 Despite concern that it would detract from the Arizona memorial , in 1998 the USS Missouri was transferred from Washington State to Ford Island . After a year of conversion into a museum , the ship opened for visitors on January 29 , 1999 . On December 7 , 2006 , the 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor , the aviation museum opened to visitors in Hangar 37 after more than ten years of planning . On December 7 , 2007 , a joint ceremony was held by the National Park Service and the USS Oklahoma memorial committee to dedicate a memorial to the ship just outside the entrance to the USS Missouri museum on the northeast side of the island . The Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor signed a lease with the US Navy on September 2 , 2010 , for the Ford Island control tower , which sent the first radio alert of the attack , and began its restoration . 
