The short count: two hulls, not three memorials
Search results often blur three names, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah, because each has a memorial tied to Pearl Harbor National Memorial. Memorials are not the same as wrecks still on the bottom. The National Park Service battleship-row overview says Arizona was never salvaged and still rests in the harbor, and that Utah was never salvaged and remains submerged where she sank. Oklahoma's NPS place page states she was salvaged and raised at Pearl Harbor in 1944, then sold for scrap and sank in a storm while under tow to the West Coast in 1947.
So the answer to how many ships are still sunk at Pearl Harbor, meaning hulls that have stayed in place as sunken ships since December 1941, is two. Other battleships that settled or grounded that morning, including California and West Virginia, were raised, repaired, and returned to service. Nevada got underway and was beached to keep the channel open, then returned to the fight.
The USS Arizona page on this site covers the magazine explosion and crew losses that made Arizona the attack's deadliest single ship.
Ship-by-ship status table (NPS / Navy salvage record)
| Ship | 7 Dec 1941 outcome | Still sunk in Pearl Harbor? | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Arizona (BB-39) | Forward magazines detonated; ship destroyed | Yes: never salvaged; hull remains a war grave | NPS Battleship Row |
| USS Utah (AG-16) | Torpedoed, capsized north of Ford Island | Yes: never salvaged; remains submerged | NPS Battleship Row |
| USS Oklahoma (BB-37) | Eight torpedoes; capsized in minutes | No: raised 1944; sank under tow 1947 | NPS Oklahoma Memorial place page |
| USS California / West Virginia | Sunk or settled at berths | No: salvaged and rebuilt | NPS Battleship Row |
| USS Nevada | Got underway; beached at Hospital Point | No: not left as a wreck | NPS Battleship Row |
Utah's quieter memorial on Ford Island is why some casual lists stop at Arizona. The NPS description of the park notes that Arizona and Utah wrecks are national historic landmarks managed under agreement with the Navy even when they sit outside certain monument boundary lines.
Why Oklahoma gets counted by mistake
Oklahoma killed 429 officers, sailors, and Marines, second only to Arizona that morning, and her memorial stands on Ford Island. That human and memorial footprint makes her feel like a ship that is still there. The salvage timeline is unambiguous on the NPS Oklahoma memorial page: raised in 1944, denied further fleet service, decommissioned, sold for scrap, and lost under tow in 1947. Naming Oklahoma among ships still sunk at Pearl Harbor confuses a memorial with a hull.
Navy feature stories sometimes say Arizona, Utah, and Oklahoma remain in Pearl Harbor when they mean the memorial program and the names carried forward on new submarines. Read those lines as legacy language, not as a wreck inventory. Ship-type naming questions on this site include U-boat vs submarine.
What visitors actually see
Arizona's white memorial spans the sunken hull; oil still seeps from the wreck in small amounts that park interpreters call the black tears. Utah's rusted structure is visible from the Ford Island shore near her memorial. Neither site is a raised museum ship like Missouri. Visiting hours and shuttle rules change; use the current NPS Pearl Harbor National Memorial pages before planning access to Ford Island memorials.