This is the 16,000 pound anchor off the bow of the nuclear powered guided missile cruiser USS Arkansas, CGN-41. This anchor was placed here in grateful memory of those who served aboard her. Four ships of the United States Navy and one of the Confederate States Navy have borne the name Arkansas. The first USS Arkansas was a wooden hulled barkentine-rigged steamer in the American Civil War. The second, BM-7, was a single-turreted monitor. The third USS Arkansas, BB-33, a Wyoming-class battleship, saw action in the Mexican American War, WWI and WWII including combat action against the Japanese at Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. CGN-41 was 586 feet long, 63 feet at the beam and displaced 1,600 tons. She was powered by two nuclear power plants. Her crew was 45 officers and 540 enlisted. The ship was armed with antiaircraft and Tomahawk cruise missiles. It participated in Desert Storm in 1991. She was launched in 1978 and decommissioned in 1998. After CGN-41 was decommissioned Craighead County Judge Dale Haas requested that Governor Mike Huckabee assist in securing the anchor from the Arkansas for display as part of our veterans monument.
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