Pearl Harbor was named after the pearl-producing oysters that once abound there some years before it became a naval base. If you are planning to visit Pearl Harbor, make sure that you see all the iconic sites including USS Arizona, Bowfin Submarine Museum, Battleship Missouri Memorial or ‘Mighty Mo’, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and others. The visitor center is open from 7:30 am to 5 pm.
When you visit the Battleship Missouri Memorial, keep in mind that it was here that General Douglas McArthur accepted the unconditional surrender of the Japanese, marking the end of the Second World War. The USS Battleship Missouri was where the peace treaty was signed, and so symbolizes the end of WWII.
Entering Arizona Memorial is a somber experience as you stand on the graveyard of 1,117 crewmen. The memorial is the site of the sunken battleship. At around 7:40 am, stealth bombs, torpedo bombs, and fighter bombs were directed at Pearl Harbor, destroying the ships fleeted there. At 6 am on December 7, 1941, Japanese fleets stationed approximately 200 miles north of Oahu. By 1941, US Navy fleet exercises were held there. Over the years, the US kept more of its ships at Pearl Harbor. After Pearl Harbor, Hare said Americans began to have an appreciation for how connected all the relations are. The sailors’ bodies are down in the Arizona and when you see the oil coming up, even today, they call that the teardrops and blood of the sailors.
During Pearl Harbor, 12 major vessels were sunk or badly damaged and out of the eight battleships that were hit, six were repaired and reused for other operations during the war.