Pearl Harbor: Into The Arizona

- [Narrator] It's an expedition

like no other before.

- That's our entry point.

We're going to drop down in there.

Dave will feed the RV.

- Comm check, Scott.

- [Narrator] They are among the world's

foremost underwater explorers.

- V tether.

- Copy that, we got a V tether.

- [Narrator] It's an exploration

of America's most sacred war memorial.

The wreckage of the

battleship USS Arizona.

- We want people to understand that

this was a living, breathing ship.

- The ship is a war grave.

1,177 men died.

- There was devastation.

It was unbelievable.

- [Narrator] The attack on Pearl Harbor,

an assault no one saw coming.

- We thought we were invincible.

They were coming right over us.

- And then we caught the big bomb.

- [Narrator] A blow that

would sink the Arizona,

and change the course of history.

- [President Roosevelt]

December 7th, 1941,

a date which will live in infamy.

- [Narrator] Now, 75 years later...

- That is awesome.

- [Narrator] These

explorers are setting out

to bring the Arizona back to life.

- Wow, look at that.

- Unbelievable.

- [Narrator] And for one

survivor, it's like a homecoming.

- Kind of interesting

to see what all the time

and the sea has done with our old home.

(waves lapping)

- [Narrator] Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii.

The site of the sunken

battleship USS Arizona.

A mere shadow of her former self.

- Here we are on the

gun, the number one guns.

These three gun barrels extend out

into the gloom of Pearl

Harbor some 57 feet.

- [Narrator] These encrusted weapons

were once capable of heaving

a 1,500 pound projectile

miles into the air.

- [Diver] The physical remains

of the ship are still here.

And along with those remains are artifacts

of the decks all around us.

- [Narrator] Marine growth, mixed with

the Arizona's corrosion,

covers the ship like a blanket.

- [Diver] We have this water pitcher

that's been here since the

attack of December 7th.

- [Narrator] A fork.

A bowl.

A shoe.

Traces of life on board before the attack.

- [Diver] They stay on the

decks, and they're preserved

as a touchstone to the

history and the events

that happened here on December 7th.

- [Narrator] 75 years after the attack,

the National Park

Service is about to board

the Arizona once more.

- Alright, breath's good.

- The interior investigation of Arizona

really stems out of

the Park Service's need

to manage the site, to figure

how long it's going to last.

And the only way we can do

that is through technology

and figuring out if we can access

some points deep in the ship.

- [Narrator] Researchers

and divers prepare

for a high stakes expedition.

- The ship is a war grave.

1,177 men died, and many of them died

right at the location

that you're diving at

and that you're looking at.

Knowing that and seeing

it up close underwater

is really a moving experience.

We get goosebumps, all of our divers do.

- [Narrator] Little is

known about the condition

of the Arizona's interior.

The ship is now a Naval cemetery,

and no diver is allowed inside.

- Now we've got this opportunity

to do it with scientific instrumentation

in a very controlled manner that allows us

to inspect what's there, what's

going on, what's changed.

- [Narrator] To gauge the

current state of the Arizona,

the team scans the wreckage using

a radio-controlled sonar device.

- That's good.

Stay on that azimuth for...

- [Narrator] The data

will be used to create

a 3-D computer model

of the ship's exterior.

At the heart of the interior exploration

will be a custom-built ROV

the team has named Eleventh Hour.

Capable of exploring areas of the ship

nobody has seen since

the day of the attack.

- We can swim around the ship all we want,

but until we really have an understanding

of what's going on inside,

we really don't know

how long the ship is going to last.

- [Narrator] To build

and operate this ROV,

the National Park Service has teamed up

with the Woods Hole

Oceanographic Institution.

- We get to go to places where

we're frequently the first

people to ever see something,

and I want to share that.

- [Narrator] They are

among the world's foremost

underwater explorers, and key in bringing

the Arizona back to life.

- So now for the first

time, we have the ability

to remove the water away from the ship

and just look at the ship.

People have the ability to

see what the ship looks like

and what's still left in

the harbor 75 years later.

(40s jazz music)

- [Narrator] She was called

the pride of the fleet,

the flagship of the Navy's

First Battleship Division.

Home to more than 1,500 men.

One of them, Ensign Carl Bud Weedan,

reporting for duty in the summer of 1940.

For 75 years, his family

has kept his memory alive,

and held on to the treasure

trove Ensign Weedan left behind.

- This is my uncle's 8 MM

movie film from the 40s.

These are the letters that he wrote home.

Then we also, we also have a few photos.

Here he is, real casual, on a sail boat.

He really enjoyed his life.

Then he got into Annapolis,

and spent about four years

there, and graduated in 1940.

He was very proud.

- [Narrator] Also signing

up for service onboard

the vessel that year, Seaman Don Stratton.

- For an old country boy like me who had,

you see the Arizona sitting there,

tied up to the dock, it's immense.

How can 35,000 ton of

steel float, you know.

- [Narrator] Stratton's battle station,

the sky control platform,

one deck above the bridge.

75 years later, Don

Stratton returns to his ship

to be a part of the exploration.

- At this moment, I would

like to let everybody know

to be aware of the fact that we do have

Mr. Donald Stratton with us.

He is an Arizona memorial survivor.

(crowd applauding)

- Kind of interesting

to see what all the time

and the sea has done with our old home.

It'd be like a homecoming, I guess maybe,

after all these years.

(crowd applauding)

- You know, to have Don back here

and be able to participate in our project,

in our research, it really means a lot

having him be able to

experience the ship again,

like he's never experienced it

since he was there 75 year ago.

- [Narrator] As one of the few

Arizona sailors still alive,

to this day he wonders why he was spared.

- Some of the personnel did

survive, and I was one of them.

I think about it every

day, how many people

didn't make it that day.

Why the Good Lord saved us but, who knows.

- [Narrator] After weeks of

preparation, the team is ready

to field test their custom-built ROV.

- There's a certain amount of anxiety.

We have this narrow timeline

that we need to hit,

in time for the anniversary.

Plus, we have Don Stratton coming.

So there's a fair amount of pressure,

to make sure that the ROV works.

That's our entry point, we're

going to drop down in there.

Dave will feed the ROV, and

we'll take the second back,

make sure everything works, that you guys

have control, cameras, all that.

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