Battleship Row was the grouping of eight US battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

s in port at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...

, when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. These ships bore the brunt of the Japanese assault. They were moored next to Ford Island

Ford Island

Ford Island is located in the middle of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It is connected to the main island by the Ford Island Bridge. Before the bridge was built, Ford Island could only be reached by a ferry boat which ran at hourly intervals for cars and foot passengers. The island houses several naval...

 when the attack commenced. The ships were , , , , , , , and . A repair ship (former coal ship), , was also present, moored next to Arizona.

Arizona, California, Oklahoma, and West Virginia were sunk during the attack. Arizona suffered the most serious damage and loss of life, an explosion in a forward magazine

Magazine (artillery)

Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...

breaking the hull in two. Of the other four, only Nevada had serious damage. Pennsylvania was in dry dock, making attack difficult, and as a result was relatively undamaged. Vestal was also damaged. Following the attack, operations immediately commenced to refloat and repair the damaged ships. By the end of the war, all except the Arizona and Oklahoma had been put back into service. The six surviving ships were decommissioned soon after the war was over. Nevada and Pennsylvania were expended in atomic bomb tests in the Pacific. The rest were scrapped in the late 1950s. Oklahoma was eventually refloated but not repaired, and capsized and sank while being towed back to the mainland for scrapping. Arizonas hulk remains a memorial, one of the most popular tourist attractions on the island.

was in port at Pearl Harbor, but was not moored with the rest of the battleships. However, she was still sunk within a few minutes of the battle.