USS Arkansas BB-33
The USS Arkansas was commissioned in 1912, and was the oldest US battleship still in service at the start of World War II. She was 562’ long, 27,000 tons, and armed with 12, 12” guns arranged in 6 twin turrets. Her armor belt was 11” thick at its thickest spot. She served in both World Wars and was modernized several times in her three decades of service. During WWII she spent the first few years of the war escorting convoys across the North Atlantic. During the D-Day invasion she provided naval fire support at Omaha Beach, the first time her main guns were fired in combat. She would continue to serve in a shore bombardment roll for the remainder of the war, supporting the allied landings in Southern France (Aug 1944), Iwo Jima, (Feb 1945), and Okinawa (March 1945).
She was selected as one of the target ships for Operation Crossroads and was 250 yards away from the underwater BAKER blast. The underwater shockwave slammed into her from below, and almost immediately she rolled over and sank to the lagoon bottom in 170 ft of water. Today she is upside down with partial list to port. You can really appreciate the power of the blast while diving on this wreck. Landing on the top of the wreck the keel looks like a crushed in soda can, except this soda can was composed of 5-11” steel armored plate. The starboard side of the wreck is almost entirely crushed and buried, and two of her propeller shafts are missing, either torn away or buried. However her port side is more intact, with numerous 5”guns pointing outwards from their casemates, and her 12” guns pointed outwards from beneath the upturned hull. There aren’t a lot of places to get into this massive wreck, but we were able to explore the gun deck by entering through one of the casemates.
Anywhere else in the world the Arkansas would be the star attraction. This is an amazing wreck, with a fascinating history, but it is unfortunately overshadowed by the nearby Saratoga and Nagato. We only got one dive on the Arkansas, and it was not nearly enough to explore the whole thing, but it was an impressive dive nonetheless.
