The Maritime Services and Transportation Division of Dillingham Corporation will take an active part in assisting to recreate Pearl Harbor's Day of Infamy for the film production of Tora! Tora! Tora! being readied for filming by 20th Century-Fox.
20th Century-Fox ordered a full-sized replica of the stern half of the USS Arizona, including its 97-foot mainmast, to be built at Dillingham Shipyard in Honolulu. A separate mast superstructure representing the USS Tennessee will also be built as part of this project. The Honolulu engineering firm of Alfred Yee and Associates executed the design from data collected by the film makers with the cooperation of the U.S. Navy.
The superstructure of the Arizona will be mounted on three barges and towed to Pearl Harbor, where the scenes depicting the December 7, 1941, holocaust will be filmed. The towing and maneuvering of the replica will also be done by the tugs and barges belonging to Dillingham.
The mockup will be 93 feet wide and some 340 feet long, and the mast will be provided with a device enabling it to simulate the half-collapsed state of the actual mast as caught in photographs.
The recreation of the attack on Pearl Harbor culminating in the destruction of the Arizona will be the highlight of Tora! Tora! Tora! a joint American-Japanese effort.