A Navy diver surveys mooring platforms attached to the USS Arizona wreckage in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in July 2024. (Kathleen Gorby/U.S. Navy)

The National Park Service is temporarily suspending advance reservations for tours of the USS Arizona Memorial scheduled past Sept. 3 due to ongoing preservation work to the popular tourist site.

Advance reservations made for tours before Sept. 3 will be honored, the park service said in a news release Tuesday.

The pause in advance reservations will continue until further notice, according to the release.

Visitors may still be able to tour the Arizona Memorial after Sept. 3 on a first-come, first-served basis or through the standard process by which reservations can be made one day in advance, the release states.

The U.S. Navy, in coordination with the park service, is in the process of removing a pair of mooring platforms that were welded to the Arizona during salvage operations after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack that sank the battleship.

Ferries, barges and ships were tethered to the platforms as workers stripped parts needed for the war effort.

In October 2023, staff with Pearl Harbor National Memorial discovered the smaller of the two platforms had shifted, with its concrete surface now inclined diagonally in the water.

Navy and National Park Service divers assessed the condition of both platforms, and officials concluded that the platforms should be permanently removed to prevent damage to the Arizona’s hull.

“During certain periods of the removal operation, it will not be safe for visitors to be on the memorial or to arrive by boat,” the park service said in the news release.

“Staff will evaluate the timeline for resuming USS Arizona Memorial advanced reservations based on the completion of the salvage platform removal,” the release states.

Updates on the status of reservations will be published at www.nps.gov/pearlharbor.