USS Arizona Bwtween the Wars Gallery

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 Catastrophe  With a hellish roar the bow of the Arizona is torn apart by the pent of explsion of her forward magazines. A second 800 Kg bomb pierced her deck on he starboard side between her #1 and #2 turrets and set up a chain reaction of explosions. The pressure from the explosions was so powerfull that it inflated and distorted the hull outward before blowing the sides of the ship above the torpedo blister out. The destruction was so complete that the main deck fell 30 feet down into a chasm that had been blasted out. Flames shot hundred of feet into the air and burned for days.
 
 B&W Still Black and white version of the above picture showing more detail. The smoke around the number four main turret can be seen from the bomb that hit just prior to the forward hit. Because of the plume of smoke rising straight up from her stack it was reported for many years that a bomb had gone down her stack and caused the explosion. In reality it was a huge rush of air pouring into the boiler rooms that either exited the hull out the boilers and stack or casued the boilers to explode.
 
 Immoliation  The forward half of the ship is engulfed in flames that shoot hundreds of feet into the air. The heat is so intense that the only remains of Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, the Commander of Battleship Division One is his Naval Academy class ring, welded to the steel deck of the armored conning tower. These color shots were taken from a rare color motion picture shot by an Army doctor visiting the USS Solace
 
   
 
   
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