Battleship U S S Oklahoma B B-37

USS Oklahoma (BB-37), the only ship of the United States Navy to ever be named for the 46th state, was a World War I-era battleship and the second of... more

by John Straton

Title

Battleship U S S Oklahoma B B-37

Artist

John Straton

Medium

Photograph

Description

USS Oklahoma (BB-37), the only ship of the United States Navy to ever be named for the 46th state, was a World War I-era battleship and the second of two ships in her class. She and her sister, Nevada, were the first U.S. warships to use oil fuel instead of coal.[6][page needed]

The Oklahoma, commissioned in 1916, served in World War I as a member of BatDiv 6,[4] protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic. After the war, she served in both the United States Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet. Oklahoma was modernized between 1927 and 1929. In 1936, she rescued American citizens and refugees from the Spanish Civil War. On returning to the West coast in August of the same year, Oklahoma spent the rest of her service in the Pacific.

On 7 December 1941, Oklahoma was sunk by several bombs and torpedoes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A total of 429 crew died when she capsized in Battleship Row. In 1943 Oklahoma was righted and salvaged. However, unlike most of the other battleships that were recovered following Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma was too damaged to return to duty. She was eventually stripped of her remaining armaments and superstructure before being sold for scrap in 1946. She sank in a storm while being towed from Oahu in Hawaii to a breakers yard in San Francisco Bay in 1947.
Based at Pearl Harbor from 29 December 1937 for patrols and exercises, Oklahoma was moored in Battleship Row on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked. Outboard alongside Maryland, Oklahoma took three torpedo hits almost immediately after the first Japanese bombs fell. As she began to capsize, two more torpedoes struck home, and her men were strafed as they abandoned ship.[6][page needed] Within 12 minutes after the attack began, she had rolled over until halted by her masts touching bottom, her starboard side above water, and a part of her keel exposed.

Many of her crew, however, remained in the fight, clambering aboard Maryland to help serve her anti-aircraft batteries. Four hundred and twenty-nine of her officers and enlisted men were killed or missing. One of those killed�Father Aloysius Schmitt�was the first American chaplain of any faith to die in World War II. Thirty-two others were wounded, and many were trapped within the capsized hull. Julio DeCastro, a Hawaiian civilian yard worker, organized a team that saved 32 Oklahoma sailors.[6][page needed]

Some of those who died later had ships named after them such as Ensign John England for whom USS England (DE-635) and USS England (DLG-22) are named. The USS Austin (DE-15) was named for Chief Carpenter John Arnold Austin who was also posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during the attack. Three Medals of Honor, three Navy and Marine Corps Medals and one Navy Cross were awarded to sailors who served on board the Oklahoma during the attack The job of salvaging the Oklahoma commenced on 15 July 1942 under the immediate command of Navy Captain F.H. Whitaker and a team from the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.

Preparations for righting the overturned hull took under eight months to complete. Twenty-one derricks were attached to the upturned hull; each carried high-tensile steel cables that were connected to hydraulic winching machines ashore. The righting (parbuckling) operation began on 8 March and was completed by 16 June 1943. Teams of naval specialists then entered the previously submerged ship to remove any additional human remains. Cofferdams were then placed around the hull to allow basic repairs to be undertaken so that the ship could be refloated; this work was completed by November. On 28 December, Oklahoma was towed into dry dock No. 2 at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Once in the dock, her main guns, machinery, and remaining ammunition and stores were removed. The severest structural damage on the hull was also repaired to make the ship watertight.

After several months in the dry dock, the Oklahoma was moved and moored elsewhere in Pearl Harbor. Although there had been initial plans to salvage the ship, Oklahoma was decommissioned on 1 September 1944. All remaining armaments and superstructure were then removed. On 5 December 1946, Oklahoma was sold to Moore Drydock Company of Oakland, California; two days before the fifth anniversary of her sinking.In May 1947, a two-tug towing operation began to move the hull of the Oklahoma from Pearl Harbor to the scrapyard in San Francisco Bay. However, disaster struck on 17 May when the ships entered a storm more than 500 miles (800 km) from Hawaii. The tug Hercules put her searchlight on the former battleship, revealing that she had begun listing heavily. After radioing the naval base at Pearl Harbor, both tugs were instructed to turn around and head back to port. But suddenly, without warning, the Hercules was pulled back past the Monarch, which was being dragged backwards at 15 knots herself.[27] The Oklahoma had begun to sink straight down causing water to swamp the sterns of both tugs.

Fortuitously both tug skippers, Kelly Sprague of the Hercules and George Anderson of the Monarch, had loosened their cable drums which connected the 1,400 feet (430 m) tow lines to the Oklahoma.[28] As the battleship rapidly sank, the line from the Monarch quickly played out releasing the tug. However the Hercules '​ cables didn't release until the last possible moment, leaving her tossing and pitching above the grave of the sunken Oklahoma. The ship's exact location is unknown

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December 29th, 2014