The sponsor of the USS Arizona submarine paid tribute Dec. 7 to those who served on the famed battleship of the same name and those who will serve on the new boat.
Nikki Stratton, granddaughter of the battleship USS Arizona survivor Donald Stratton, used the occasion of the submarine USS Arizona’s keel-laying ceremony to tell her grandfather’s story and mark the “rebirth and revival of a great hallowed and treasured name,” the Arizona.
The ceremony was held at shipbuilder General Dynamics’ facility in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, on the 81st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The battleship Arizona was sunk that day with 1,177 of its crew killed. The ceremony also was live streamed and a public viewing held at the Public Safety Training Facility in Gilbert, which Stratton designated as the submarine’s municipal sponsor.
