This morning we caught the local bus to Pearl Harbour.
Pearl Harbour first became well known locally due to it being a good place to fish for the lustrous pearl oysters. It reached world wide fame however, when the Japanese military attacked the U.S Naval base and fleet on December 7, 1941. The surprise attack at dawn sunk or damaged 21 US ships and 347 planes, killing over 2000 military personnel. It was the event that thrust the US into World War II.
As we entered the complex, that houses several Pearl Harbour sights it was hard to imagine what it must have been like on that fateful day.
We took a look across the harbour, towards the USS Arizona Memorial (the large white bridge-like building) and the decommissioned USS Missouri. During the attack on December 7, this was called battleship row, as all of the US battleship fleet was moored here – every single one was hit.
We caught a boat over to the poignant USS Arizona shrine, which is built directly over the battleship.
The USS Arizona sunk only 9 minutes after the initial attack, taking 1177 crewmen down with it.
The USS Arizona is 1 of 3 ships that were never raised after the attacks, the bodies of the servicemen who sunk with her are left entombed in her hull, buried at sea. All of the other ships in the fleet were raised, repaired and out on duty within a year.
The cut away sections of the shrine that you can see above allow you to look over and see the skeleton of the sunken ship. To this day, the ship still leaks oil slowly into the harbour water.
Today all that remains as a reminder of the ships that were sunk or damaged are concrete markers in the harbour.
Back across at the visitors centre we hopped on a shuttle bus that took us onto Ford Island, which is still an active naval base. It was here that we would take a tour of the decommissioned USS Missouri.
After some fooling around with the kids attractions on the harbour side we boarded the ‘Mighty Mo’ for our audio tour.
The sheer size and scale of ‘Mighty Mo’ was incredible, Nicola was dwarfed by the huge guns (above right).
We made our way around to the ‘Surrender Deck’ where on September 2, 1945 the formal Japanese surrender took place, the ship was positioned in Tokyo Bay at the time.
We then went on a grand tour below decks, which was like a maze – if only we knew how to fathom the ‘bulls eye code’ which allowed you to decipher where exactly you were! We explored the mess hall, kitchens and bakery.
Next was the US Marine’s command room, after which Ben even had time for a nap in the bunk room…a little cramped for his liking though!
Next we ventured up to the command room, where the equipment, maps and radars were all set up to show Mighty Mo’s last mission – Operation Desert Storm.
As we headed down the countless flights of stairs and disembarked we both agreed Mo was most definitely very ‘Mighty’! She is after all bigger than the RMS Titanic.
Back at the visitors centre we took our last tour of the day, this time boarding the USS Bowfin Submarine.
We went below decks; firstly learning about the torpedo room, and then about how we were both vertically challenged for this sort of tour!
We then walked the full length of the Bowfin, exploring the sleeping areas, mess room, engine room and control room…it proved a cramped and hot environment even above the water with all the hatches open!
Back on solid ground we made our way back to the bus stop and caught our bus back into Waikiki.
The Pearl Harbour sights were a fitting tribute to mark the events on that fateful day.
No comments:
Post a Comment