Boat Crashes Into USS Arizona Memorial In Pearl Harbor
Tours are suspended after access ramp damaged, but a quick check of the hull of the sunken ship shows no sign of impact.
Part of the USS Arizona Memorial was struck Wednesday morning as tugboats guiding the USNS Mercy, a Navy hospital ship, exited Pearl Harbor.
Tours of the World War II memorial because its access ramp was damaged in the collision, according to The Associated Press.
The first reports suggested it was a tugboat, and not the , that actually hit the memorial. An initial inspection of the sunken hull of the USS Arizona found that “ from this recent event,鈥 the National Park Service website said. The site also noted that an investigation is ongoing.
“It went right over the dock,” said one witness to the collision, according to Military.com. “. My husband said you could see mud and water being kicked up. It backed up to within feet of hitting the white memorial building.”
Good navigation rule in Harbor: don’t hit the
鈥 Chris Cavas (@CavasShips)
The USNS Mercy, which is normally based in San Diego, is in Hawaii to prepare for , an annual humanitarian mission conducted by the U.S. Navy in the Asia-Pacific region. Due to its single propeller and a wide hull, the hospital ship is less maneuverable than Navy warships.
The USS Arizona Memorial, which commemorates the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, was completed in 1961. It , where 1,177 crew members lost their lives in the attack. visit the memorial every day.
