How many men were lost on the ship?
A total of 1,177 sailors and marines were killed on USS Arizona the morning of December 7, 1941. This represents the greatest loss of life in U.S. Naval history, and more than half of the 2,335 U.S. servicemen from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps killed during the Pearl Harbor attack. One question still haunts visitors to the Arizona Memorial even to this day. Why were the dead not removed? Initially, about 105 bodies were removed, but because the ship was never raised, the remainder could not. The priority at that time was salvage of ships that could be repaired — the Arizona was not in that category. As a result, the bodies deteriorated to the point of not being identifiable. Even as late as 1947, requests were made in regard to removal of the dead, but rejected. They are considered buried at sea by the US Navy. The battleships Oklahoma, Arizona and target ship Utah were sunk during the attack; battleships California and West Virginia, and minelayer Oglala were sunk but later raised
