explosion vented forward of gun turret number 1, it shredded the deck and hull. At this point it broke the big battleship in two. Admiral Kidd and Captain Van Valkenburgh, along with the other sailors on the bridge, were completely vaporized. The only thing ever found of either officer was Rear Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd's Navy class ring! It was found by a scuba diver welded into the right bulkhead (steel wall). It was cut loose and given to his widow. Flames and smoke from the large black powder explosion shot up over a hundred feet into the sky. Then pieces of metal and pieces of bodies began to rain down. Indeed, it was a very awesome and gruesome sight to behold.

The sailors at their battle stations in gun turrets number 1 and ll were killed by the huge concussion,

as well as the entire Navy band of the Arizona. The Saturday before, they had just won second place in the fleet band competition. They were all still asleep in their hammocks the second deck down. The terrific concussion killed them instantly. A total of four 1,760 lb. bombs hit the USS Arizona and it sunk in a matter of minutes.

The USS Arizona BB39 was the pride of the fleet. It was the biggest and most powerful battleship when it was first launched on June 29, 1915. The State of Arizona's first Governor, George W.P. Hunt and Miss Ester Ross, a seventeen year old beauty queen, christened the warship. A bottle of champagne and a bottle of Arizona river water were broken across the bow.

Now let us go back in time and find out what everyday life on the Arizona was all about. Every new seaman that came aboard the ship was assigned to a "Deck Division." He was called a "Swabbie" because his first issue was a

even driftwood. If these little rascals are not removed every year, the ship's speed is reduced by several knots per hour (MPH).

There is another deck duty that most of the sailors sure did hate. This chore had to be performed every Friday come rain or shine. Many of the seaman said that this was the toughest job in the entire Navy. It began at 5:00 A.M... First the deck was hosed and washed down. Then, believe it or not, sand was thrown all over the deck. For the main deck of the USS Arizona was not steel but was made of "teakwood." This is a tall hardwood timber tree growing in the jungles of East India. After the sand treatment, the "Holystones" were brought out. A Holystone is a piece of pumice brick with a hole in the middle. A broom handle is pressed into the hole in order to push it back and forth across the deck. The swabbies who pushed them across the wood deck were called "Holystoners." This was repeated until the teakwood deck glistened and shone or until the Boatswain's Mate in charge ordered it stopped. The wood deck must have been a Navy tradition for all the battleships had teakwood main decks topside. Even the last battleship built, the USS Missouri BB63, also had the teakwood deck.

By the time breakfast came around at 7:00 A.M, every sailor was hungry enough to eat an elephant. Instead, the Mess cooks served good ole Navy Beans. After six months of "Deck Duty" a sailor nearly always became a "Mess Cook." (Which is just a fancy Navy title for a Waiter. A Mess Cook sets up three tables for 24 men each, three times a day. Next the dishes, cups and silverware are set up. Then the Mess Cooks go to the Galley (Navy Kitchen) and bring back the food and drinks. A daily trip to the bakery was also made to bring back bread and all other baked

goodies. After everyone was through eating, Mess Cooks had to semi-wash the dishes and silverware. Then they were racked and taken to the dishwasher in the galley. Next the tables were folded and hung along the side of the bulkhead. Finally, the deck area was swept and swabbed down. Another duty of the mess cook was to "tote" up supplies from the Dry Stores Division and this was three decks below the main deck topside. (There are six lower decks on most battleships.) A Mess Cook was expected to carry 100 pounds of flour, 100 pounds of spuds (potatoes) and 50 pounds of onions. This was back-breaking work taking these heavy items up a ladder. The Galley was one deck up and the Bakery was two decks up. Besides serving the meals and hauling dry stores, a Mess Cook also worked in the Galley. A typical Mess Cook would spend a week serving tables, a week carrying dry stores and a week helping the butchers. The next week would be spent peeling spuds for the cooks. Because the USS Arizona had at least 1,500 sailors on board, a whole big bunch of spuds had to be peeled. But thankfully, mess cooking usually lasted only about three months. After first having duty as a "Deck Swabbie" and then being a "Mess Cook," a sailor could "Strike for a Rate" (Learn a trade).

Gunner's Mate was a choice rate as you could be assigned to one of the four big gun turrets. The USS Arizona had twelve 14"/45 caliber guns, mounted three guns per turret. The Navy calls a big gun like this a "Rifle." Each turret requires around 35 men to operate the guns and 85 powder men. The black powder bags weighed 60 pounds each and it required up to four bags per bullet. Two bags for short range and four bags for long distance. The bullet (Navy for shell) was almost six feet tall and weighed between 2,500 and 3,000 pounds. That is what you would call a big, big bullet. The powder men started handling the black powder bags deep down in the powder magazine. The powder was encased in silk and sealed tightly in metal cans. The magazine held almost one million pounds of black powder and at least one thousand big bullets. When the bags finally reached the turret by ramps, powder man number one, two and three would load gun one, three, and then gun two after the bullet was loaded. The rammer then came down and pushed the power into the guns. Next, the breach man would close and lock the breach block (this was the end of the gun behind the barrel).

After the guns were fired, the breach man had to check the barrels to make sure no pieces of burning silk was left inside. For this would cause a "Flareback" (small explosion) that would kill everyone in the turret. This happened in the number two gun turret onboard the battleship USS Iowa BB61 in 1989. Forty-seven sailors were killed by the explosion. The gun crew had their bunks inside the turret. This is where they actually lived.

Back then none of the battleships had radar. The Arizona had two "Spotter" seaplanes. They were launched by catapult and picked up later by crane. The pilots would radio back information to the gun control director in the ship's control room. He would pass the coordinates along to the turret gunners. The Pointer sat in the left hand seat to raise and lower the three guns. While the Trainer sat in the right hand seat, he turned the guns horizontally. When the big guns were not being fired, they had to be oiled and cleaned constantly. What were called "Pigs" were hooked up to a very long rope. These pigs were a series of brushes that were pulled by hand. They followed the rifling grooves in the barrels. Then the smallest Gunner's Mate had to shimmy all the way through the gun barrel which was 52 ft 5 inches long with an emery cloth to clean the bore.

All the guns from turrets 2,3 and 4 were salvaged and set up in shore batteries to defend Honolulu. However, Gun Turret #1 is still intact, with all three 14"/45 caliber guns. And after sixty four years on the ocean bottom, the gallant gun crew are still there. They are forever on silent sentry duty against an unseen enemy. Every thirty seconds a drop or two of fuel oil escapes from the huge storage tanks below deck. When it pops to the surface, it blends into a kaleidoscope of colors, as if paying homage to the dead. Some say it is the blood of the 1,177 fallen sailors and marines, while others say it is their tears. But the sentimental have spawned a legend that the oil, #6 fuel oil, will stop flowing .... when the last of the crew of the USS Arizona BB39 has passed away.
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