USS Arizona (BB 39)

The USS Arizona, an over age battleship, was destroyed in the opening moments of the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Although her big guns never fired once in combat, she will be remembered along with the Navy's most famous fighting ships, long after most World War II ships have been scrapped or rusted away, for here sudden demise marked the end of the battleship era of naval history, and the advent of the aircraft carrier as the main strength of the Navy.