DRY DOCK UNDER FIRE

NAVY YARD A battle all its own unfolded in this shiprepair zone south of Ford. The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is today a restricted area, though a special exception was made recently for a USA TODAY visit.

“It’s a shame that more people can’t see it,” said Eric Kimura, a supervisory engineer at the shipyard and an unofficial historian who conducts history tours for workers. “You lose something when you don’t have the opportunity to actually walk where people walked and see where people actually fought.”

The sprawling dry- dock area was the target of both Japanese dive- bombing planes and high- level bombers attacking ships nakedly exposed. One was the destroyer USS Shaw, sitting in a floating dry dock just west of where Kimura described the attack.

A dive bomber spirited a bomb through the ship’s bridge where it exploded below decks. A fire eventually ignited the magazine, causing a spectacular explosion that blew the bow off the ship. Caught on camera, it produced an iconic image of that day.

Two other destroyers and a battleship, the USS Pennsylvania, were together in Dry Dock 1. Kimura pointed out where one of the most unusual defenders fought back. Crane operator George Walters, a civilian shipyard worker, used his large machine to try to protect the battleship.

“( He) started to move his crane back and forth and swinging it from side to side to attempt to distract the dive bombers that he could see coming down,” Kimura said. “We think George actually helped out.”

The two destroyers nearby were wrecked by Japanese planes, but the Pennsylvania suffered just one successful bomb strike. More than two dozen sailors died on the warship.

Today, plaques adorn the dry- dock area memorializing what played out there — one heralds the restoration of the Pennsylvania and its eventual return to combat.