When World War II started in Europe in 1939, the Benicia Arsenal prepared itself for war, thereby enabling it to dispatch convoys of arms to military units shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. As the main depot for the many battles in the Pacific, the Arsenal provided munitions and fighting vehicles. Salvage and repair work were also done here. This mural is divided into four horizons. The bottom level depicts a battleship under attack. This could represent one of the five battleships destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The level above that shows the hand-to-hand combat in the Pacific and the saving of the US flag at Iwo Jima. The next level shows the fire storms in Nazi German cities like Dresden. The uppermost level depicts an atomic bomb explosion. The fighter and two bombers emphasize the rising importance of aircraft in warfare. A B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima hastening the close of WWII.