The craziest thing about it to me was how the USS Arizona went out.
One lucky Japanese pilot dropped a lucky bomb that busted through multiple decks and detonated in the magazine for the main guns.
The witnesses there saw the ship literally bloat and her entire steel superstructure stretch and then exploded. It was such a large explosion that it left a mushroom cloud similar to one from a small tactical nuclear weapon.
More than 3/4 of the crew of the ship was killed literally instantly. She’s the only ship of battleship row that was unable to be raised and repaired and go back into service. Other ships (like the Nevada that took multiple torpedoes and capsized) were able to be raised and repaired. Some of them even got to see service later in the war and get some revenge. Not Arizona though. She’s laying in the bay the exact same way she sunk to this day. Most of her sailors were never recovered.
A tomb to brave souls.
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