USS Arizona

ROAD TO WAR

Throughout much of the 1930s, Imperial Japan waged an aggressive war with China, one opposed by the United States. By 1940, with much of Europe overrun by Hitler’s armies, conservative elements in the Japanese government argued that the time was right to overrun Europe’s colonial presence in Asia and use the region’s resources to bring the war with China to a successful conclusion.

Yet in spite of its impressive economy, Imperial Japan was starved of natural resources. Its war planners consequently focused on the seizure of the oil rich Dutch East Indies and the establishment of a defensive perimeter within a ring of Pacific islands to blunt an anticipated counterattack by the United States.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet, had no illusions regarding war with the United States. He had studied English at Harvard as a young naval officer and even took time off from his studies to hitchhike to Texas. Impressed by the the industrial might of Japan’s potential adversary, he told Japanese Prime Minister Prince Konoye in September, 1941: “In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.”

His warnings ignored, Yamamoto threw himself into planning a crippling blow against the United States at the outset of the approaching conflict, and tasked the First Air Fleet with delivering a surprise attack against the main American naval base at Pearl Harbor.

BATTLESHIP ROW

The second of the U.S. Navy’s Pennsylvania Class, Arizona was launched in 1915. With a length of 608 feet, it was, at the time, the largest ship in the fleet. Armed with a main battery of twelve 14” guns, Arizona was designed to take its place in the U.S. battle line and engage enemy vessels.

Arizona saw no action during the Great War, spending most of its time protecting the eastern seaboard. It was, however, part of the squadron that escorted President Woodrow Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference in December, 1918. It underwent a major refit from 1929 to 1931, resulting in the installation of new engines, improved armor, and upgraded weaponry before being transferred to the Pacific Fleet, where it spent the rest of its career.

In 1933, Arizona was home ported in San Pedro when the city of Long Beach was struck by a 6.4 earthquake, part of Arizona’s crew going ashore to provide first aid, communications and security for the victims. The following year, Arizona was featured in the James Cagney musical, Here Comes the Navy, which utilized the vessel for interior and exterior location footage. But like most ships, Arizona spent most of its time preparing for war, taking part in annual “Fleet Problem” exercises that simulated engagements with hypothetical enemies, usually at the head of Battleship Division One.

Yet by 1941 a quiet revolution was taking place in naval tactics, centering on the airplane. Already Britain’s Fleet Air Arm had crippled the Italian battleship force in a daring raid on the Italian base at Taranto.

The Imperial Japanese Navy took the lesson, and with war increasingly likely, its aviators began training for a similar attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.

JAPAN'S "FIRST AIR FLEET"