As I am still figuring out my new camera, I didn't get very good shots of things aboard the sub, but a couple are ok to post. (I have since figured out the issue I was having, but not before attending the Luau, as a result I don't have any decent pictures for there either. sigh)
Here are a few pictures from the submarine.
The torpedo tubes.
The main gage. (I can't remember the technical term but we've all seen them in the movies.)
After touring the sub, I had a few minutes to walk around before my entry time for the USS Arizona Memorial. This is the main exhibit at the Pearl Harbour Memorial Centre, and it is quite amazing.
For those of you who do not know anything about this site I'll give you a nutshell explanation. During the attack of Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, the USS Arizona battleship received a direct hit in the first pass by more than one Japanese bomber. This direct hit detonated the munitions on board, and itexploded, burned and sunk within minutes taking all 1177 men aboard to their deaths. The battleship has been left where it sank as a gravesite to those men and a memorial. I actually found it quite moving visiting the memorial, it was such a sudden and unexpected loss. Our tour guide told us that the reason why so many men were on board. The night before the attack, there was a band competition on base, and the USS Arizona came in second. Their prize was permission to sleep in the next morning. Most of them most likely died in their bunks. Those few men who weren't on board obviously survived.
The ship is leaking about 2 quarts of oil a day, and the oils streaks can be seen on the surface of the water. They call these the tears of the men on the USS Arizona. There is still enough oil on board to continue leaking for another 50 years. To empty the tanks, would mean disturbing the graves of these men. The reason why it was carrying so much oil is that it was to go to sea the next day.
The Memorial complex is build right over the sunken battleship.
Here is an idea of what you see of the sunken battleship from inside the memorial.
The far end of the memorial has a wall containing the names of all 1177 men who are entombed below.
On the very bottom of the picture above, there is a small rectangular box. On this box are engraved the names of the survivors and the dates on which they died, up until 2010 currently. There are still 21 survivors of the USS Arizona still living. I wish I had taken a better picture of this box, but I didn't realized what it was until the boat ride back from the memorial. One of the Navy personnel who conduct the ferry from the centre to the Memorial told us that those names represent the men who have chosen to be entombed with their shipmates. Upon their death they are cremated and their remains are put in a special container. There is a special memorial service held after hours for family with full Navy honours. Then the container of remains is give to a navy diver and they are inserted into a crack in the hull where it will make its way into the bowels of the ship.
Very moving. The Pearl Harbour Memorial centre and the USS Arizona Memorial are overseen by the Parks Service, but the ferry shuttle to the memorial is run by active duty service men of the Navy. They are assigned to the Memorial just as they would be assigned to any other battleship. If you've never been to Pearl Harbour, or even if you have, but not within the last 3 months, I highly recommend paying it a visit.
After leaving Pearl Harbour our tour guide took us on a short tour of downtown which included the Punchbowl Cemetery. This cemetery is in the crater of a dormant volcano, and is limited to military personnel. It is a drive around only, as tour buses are not allowed to stop.
The rest of our tour took us through parts of downtown. We went past a few of the museums, Chinatown, and such before dropping me back around 12:30 pm.
I relaxed for a few hours before my pickup time of 4:10 for the Luau I was going to. This was a fun evening of traditional roasted in the ground pig, and other American and Hawaiian menu items. It was buffet and I was actually surprised at how good it was. There was evening entertainment of dancers representing various Polynesian Islands, including Samoa, Tahiti, New Zealand, as well as Hawaii. It was located right on the beach, and despite a bit of light rain at the beginning, it turned out to be a lovely warm evening.
I met two lovely ladies on these two days of touring. Sisters, originally from South Africa, one living in New Zealand, south of Christ Church, and the other lives in Sydney. We exchanged email addresses and it would be nice to maintain the connection.
Aloha until next post.
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