Pearl Harbor

Posted on August 6, 2015 by bob

Hard to believe that all the times I've been to Honolulu and never seen this.  Ann saw it many years ago, but much has changed - so off we went with John, Lisa, Malo and Moses from Orcinius.

John with Moses and Malo.
We started the tour with the "Mighty Mo", the battleship Missouri. Not yet built when Pearl Harbor was bombed, but it was completed in time to see action in the WWII as well as Korea and even re-commissioned for the Gulf War. She is best known however, as the place where the Japanese officially signed their surrender on board in Tokyo Bay.
Battleships were known for their 16-inch guns which could accurately fire a 2700 pound armor piercing shell, over 20 miles. In this case, nine of these could blast away at once.
The gang on the deck. Amazingly she has teak decks!
The very spot of the historic surrender.
Next up...the battleship Arizona memorial. Almost 1200 lives lost (many still entombed in the ship) when she blew up and sank right here as Pearl Harbor was bombed.
At one end of the memorial are the names of the fallen.
From the middle of the memorial you can see the remains of the ship under water and this bit of superstructure as well as oil (sometimes called "black tears") that is still leaking from the ship's tanks.
Inside the memorial...
...and open to the sky.
Next up on the day, the submarine Bowfin.
The Bowfin sank quite a few ships during its tour.
Bob and John on the stern.
Watertight hatches every 20 feet or so. I could barely contort myself enough to get through them. Not a place to be if you suffer from claustrophobia.
This thing looked extremely complicated to operate. I think I'll stick with sailboats.
Malo preparing to take the helm.

 

 

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