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Boat tours of Pearl Harbor’s former Battleship Row will resume this morning following a five-day stop after the floating shoreside dock sank at the USS Arizona
Memorial visitor center last weekend.
Between 4,000 and
5,000 people visit the National Park Service’s center each day to experience ground zero for the Dec. 7, 1941, surprise Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor.
Visitors will continue to see a 25-minute documentary film, followed by transfer to Navy boats for the harbor tour, which transits in close proximity to the
Arizona Memorial.
Normally, the boat trip includes the opportunity to disembark onto the walkway that extends over the sunken battleship, but walk-on access was curtailed in May to address a faulty anchoring system on the concrete floating dock attached to the
memorial.
The ongoing closure of the memorial-side dock coupled with the sinking of the shoreside dock was a double whammy for visitors and meant no boat tours at all.
Repairs to the shoreside dock were completed thanks to the “outstanding support” of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard divers, Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 1, Port Operations and Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii, the Park Service said.
The 180-foot floating concrete dock, with 10 watertight cells, is hinged in the middle with a heavy steel bracket secured by 24 bolts extending into the cells on either side.
Over time, the bolts rusted away, in some cases leaving holes as big as a baseball through which seawater finally poured through, pulling the center section of the dock under water.
Arizona Memorial spokesman Jay Blount said the Navy jumped on repairs,
refloated the chambers and patched the holes with
epoxy and metal plates, finishing the job Thursday.
The shoreside dock, put in place in 1999, is scheduled to be replaced in 2019, Blount said. A total of
$1.7 million in federal funding has been secured and Pacific Historic Parks, a
nonprofit that supports the Arizona Memorial, is raising matching funds.
Live or recorded commentary during the harbor boat tours will resume “to enhance our visitors’ experience to the greatest extent possible,” the Park Service said.
An early morning ceremony today will see a ceremonial return to sailors wearing dress-white uniforms when they operate the boats. They had been wearing khaki shirts and black pants.
The first program is at 7:30 a.m. with the 25-minute film followed by embarkation on the boat for the harbor tour.
“All other amenities at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center remain open and accessible,” the Park Service said. “Visitors are encouraged to visit our two free museums, shoreside exhibits, snack shop and bookstore. Our partners at the Battleship Missouri Memorial, the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum &Park, and Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum remain open and ready to welcome visitors.”
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