Missouri and Arizona

If you get a evening free, drive to Diamond Head, go in thru the tunnel and park at the trail head at the old fort. Take the climb up thru all the old bunkers and tunnels to the top. The view is incredible.

well its almost time to go. I leave to Hawaii on this friday the 8th. I cant wait    =) i will take plenty of pics! 

The Navigator

Well it's a little late and it's not the Arizona or the Missouri, but this pic of the Oklahoma and the Wisconsin pretty much shows the difference:

Excellent picture!  This really shows the difference between generations of battleships.  From one designed during WWI to the most modern battleship in the world at that time, that was actually completed, launched, and saw service.  It always amazed me that the Brooklyn Class Light Cruisers were a few feet longer than the Arizona.  Different generations of design.

quote user="von Gekko":

I took my wife and kids there several years ago and visited both ships.  It was one of the high points of our trip.  The Arizona memorial is very well designed and a good experience.  The Missouri was really amazing.   They have the Missouri docked at Ford island, with her bow directly facing the Arizona's and only about 250m away.  One of the things that struck me was how much bigger the Missouri is - take a look on Google maps with satellite view, its impressive.

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Well it's a little late and it's not the Arizona or the Missouri, but this pic of the Oklahoma and the Wisconsin pretty much shows the difference:

SuppressionFire

Aloha!

Never been myself. Hawaii & Alaska are the only two states I would want to visit.

 

I don't know about that. I think that Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine should be added to the list. They are pretty nice as well.

I went to Hawaii a couple years ago and spend the whole day at Pearl Harbor, most of it on the Mighty Mo.I took a ton of pictures. When you go take the one of the pay tours, if you really want to go deep down the ship they have one where you have to wear hard hats.

It was really something to stand where WW II officaly ended.

I can't wait to go back.

Another museum to visit is Battery Randolph on Fort DeRussy which is right on Waikiki Beach next to

the Hale Koa hotel.  When I lived there the admission was free.  It's an old coast artillery battery.

Take a glider ride out at Dillingham Field, too.

Enjoy your visit

Ray

Tracy White

The lines mentioned were worse as the day progressed; if you get there earlier there were less of them. I haven't been since the new facility went live, though, so I'm not sure how bad it gets now.

Gonna press the tour guide issue again.    The tour organizers know the crowd wait times and schedule their arrival times appropriately.    Many tour operators also get a block of entry times so you walk in and go to the head of the queue for the boat out to the Memorial.   The lines get worse on days when the cruise ships are in port.  

Heck,  you can even book air as part of your tour.   We flew from Maui to Honolulu,  got the full day's tour of Oahu, and back to Maui all in one seamless package.   

The lines mentioned were worse as the day progressed; if you get there earlier there were less of them. I haven't been since the new facility went live, though, so I'm not sure how bad it gets now.

I was stationed onboard USS Ethan Allen (SSBN 608)(Gold) at Pearl in 1980.  The off-crew offices were in an old aircraft hangar on Ford Island, and the single sailors (myself included at the time) lived in Barracks 55, also on Ford. Both the hangar and the barracks had been standing at the time of the attack.  I was a "geographic bachelor" waiting for the Allen to change homeports to Bangor, WA.  Anyway, I spent a lot of time walking around Ford Island, visiting both the USS Arizona and the USS Utah memorials, examining both hulls as closely as I could.  I agree that the feeling is powerful! I have fond memories of both.

Bill

WOW thanks for those links Tracy White! i'll definatley be checkin out that Aviation Museum!

thanks for sharing all your storys. Seems like a really special place to visit.

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl. Hallowed ground.

And, Diamond Head, which you'll see from Honolulu, is actually a great place to go. Drive into the crater and hike up to the top through a series of old tunnels, bunkers and steep trails. It's a splendid view at the top.

Here's a site you will enjoy.

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/HI/Airfields_HI.htm

My wife and I went to see the Arizona in 2008, before they started the new museum.  Prepare to spend a lot of time in line getting in.  Then again for the boat trip to the Memorial.  But it was worth the trip to Hawaii.  Definitely!  After seeing the museum, and the videos, the trip to the Memorial was almost anti-climactic.  Almost.  Then you are standing above the sunken hull where all those sailors are still entombed.... I don't really know how to describe it, but it felt more than a little surreal.  You see the wall where all the names of the dead are written, and you realize that nearly every one of them is still there, below you.  Forever.  I admit I felt some tears, and looking around, I wasn't the only one.  As someone above mentioned; these men never knew what was coming.  Many probably never fully realized what hit them, they died so quickly. 

After having been on the Alabama and the Massachusetts, the Arizona looked really small to me also.  Then we went to the Missouri, and that ship seemed just enormous!  It basically is taking the space that four battleships were using on December 7, 1941!

Another place to see that I have heard of, but didn't get to see, is the military cemetary on Oahu.  I can't remember the name, but I believe they put it in a caldera just North of Honolulu.  I am sure someone here has the name.  I hope you enjoy your trip!

The turrets of Batteries Arizona and Pennsylvania have long since been removed and are on land that is not generally accessible (private property, etc.).

Pearl Harbor has four museums mentioned here that I wanted to mention in one post:

Arizona Visitor's Center and Memorial
Battleship Missouri
Bowfin Submarine Museum
Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island

I went there about 3 years ago. Awesome place Pearl harbor. Hard to believe there was so much destruction at one point.

Pearl has some nice museums. Don't miss the submarine one. Lot's of great models there.

The Arizona was a little surreal, but they didn't allow much time there, so be sure to get your photos before they move you along.

The Might Mo was very worth it. I took the basic tour and saw everything that was necessary.

I achieved a few of my bucket lists by going to Pearl. I saw the beginning of the US entry into WW II and the final surrender of the Japanese all in one place.

I took my wife and kids there several years ago and visited both ships.  It was one of the high points of our trip.  The Arizona memorial is very well designed and a good experience.  The Missouri was really amazing.   They have the Missouri docked at Ford island, with her bow directly facing the Arizona's and only about 250m away.  One of the things that struck me was how much bigger the Missouri is - take a look on Google maps with satellite view, its impressive.

Did the Arizona/Missouri bookends tour about 3 years ago.   Before the new museum/visitors center was opened.   Crowded and confusing displays unless you knew what you were looking at.      I've heard that the new museum/vistors center is much nicer.

The Missouri tour was essentially a walk around the main deck, through the modernized CIC, and up to the surrender deck.     Fine for what is was,  but there are other tours of other battleships which are nicer (but they arn't in Hawaii).  

Hire a professional tour guide  for a tour of Oahu.  You'll get more out of the day than trying to do it on your own.   Our guide took us up to NuuanuPali, where King Kamehamea and the Big Islanders defeated the natives of Oahu to unify the islands under one rule.    Of course he also drove us past Dog the Bounty Hunter's office.   Said that Big-ole Beth may come out to the bus if she's in the office at the time

I never went to Hawaii but I did tour the Mighty Mo`s sister, the New Jersey. Pack a lunch...its a BIG ship!

Have a great Vacation!

Len

I went to Hawaii with my parents when I was 10 or 11 or so. Pearl was certainly an experience, seeing the Arizona down there beneath the water is haunting, but honestly I think I was too young to take in the full weight of it.

I also saw the Missouri up close in Seattle when I was, I don't know, 13 maybe? Shortly after Desert Storm. It hadn't been mothballed or museum-ified yet, and they weren't doing tours, but we were able to go check it out from the pier. Have fun aboard her...floating piece of history, that ship is.

It really sounds like an amazing experience that i'm really looking forward to. seems like something ill remember for a long time. What exactly can you see at the Arizona memorial, can you see much of the ship.

ill try see as much as i can, im staying for 10 nights so im sure i can fit it all in.

I read that apparently they re-used some of Arizona's main guns as coast line artillery or something in Hawaii, did you see them by any chance or was what i read misunderstood. that would be a great thing to see.

Dont worry SuppressionFire, ill take LOTS of photos    and thats my 1/32 Scale MiG-29 in my signature, i made a post on it. This is the URL:

/forums/t/134628.aspx

I feel the same way. The first time I went there was nothing, the second time the memorial had been built. Be sure and make time to see the aircraft museum on Ford Island. If you have an extra afternoon you should go out to Schofield barracks and up to the Kolekole pass. It's like time has stood still.

I recently bought Paul Stillwell's "Battleship Arizona: An Illustrated History" from the gift shop at the Memorial, $ 69.00 list price and still in plastic. That's a pretty good deal, it's long out of print and goes anywhere from $ 100- $ 300 on line. I think she still has a few copies.

I went there for my honeymoon 35 years ago - almost to the day - and, while I have been to some monuments over the years and don't claim to be an expert, I was profoundly moved as I went through the Arizona Memorial that is still with me today whenever I think of it.  Reverence is the closest word I can think of to describe it.  There is a real sense history and sadness, not about the physical attack but the loss of young life and all they never got to experience.  Their loss was not from a sense of known sacrifice as was the case after war was declared - they had no idea of what was about ot happen.   We took the base tour first, then went to the Memorial - I still think that is the best way to experience Pearl.    The Mo wasn't there then of course - in fact, I think it was being refitted for service after having been mothballed.

Pearl is an extrordinary place and I think you will find your visit very rewarding on many levels.  I am sure others feel diffently that I did.  But all who I spoke with who have been say they come away with something they didn't have before. 

Have a Great Time in Hawaii - you will probably appreciate it even more after your visit to Pearl.  Everyone should go if they get a chance.

Aloha!

Never been myself. Hawaii & Alaska are the only two states I would want to visit.

It would be appreciated if you took plenty of refernece style photographs of both the Arizona Memorial & the Mighty Mo. and posted said photographs in 'Ships' for other modelers to refer to.

Enjoy your vacation, take it all in. Drink, feast and enjoy the scenery!

That is one cool looking Mig-29 on your signature line, any pictures of it posted on the forum?