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War Well I thought it was neat!

Why wasn’t the USS Arizona salvaged during WWII ?

The last bomb to his Arizona, penetrated the deck in the vicinity of the forward magazine. Its possible the bomb actually went into the magazine itself. We don’t know for sure and never will. Know why? When the magazine exploded it obliterated the forward 3rd of the ship. It blew out the sides of the hull and destroyed all the supporting structure down to the keel. So much so that the deck just forward of the number 1 turret to just aft of the number 2 turret collapsed on the now missing decks underneath it.

The ship was in no condition to salvaged. It would have broken apart more in any attempt to raise it.

Logistically there were also problems. The bottom of this section of Pearl Harbor is very soft mud. As soon as Arizona sank to the bottom, and it didn’t take long as the water was maybe 6 feet deep under the keel, its mass sank several feet into the mud. If the water were deeper, raising portions of Arizona might have been possible.

In reality salvaged does not mean what you think it does. The correct term would be refloated, like USS Nevada and put back into service. As far as salvaging, Arizona did have considerable salvage work. Much of Arizona’s equipment and superstructure was removed and recycled even if only for the metal.

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