By Stuart Rosebrook, Executive Director, Sharlot Hall Museum
In American naval history, few ships are more honored than the Pennsylvania class of battleship, the U.S.S. Arizona. When the Arizona was christened by Prescott’s own Esther Ross in the Brooklyn Naval Yard in front of 75,000 on June 19, 1915, no one could conceive of the battleship’s fateful future; in contrast, the Arizona’s construction, along with its sister-ship Pennsylvania, was heralded as a symbol of America’s commitment to being one of the world’s most powerful militaries, a stern and strong message to its enemies in the war raging in Europe and the Atlantic.
How did 17-year-old Esther Ross, daughter of a Prescott pharmacist, become Arizona’s representative to christen the young state’s namesake battleship? She received an appointment from Governor George W. P. Hunt, but it was her father, William W. Ross, who championed his daughter’s role. “He quietly started to talk to his friends,” Esther Ross Wassell remembered in an interview with journalist Bob Thomas in 1967. “In the three years since the keel was laid he managed to get quite a backing. Gov. Hunt chose me out of hundreds of girls. Of course, like I said, my father started working on it a lot earlier than the other fathers.”
Not to be outdone, Esther’s mother made her practice swinging and breaking bottles in the backyard of their Prescott home. “Every night after I came home from school my mother made me practice christening,” Esther remembered. “I developed a pretty good swing.”
When the Arizona was christened, Esher’s photograph appeared in newspapers across the country, sharing a headline with the battleship, such as from the Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, N.J.), “The U.S.S. Arizona, Greatest Battleship Afloat, and Fair Sponsor Esther Ross.” Closer to home, The Weekly Journal-Miner reported on Esther’s trip to Brooklyn as the Arizona maiden chosen to christen the dreadnought. When asked about reports that her christening skills broke the bottle of New York champagne but not the Arizona bottle of water from Roosevelt Lake, Miss Ross emphatically stated in the July 21, 1915, issue “that the water bottle as well as the champagne bottle broke with a crash and that even the casings, one so beautifully wrought in silver by Tiffany, and the other somewhat more crudely constructed of copper strips from the Arizona copper mines, were dented,... I now have the remains of both bottles presented by Secretary Daniels as souvenirs, and can prove that the Arizona water performed its mission quite as well as the New York champagne.”
Late in life, Esther was queried about her experience as a young girl chosen to christen the U.S.S. Arizona. The Prescottonian was reflective in her answer. “I thought it would be over when I got home, that it would just be an episode in my life and people would forget about my role,” she said. “Instead, it has followed me throughout my life...” Esther Ross died in 1979 at age 81, always remembered as the girl who fatefully swung two bottles to christen the legendary U.S.S. Arizona.
And what about the bottle with the first water that spilled over the Roosevelt Dam? Never again was a bottle of water used to christen a U.S. Naval ship.
Author’s note: The U.S.S. Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is one of three recognized memorials to the great ship. The University of Arizona Student Union’s memorial includes relics of the christening bottles and an outdoor memorial to those killed in the December 7, 1941 attack. The Arizona Capitol Museum in Phoenix’s exhibit includes the ship’s silver service, while outside on the Mall, the ship’s anchor and mast are displayed in honor of its fallen heroes and courageous survivors.
“Days Past” is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners International (www.prescottcorral.org). This and other Days Past articles are also available at www.archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1. The public is encouraged to submit proposed articles and inquiries to dayspast@sharlothallmuseum.org Please contact SHM Research Center reference desk at 928-277-2003, or via email at archivesrequest@sharlothallmuseum.org for information or assistance with photo requests.