This is the post I imagine most of you have been dreading. How long will he drone on for about war, planes, and ships? I shall try to be restrained though the good news for fellow anoraks is that if you go to Galleries you will find lots more photos!
Suffice it to say it was a long but interesting day and typically well done. The visit to the Arizona is efficient, respectful and terribly sombre. My boatload of Americans was essentially silent throughout.
The two things that kept coming back to me were Taranto and Royal Oak. The Japanese took note of the Fleet Air Arm’s attack in Italy and repeated it in spades. The Americans took note of it but were dramatically disorganised when the raid hit.
Cue Royal Oak for she sank due to inadequate organisation pre war at Scapa, and like Arizona entombs most of her crew and still leaks oil – both ships had been refuelled almost immediately before. And both receive the ashes of surviving sailors when they pass. The Americans more so as can be seen by the numbers. One is currently waiting to go in and then there are only five survivors left.
The exhibits around the attack were balanced – the two things that caught me in particular were first,the discovery that the fleet had been having a battle of the bands amongst the battleships in the weeks before the raid and Arizona had won the opening rounds, and second, that many of the civilian casualties were caused by American anti aircraft shells being badly fused so that having gone up, it was only on coming down and hitting Honolulu that they exploded.
Then it was onto Mighty Mo, the USS Missouri.
To my horror she was covered in scaffolding which was a tad disappointing but at least shows she’s being maintained. Having seen New Jersey last year the impact was not that dramatic, but she is satisfyingly vast.
And seeing where the peace was finally signed – MacArthur keeping the Japanese waiting but with hands shaking with nerves was fascinating.
The PC bit that shocked me though? A note above a signal pad from 1944 which contained the word “Jap” came with an apology but explaining they had to keep matters historically accurate. To a former Warlord agent this seemed unnecessary.
Finally, for I won’t bore you with submarine USS Bowfin,
the Aircraft Museum was excellent! Well thought out, and in one hangar completely centred around the attack and the response. Included was the actual little plane, being flown by someone like me, which suddenly found itself surrounded by Imperial might on the morning of Dec 7th.
The Airfield itself is historically interesting and is the only museum I’ve been to with bullet holes in the windows.
There was also a hangarful of modern heavy metal, though the most interesting bit was the B17 recovered from the swamp into which it crashed, and which is wonderfully eerie.
