. It is also the most popular tourism location in Hawaii. Commercial tour operators offer a variety of Pearl Harbor battle tours around the numerous military memorials and museums commemorating the attack by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, which brought the U.S. into World War II.
Pearl Harbor was originally a large, shallow bay teeming with oysters. It was called Wai Momi or Pu’uloa by the original Hawaiians, who considered it the home of the shark goddess Ka’ahupahau and her brother Kahi’uka. To allow passage of canoes and larger vessels, the Ewa chief Keaunui widened and deepened the Pearl River estuary. After the annexation of Hawaii in the 19th century, the United States took possession of Pearl Harbor in 1887, designating it “Naval Station, Hawaii”.
The Attack’s Aftermath
The U.S. squadron lost 9 ships, and 21 ships were severely damaged. The death toll reached 2,350, including 68 civilians. 1,178 non-casualties were injured. Out of the military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were crew of the USS Arizona.
The Attack: How it Happened
The Imperial Japanese Navy used Aircraft and midget submarines on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at 6:05am on Dec 7, 1941. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto launched the first assault at 7:51am, with a squadron of 183 airplanes from 6 Japanese carriers striking the outlying ships, military installations, and airfields controlled by the military on Ford Island.
The battleship Arizona was sunk in a matter of seconds after it was gouged with an armor-piercing bomb that detonated the forward ammunition magazine. The U.S. navy anchored in Pearl Harbor was attacked at 8:30am by a second batch of 170 Japanese planes , mostly torpedo bombers.
Battleship Arizona Memorial
1,500,000 visitors per annum are attracted to the Arizona Memorial, just off Ford Island on Pearl Harbor’s “Battleship Row”. Operated by the National Parks Service, the 184-foot-long white structure was built to honor the 2,350 people who died during the attack, including 1,177 crew still entombed in the battleship.
The Memorial contained three main sections: the entry and assembly room; a central area designed for ceremonies and general observation; and the shrine room containing the names of those who passed away on the Arizona, engraved on a marble wall. It was completed in 1961 and dedicated a year after. A brief documentary film regarding the Pearl Harbor surprise attack and a boat shuttle ride to the Arizona are both included in the tour.
USS Missouri Battleship MemorialTours
The USS Missouri was the last of four battleships that were named after Missouri, and is the Iowa-class battleship known as “Mighty Mo”. 2,700-pound shells were fired up to 20 miles from its towering 16-inch guns. The Missouri was commissioned on June 11, 1944, and weighed 45,000 tons and was more than 885 feet in length.
The signing officially marking the end of World War II took place aboard the Missouri on September 2, 1945, when the Japanese threw in the towel. The Battleship was decommissioned for the final time on March 31, 1992, after serving in both the Korean and Gulf Wars. On Jan 29, 1999, The USS Battleship Missouri Memorial was publicly opened.
USS Bowfin Submarine Museam & Park
The USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park is a tribute to the 52 American submarines and more than 3,500 submariners lost in the second World War. During nine successful war patrols, the Bowfin destroyed 44 Japanese ships after its launch on December 7, 1942. In 1980, the submarine was brought to Pearl Harbor and docked next to the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center. It officially opened to the public as a “museum ship,” on April 1, 1981. In 1986, the Bowfin was designated a National Historic Landmark.
Pacific Aviation Museum
Located within former WWII airplane hangars on Pearl Harbor’s Ford Island, the Pacific Aviation Museum is an immersive aviation museum complete with interactive simulators and exhibits showcasing the stories behind authentic WWII fighter planes and bombers. Similar to the one used in the famous “Doolittle Raid” on Japan in 1942, a B-25B Bomber is displayed alongside authentic an Japenese Zero in Hangar 37, a 42,000 square foot airplane hangar that withstood the Pearl Harbor attack.
USS Oklahoma Memorial
The USS Oklahoma Memorial was dedicated on December 7th, 2007, in honor of 429 crewmen who passed away in the Pearl Harbor attack. Approximately nine torpedoes hit “The Okie,” capsizing this 35,000-ton battleship in only 12 minutes. After the ship capsized, crewmen trapped in compartments below deck tried to signal rescue crews on the surface with hammers and wrenches. Only 32 men were rescued from its overturned hull, after the assault two days later.