USS Arizona Memorial boat tours resume after dock repairs

After the U.S. Navy completed repairs to a shoreside dock on Jan. 5, boat tours have resumed to the USS Arizona Memorial at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. 

Tours had been suspended since damage to the dock was discovered Dec. 12.

The fix is temporary, however, and a new dock will be installed at a later date, according to a statement from the National Park Service. 

“Every effort will be made to monitor the repairs made to the dock so that visits to the USS Arizona Memorial can remain as uninterrupted as possible. However, additional repairs may be needed and may still occur on short notice,” the statement said. “Repetitive stressors such as wakes and tidal movements contributed to the most recent failure. Fabrication of the new shoreside dock has begun off-site. Installation of the new shoreside dock is set to occur later in the year.”

The docks at the memorial have needed repeated attention in recent years. In 2018, tours halted for 15 months as a $2.1 million repair was completed. Tours were suspended again in September for emergency repairs that lasted two weeks.

The memorial marks the resting place of more than 1,000 sailors and marines who perished in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and boat tours take participants to the memorial site, which floats above the sunken battleship.

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