Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Remembering Pearl Harbor and the Iowa Class Battleships


Photograph at left is from the DoD photo by: PH1HILTON Date Shot: 15 Aug 1984 http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/Defens

Today is the 69th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Hawaii. The USS Arizona was sunk at the harbor and lies there today as a monument to the attack, and to the those who fought Japanese imperialism. A few yards from the ship's wreckage is the floating museum of the USS Missouri, the battleship where the Japanese later signed cease fire documents in 1945 at Toyko Bay. In essence the beginning and the end of the World War II in the Pacific theater is enshrined at Pearl Harbor.

The USS Missouri is an Iowa-class battleship, and part of a group of six fast attack battleships - Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois and Kentucky. The first ship built of that class was the USS Iowa which served both theaters of war, the Korean War, and later conflicts through the 1980s. It currently lies in Suisun Bay in California as part of the decommissioned ghost fleet, awaiting being made into a museum or another fate. Find the USS Iowa and other decommisioned ships at this map link. Know that.

No comments:

Post a Comment