Dock issue suspends USS Arizona Memorial tours again

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HONOLULU — The USS Arizona Memorial has problems again with its shoreside dock, which means that boat tours to the popular Pearl Harbor site are suspended.

The National Park Service said staff members at Pearl Harbor were alerted to an issue with the shoreside dock on Sunday.

The park service suspended tours via Navy boats to the memorial built in the harbor.

The site is among the most visited in Hawaii, and pays homage to the 1,177 lives lost on the USS Arizona in the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The dock is past its life expectancy and repetitive stressors such as tidal movements contributed to the recent failure, the park service said Monday.

The memorial was closed for 15 months after cracks were found on the dock in 2018. Exceptionally high tides in 2017 are believed to have dislodged concrete blocks sunk into Pearl Harbor’s sediment and connected by chains to the dock. The repair project cost more than $2.1 million.

It was closed again in September for two weeks for emergency safety repairs, Hawaii News Now reported.

A new dock is being built off-site, the park service said.

The Pearl Harbor National Memorial visitor center, museums and other services remain open.