 Ford Island ( in the center of Pearl Harbor ) was the headquarters of Patrol Wing Two , an important target for the first @-@ wave airborne raiders in the December 7 , 1941 , Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Before dawn , the U.S. strategic center in the Pacific consisted of the seven battleships moored along Battleship Row and the six pairs of interrupted quays along the east side of Ford Island . Quay F @-@ 2 ( the southernmost ) , which usually berthed an aircraft carrier , was empty . The Pacific Fleet flagship California was moored northeastward , at F @-@ 3 . Side by side with the Maryland was Oklahoma ( outboard ) , followed by Tennessee with West Virginia outboard . Behind Tennessee was Arizona alongside the repair ship Vestal . Closing the row was Nevada , alone at F @-@ 8 . These battleships , from eighteen to twenty @-@ five years old , represented all but two of those available to the Pacific Fleet . Pennsylvania was also in Pearl Harbor , being dry @-@ docked at the Navy Yard . The ninth battleship of the fleet , Colorado , was being overhauled on the West Coast . These nine battleships taken together were one short of equaling Japan 's active battle fleet , although most of the Japanese vessels were newer . 
