I’ve never been there, but in pictures it looks as if the USS Arizona memorial is in the middle of Pearl Harbor. Was the ship headed in/out of the harbor at the time of the attack? - Jinx
AFAIK, she was moored. Ships are often “stacked up” at berth. I haven’t been there myself, but if you go again look on the memorial for Captain Chaplain Kirkpatrick. He was my dad’s uncle.
The memorial sits across the beam of the sunken ship. It is in the water, though close to shore.
We visited the memorial last year, as well as the USS Missouri, which is now moored nearby as a museum ship.
It’s neat to have the U.S. role in WWII bookended this way, in one place. You can see in a day where it began for us, and where it ended.
The USS Nevada tried to make a run for it but was damaged by a torpedo. the captain fearing the ship would sink and block the channel ran it aground.
The Arizona, resting at berth, was one of the first ships hit. They never had a chance to make a run for it as one of the initial bombs dropped on it found the ammunition room and it was all over after that. Most of the men that died on the Arizona never had a chance to even know who the enemy was.