I learned something new today regarding the USS Arizona. While at BooksAMillion I was going through the WWII section and came upon an Osprey book about fortifications on Pearl Harbor (can't remember the title). There was a nice color drawing of "Battery Arizona"; one of the 14" gun turrets from the stricken battleship built into the ground at Kahe Point as a shore battery. The drawing gave details of the underground part of the battery, e.g., the projectile room, powder room, elevators, etc.. I always wondered what happened to the turrets when viewing the sunken hulk in all those "memorial" pictures. I just figured that they, along with other parts of the superstructure, were just removed and turned into scrap for the war effort. Everything I've been able to find on the net says that two of the aft turrets were used. What about the other two? Were they too damaged? Also, can anyone turn up any photos of this on the net? Pretty interesting!
Number 1 Turret and its guns are still intact and rest in its place on the wreck of the Arizona. The guns of Number 2 Turret were removed and if memory serves, they were used as replacement guns for the USS Pennsylvania. The sides and remainder of Number 2 turret are still intact, although all the guns are missing.
Number 3 and 4 turrets (the rear ones) were removed to make the coastal defense batteries called Arizona and Pennslyvania. Only battery Arizona was finished and just shortly before VJ day. It was test fired once then declared obsolete and scrapped after the war. Battery Pennslyvania was never completed.
I'm a little confused here. While the USS Arizona was a Pennsylvania Class Battleship, one of the aft turrets was used to create Battery Arizona and another aft turret was used to create Battery Pennsylvania. And you say that the gun (tubes) from forward number 2 were used on the USS Pennsylvania proper? T.A., I just scrolled down to make sure of something and your post appeared. I just left another site that says that Pennsylvania was the only battery completed, contrary to your response. Lets see if I can pull it back up...
O.K., here is the site. Bear in mind that I'll remain somewhat skeptical about things I find on the net. This may be wrong. www.privatehenrykalinowski.org/html/Salvaged/salvaged.html
Seems like there is some confusion here. Turret 3 was installed at Kahe Point and turret 4 was installed at Mokapu point. Both locations are on the island of Oahu. Turret 3 became known as battery Arizona. I have visited the battery, which is closed to the public, and while the equipment is long gone, there is evidence that the guns were installed but never fired. Most of the battery was complete (about 90% in my estimate) but the targeting and fire control was never installed. At battery Pennsylvania (USS Arizona turret 4) the guns were fully operational in July of '45. Complete range finding and fire control equipment were installed and the system was test fired in late July 1945. If anyone has firsthand knowledge of the construction of either shore battery, I would love to talk to them.
If you can find a copy of the Osprey book on this subject it's worth a look. (Mine is on "permanent" loan.
Here is a photo that I found a while back that was labeled Battery Pennsylvania test firing, although Terry above inidicates that is was Battery Arizona that was test fired. Wonder which one it is?
I am certain it was Battery Pennsylvania. Below are current photos of Battery Arizona. Of course, there is a lot of decay but the interesting thing is while the site has been built to accept the shell and black powder elevator equipment there is no indication it was installed. Normally you would see areas on the floor or walls where equipment was secured. Wear on the floor and the elevated pads in the powder room and shell room would be evident. At a minimum, there would be a few chips on the corners of the slabs. All of this is absent at this site. At battery Pennsylvania, I have seen the wear I described. The floors in the turret of Battery Arizona and the weapon storage rooms are pristine.
Only Battery Pennsylvania at Kaneohe (actually Fort Hase at the time) was test fired. It happened on Aug. 10, 1945, and interestingly enough it should be noted that the last battleship round fired in WWII came from the guns of the USS Arizona. There is something to be said about that.
Earlier, Netdoctored mentioned that Turret 3 was at Kahe Point / Battery Arizona, and turret 4 was at Mokapu / Battery Pennsylvania. This is incorrect and can be verified by the installation drawings. Mokapu is the deeper installation to accommodate the higher lifts of turret 3's original machinery.
