Franklin Van Valkenburgh Franklin Van Valkenburgh ( April 5 , 1888 – December 7 , 1941 ) was the last captain of the . He was killed when the " Arizona " exploded and sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor . Military service . Franklin Van Valkenburgh was appointed a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy on September 15 , 1905 and graduated on June 4 , 1909 . After service in the battleship and in , Van Valkenburgh was commissioned ensign on June 5 , 1911 . Traveling to the Asiatic Station soon thereafter , he joined the submarine tender at Olongapo , Philippine Islands , on September 11 . He reported to the gunboat as executive officer on June 23 , 1914 for a short tour in the southern Philippines before his detachment on August 4 . After returning to the United States , Lt . ( jg . ) Van Valkenburgh joined on November 11 . Following postgraduate work in steam engineering at the Naval Academy in September 1915 , he took further instruction in that field at Columbia University before reporting to on March 2 , 1917 . The entry of the United States into World War I found Van Valkenburgh serving as the battleship ' s engineering officer . Subsequent temporary duty in the receiving ship at New York preceded his first tour as an instructor at the Naval Academy . On June 1 , 1920 , Van Valkenburgh reported on board for duty as engineer officer , and he held that post until the battleship was decommissioned in November 1921 . He again served as an instructor at the Naval Academy — until May 15 , 1925 — before he joined on June 26 . Commissioned commander on June 2 , 1927 while in " Maryland " , he soon reported for duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations on May 21 , 1928 and served there during the administrations of Admirals Charles F . Hughes and William V . Pratt . Detached on June 28 , 1931 , Van Valkenburgh received command of the destroyer on July 10 , and commanded Destroyer Squadron 5 from March 31 , 1932 . After attending the Naval War College , Newport , R . I . , and completing the senior course in May 1934 , Comdr . Van Valkenburgh next served as inspector of naval materiel at the New York Navy Yard before going to sea again as commanding officer of from June 8 , 1936 to June 11 , 1938 . Promoted to captain while commanding " Melville " — on December 23 , 1937 — he served as inspector of materiel for the 3d Naval District from August 6 , 1938 to January 22 , 1941 . USS " Arizona " . On February 5 , 1941 , Van Valkenburgh relieved Capt . Harold C . Train as commanding officer of . Newly refitted at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard , " Arizona " served as flagship of Battleship Division 1 for the remainder of the year , based primarily at Pearl Harbor with two trips to the west coast . In a letter to a relative , Faith Van Valkenburgh Vilas , dated November 4 , 1941 , Captain Van Valkenburgh wrote : " We are training , preparing , maneuvering , doing everything we can do to be ready . The work is intensive , continuous , and carefully planned . We never go to sea without being completely ready to move on to Singapore if need be , without further preparation . Most of our work we are not allowed to talk about off of the ship . I have spent 16 to 20 hours a day on the bridge for a week at a time , then a week of rest , then at it again . " Our eyes are constantly trained Westward , and we keep the guns ready for instant use against aircraft or submarines whenever we are at sea . We have no intention of being caught napping . " On December 4 , the battleship went to sea in company with and for night surface practice and , after conducting these gunnery exercises , returned to Pearl Harbor independently on the 6th to moor at berth F - 7 alongside Ford Island . Both Captain Van Valkenburgh and the embarked division commander , Rear Admiral Isaac C . Kidd , spent the next Saturday evening , December 6 , on board . Suddenly , shortly before 08 : 00 on December 7 , Japanese planes roared overhead , shattering the Sunday peace and punctuating it with the explosion of bombs and the staccato hammering of machine gun s . Capt . Van Valkenburgh sped forward from his cabin and arrived on the navigation bridge where he immediately began to direct his ship ' s defense . A quartermaster in the pilot house asked if the captain wanted to go to the conning tower — a less - exposed position in view of the Japanese strafing — but Van Valkenburgh refused to do so and continued to man a telephone , fighting for his ship ' s life . A violent explosion suddenly shook the ship , throwing the three occupants of the bridge — Van Valkenburgh , an ensign , and the quartermaster , to the deck , and shattering the bridge windows . Dazed and shaken , the ensign stumbled through the flames and smoke and escaped , but the others were never seen again . A continuing fire , fed by ammunition and oil , blazed for two days until finally being put out on December 9 . A subsequent search recovered only Van Valkenburgh ' s Annapolis class ring . The captain posthumously received the Medal of Honor — the citation reading in part : " " for devotion to duty . . . extraordinary courage , and the complete disregard of his own life . " " Namesake . In 1943 , the destroyer was named in his honor . Medal of Honor citation . Citation : For conspicuous devotion to duty , extraordinary courage and complete disregard of his own life , during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor T . H . , by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941 . As commanding officer of the U . S . S . Arizona , Capt . Van Valkenburgh gallantly fought his ship until the U . S . S . Arizona blew up from magazine explosions and a direct bomb hit on the bridge which resulted in the loss of his life .