Honolulu, Hawai’i

This week’s photo challenge was clearly inspired by Halloween. Never one to do a photo challenge correctly, I opted to tweak the concept from the ghosts and goblins of All Hollow’s Eve and Dia de los Muertos to focus on a subject that is eerie in its own right; the tomb of those lost on the USS Arizona. I submit for your consideration a collection of images from the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i.

On December 7, 1941, around 8 AM, a General Quarters alarm was sounded on the USS Arizona. Waves of Japanese aircraft were dropping tons of ordinance on targets in and around the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i.  Somewhere around eight bombs struck the Arizona, but her death blow came when a bomb pierced the deck and fell through to the ordinance bay. The massive explosion sunk the Arizona where it docked and ultimately killed 1177 of the over 1400 men who were onboard the ship.

After the attack, the upper parts of the superstructure were removed and guns mounted on shore as a battery to defend the Hawai’ian coastline. What remains of the ship barely rises above the surface. To this day, oil from the engine bay still slowly seeps to the surface of the water, spreading a silky rainbow pattern as the oil drifts with the currents. In 1962, a permanent memorial honoring the crew lost on that day of infamy was erected over the ship’s remains.

This post is dedicated to those who have served, those who are serving, and those who will serve to preserve, protect and defend our country.

John Steiner

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