esther Ross, daughter of a prominent Arizona pioneer citizen, Mr. W. W. Ross of Prescott, Arizona; and commissioned at her builder’s yard on 17 October 1916, Capt. John D. McDonald in command.

Continue to the full service history About 2,343 words

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Arizona II (Battleship No. 39)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.

Armament and machinery

Armament and machinery
Propulsion
  • 4 shafts; 4 sets of steam turbines
Power
  • 12 Babcock & Wilcox boilers
  • 33376 shp
Armament
  • 4 × triple 14 in (356 mm) guns
  • 22 × single 5 in (127 mm) guns
  • 4 × single 3 in (76 mm) AA guns
  • 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour
  • Belt: 13.5 - 8 in
  • Bulkheads: 13 - 8 in
  • Barbettes: 13 in
  • Turrets: 18 in
  • Decks: 5 in
  • Conning tower: 16 - 14 in

Sister ships

Sources

  • Facts harvested from USS Arizona on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Service history reproduced verbatim from Arizona II (Battleship No. 39) , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships — public domain, a work of the United States Government.
  • Photograph: Photographer: Unknown Retouched by: Mmxx — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons