Edmund Fitzgerald exploration

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Was it Arizona's main magazine that went up?<<

Yes. The weapon used was a 16 inch armour piercing shell modified for use as an air droppable bomb. As Michael Cundiff noted, the Hood sank in very deep water so there was plenty of time for the fall and the structural damage to do it's work.

Arizona never had a chance to break up because she settled down in water so shallow that the superstructure remained exposed. With Edmund Fitzgerald, there's some evidence...albit hardly conclusive...that the ship broke apart before it hit bottom. The break up could just as easily have been a consequence of the bow hitting the bottom and the wave action above doing the rest to the already damaged stern section.

 

[Tad G. Fitch]

I also believe that the Hood was visibly blown in half on the surface when her magazine exploded, with the bow and stern both pointing straight up in the air momentarily before quickly sinking. When the Arizona's magazine exploded, it basically gutted the entire bow, all the way to the bridge, and blew the bottom of the ship out as well, but did not blow it in half.

The damage to the structure of the ship resulting from the explosion itself appears to have been more catastrophic to the Hood than Arizona (although each were equally devastating to the crew aboard). The Hood was more lightly armored than the Arizona, although both vessels were somewhat older figure-heads of their nation's navys when sunk. As has already been said, the Hood fared far worse since after being blown in two, it also sank in deep water which did even more damage. The Arizona didn't even have room to sink all the way, but if it did, it may have broken up more on the way down too.