Saturday, October 25, 2008

USS Arizona Artifacts in Phoenix


An anchor from the USS Arizona on display in Phoenix

Earlier this week, I was in Phoenix on business. On the way back to Sky Harbor Airport, I had a few minutes, so I stopped off at the Arizona state capitol complex. Across the street from the capitol building is the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, a park containing a variety of monuments. The series of photos to follow were taken on my Motorola Q9 mobile phone camera; therefore they are not up to the typical quality of the pictures I usually post. Still, they are able to convey their contents effectively, so I will share them here.

Two of the items in the park deal with the USS Arizona, a battleship of the United States Navy that was destroyed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The ship, commissioned in 1916, saw service in World War I, and underwent a modernization during the 1930s. Upon her destruction, 1177 lives were lost. Today, the USS Arizona Memorial is a part of Pearl Harbor.

But back in Phoenix, the signal mast of the ship, along with one of her anchors, are prominently displayed among the myriad memorials and monuments in the park. Below are two views of the mast, followed by a photo after the ship's 1930s updating, where you can clearly see this mast on the ship.


USS Arizona signal mast, with the state capitol in the background


Flags displayed on the signal mast


USS Arizona following her modernization in the 1930s