USS Oklahoma (BB-37)
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at anchor
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Oklahoma |
Namesake | State of Oklahoma |
Ordered | 4 March 1911 |
Builder | New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey |
Laid down | 26 October 1912 |
Launched | 23 March 1914 |
Commissioned | 2 May 1916 |
Decommissioned | 1 September 1944 |
Fate | Sunk in attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941; refloated for scrapping; sank under tow 1947 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | Nevada-class battleship |
Displacement | 27,500 long tons (27,900 t) |
Length | |
Beam | 95 ft 6 in (29.1 m) |
Draft | 28 ft 6 in (8.7 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) |
Range | 8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[1] |
Complement | |
Armament |
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Armor | |
Aircraft carried |
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USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was a
On 7 December 1941, during the
Design
Oklahoma was the second of the two
As constructed, she had a
The ship was powered by 12 oil-fired
As built, the armor on Oklahoma consisted of
Her armament consisted of ten
Service history
Construction
Oklahoma's keel was laid down on 26 October 1912, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, which bid $5,926,000 to construct the ship.[8] By 12 December 1912, she was 11.2% complete, and by 13 July 1913, she was at 33%.[9]
She was
On the night of 19 July 1915, large fires were discovered underneath the
World War I
Following commissioning, the ship remained along the East Coast of the United States, primarily visiting various Navy yards. At first, she was unable to join the
On 13 August 1918,
Interwar period
Oklahoma left for
She then joined the Pacific Fleet and, in 1925, began a high-profile training cruise with several other battleships. They left San Francisco on 15 April 1925, arrived in Hawaii, on 27 April, where they conducted war games. They left for Samoa, on 1 July, crossing the equator on 6 July. On 27 July, they arrived in Australia and conducted a number of exercises there, before spending time in New Zealand, returning to the United States later that year. In early 1927, she transited the Panama Canal and moved to join the Scouting Fleet.[24]
In November 1927, she entered the
Oklahoma rejoined the Scouting Fleet for exercises in the Caribbean, then returned to the West Coast in June 1930, for fleet operations through spring 1936. That summer, she carried midshipmen on a European training cruise, visiting northern ports. The cruise was interrupted by the outbreak of civil war in Spain. Oklahoma sailed to Bilbao, arriving on 24 July 1936, to rescue American citizens and other refugees whom she carried to Gibraltar and French ports. She returned to Norfolk on 11 September, and to the West Coast on 24 October.[26]
The Pacific Fleet operations of Oklahoma during the next four years included joint operations with the
Attack on Pearl Harbor
On 7 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma was moored in berth Fox 5, on Battleship Row,[31] in the outboard position alongside the battleship Maryland.[32] She was immediately targeted by planes from the Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga, and was struck by three torpedoes. The first and second hit seconds apart, striking amidships at approximately 07:50 or 07:53,[33] 20 feet (6.1 m) below the waterline between the smokestack and mainmast. The torpedoes blew away a large section of her anti-torpedo bulge and spilled oil from the adjacent fuel bunkers' sounding tubes, but neither penetrated the hull. About 80 men scrambled to man the AA guns on deck, but were unable to use them because the firing locks were in the armory. Most of the men manned battle stations below the ship's waterline or sought shelter in the third deck, protocol during an aerial attack. The third torpedo struck at 08:00, near Frame 65, hitting close to where the first two did, penetrating the hull, destroying the adjacent fuel bunkers on the second platform deck and rupturing access trunks to the two forward boiler rooms as well as the transverse bulkhead to the aft boiler room and the longitudinal bulkhead of the two forward firing rooms.[34]
As she began to
Some of those who died later had ships named after them, including
Salvage
By early 1942, it was determined that Oklahoma could be salvaged and that she was a navigational hazard, having rolled into the harbor's navigational channel. Even though it was cost-prohibitive to do so, the job of salvaging Oklahoma commenced on 15 July 1942, under the immediate command of Captain F. H. Whitaker, and a team from the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.[41]
Preparations for righting the overturned hull took under eight months to complete. Air was pumped into interior chambers and improvised airlocks built into the ship, forcing 20,000 tonnes (19,684 long tons; 22,046 short tons) of water out of the ship through the torpedo holes. Four thousand five hundred tonnes (4,429 long tons; 4,960 short tons) of coral soil were deposited in front of her bow to prevent sliding and two barges were posted on either end of the ship to control the ship's rising.[42]
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 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 drydock No. 2, at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Once in the dock, her main guns, machinery, remaining ammunition, and stores were removed. The severest structural damage on the hull was also repaired to make the ship watertight. US Navy deemed her too old and too heavily damaged to be returned to service.[43][44]
Oklahoma was
Final voyage
In May 1947, a two-tug towing operation began to move the hull of Oklahoma from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco Bay. She was due to arrive on Memorial Day, and a delegation of nearly 500 Oklahomans led by Governor Roy J. Turner planned to visit and pay final respects to the ship.[47]
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. Without warning, Hercules was pulled back past Monarch, which was being dragged backwards at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).[48] Oklahoma had begun to sink straight down, causing water to swamp the sterns of both tugs.[49]
Both tug skippers had fortunately loosened their cable drums connecting the 1,400-foot (430 m) tow lines to Oklahoma.[49] As the battleship sank rapidly, the line from Monarch quickly played out, releasing the tug. However, Hercules' cables did not release until the last possible moment, leaving her tossing and pitching above the grave of the sunken Oklahoma. The battleship's exact location is unknown.[50]
Memorials and recovery of remains
During dredging operations in 2006, the US Navy recovered a part of Oklahoma from the bottom of Pearl Harbor.[51] The Navy believes it to be a portion of the port side rear fire control tower support mast. It was flown to Tinker Air Force Base then delivered to the Muskogee War Memorial Park in Muskogee, in 2010, where the 40-foot-long (12 m), 25,000-pound (11,340 kg), barnacle-encrusted mast section is now on permanent outdoor display.[52] The ship's bell, a screw and two of her anchors are at the Science Museum in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma's aft wheel is at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City.[53]
On 7 December 2007, the 66th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a memorial for the 429 crew members who were killed in the attack was dedicated on Ford Island, just outside the entrance to where the battleship
Identification program
In April 2015, the Department of Defense announced, as part of a policy change that established threshold criteria for disinterment of unknowns, that the unidentified remains of the crew members of Oklahoma would be exhumed for DNA analysis, with the goal of returning identified remains to their families.[57] The process began in June 2015, when four graves, two individual and two group graves, were disinterred for DNA analysis by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).[58] By December 2017, the identity of 100 crew members had been discovered, and with the numbers of sailor and Marine identities increasing at a steady pace, the 200th unknown was identified by 26 February 2019.[67] Throughout 2019 and 2020, the DPAA continued to successfully identify more crew members, and on 4 February 2021, they announced the identity of the 300th unknown, a 19 year old Marine from Illinois.[68]
As of 29 June 2021, the DPAA announced that the program was coming to a close, and that the remains of 51 crew members that could not be identified have been returned to Hawaii, and will be reinterred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater, with a ceremony scheduled for 7 December, the 80th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor.[69] The program identified 343 crew members, including two Medal of Honor recipients, giving the DPAA a success rate of 88%. DPAA Director Kelly McKeague stated she had hoped to be able to identify at least a few more crew members before the program shut down, and in time for the ceremony.[70] On 17 September 2021, the Department of Defense announced that number of identified was 346.[71] After a final push to identify as many of the remaining unknown crew members as possible, the Department of Defense announced that they had identified a total 396 of 429 crew members, improving their success rate to 92.3%. As was previously planned, the crew remains that could not be identified, numbering only 33, would be reinterred at the Punchbowl Cemetery, during a ceremony on 7 December, that will coincide with the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 80 years earlier.[72]
Honors and awards
- World War I Victory Medal
- battle star
- World War II Victory Medal
See also
- List of commanding officers of USS Oklahoma (BB-37)
- List of U.S. Navy losses in World War II
- Pearl Harbor Survivors Association
Notes
- ^ The other two fires were found on Alabama and New Jersey; all were started under the fore main battery turret.
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 115.
- ^ a b c Fitzsimons 1978, p. 1982.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, p. 3.
- ^ Breyer 1973, pp. 59, 209.
- ^ Friedman 1985, pp. 101–102, 107.
- ^ Cox 1916.
- ^ "Battleship Bids In," New York Times, 5 January 1912, 2.
- ^ "Navy Yard Still In Lead," New York Times, 13 December 1912, 6; "Two Best Warships to be Built for US," New York Times, 13 July 1913, 9.
- ^ "Giant U.S. Warship Takes the Water," New York Times, 24 March 1914, 8.
- ^ "Two Fires Break Out on New Dreadnought," New York Times, 20 July 1915, 1; "Navy Investigating Fires on Oklahoma," New York Times, 21 July 1915, 2.
- ^ "[No Title]," New York Times, 22 July 1915, 4.
- ^ "Mightiest U.S. Ship Coming," New York Times, 19 September 1915, 12.
- ^ "The Nevada Leaves Quincy," New York Times, 23 October 1915, 5.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, p. 19.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, p. 23.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 9–13.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 13–15.
- ^ a b DANFS 1970, p. 601.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, p. 24.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, p. 25.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 26–27.
- ^ a b Breyer 1973, p. 210.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, p. 29.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 31–32.
- ^ DANFS Oklahoma (BB-37).
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 50, 52.
- ^ Young, p. 79.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 53–54.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 13.
- ^ Arroyo, p. 20.
- ^ La Forte & Marcello 1991, p. 12.
- ^ "Chronology Of The Attack From The Deck Logs Of The Vessels Moored At Pearl Harbor December 7 1941". NavSource Naval History. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 73–74.
- ^ La Forte & Marcello 1991, p. 43.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 75.
- ^ La Forte & Marcello 1991, p. 44.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 143–146.
- ^ How a Booklet of General Plans Helped Save 32 Trapped Sailors After the Attack on Pearl Harbor
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 176–178.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 148–150.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 151.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 152–157.
- ^ Madsen 2003, pp. 139–140.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 167.
- ^ Madsen 2003, pp. 197–198.
- ^ "USS Oklahoma Finally Sinks". The Ludington Daily News. Associated Press. 17 May 1947. p. 8. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
500 persons from Oklahoma, headed by Governor Roy J. Turner, had planned to journey here for a last farewell to the gallant battlewagon named after their state.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Newell, p. 42.
- ^ a b Newell, p. 39.
- ^ Newell, pp. 39, 42.
- ^ Armstrong, Brandice J. (24 June 2010). "Team effort brings Oklahoma mast to name state". Inside Tinker AFB. Tinker Air Force Base. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- ^ Alexander, M. J. (May 2015). "Not Forgotten, and Gone: the Fate of the Battleship Oklahoma". Slice. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- ^ "USS Oklahoma | Oklahoma Historical Society". www.okhistory.org.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 171.
- ^ "USS Oklahoma Memorial" (PDF). National Park Service.
- ^ Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008, pp. 179.
- ^ "DoD Seeks to Identify Unaccounted-for USS Oklahoma Crew Members". United States Department of Defense. 14 April 2015. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
- ^ Drewes, Paul (9 June 2015). "First USS Oklahoma remains disinterred". KITV.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
- ^ "Recently accounted for 2015". Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
- ^ "Dpaa.mil Recently Accounted for 2016". Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
- ^ "Dpaa.mil news releases 2016". Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. 19 December 2016. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
- ^ "Dpaa news releases". Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
- ^ Duus, Kristen (1 December 2017). "DPAA Reaches Milestone in USS Oklahoma Identifications". Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
- ^ "Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency> Our Missing> Recently Accounted For". www.dpaa.mil.
- ^ "Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency> News & Stories> Releases". www.dpaa.mil. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
- ^ "DPAA makes 200th identification from USS Oklahoma unknown remains". Retrieved 8 March 2019.
- ^ [59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66]
- ^ "300th USS Oklahoma Service Member Identified". dpaa.mil. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "No longer 'Unknown': Offutt lab wraps up identification of USS Oklahoma dead". omaha.com. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ "Remains from the USS Oklahoma that could not be ID'd will be reinterred at Punchbowl". dpaa.mil. 29 June 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ "DOD Identifies Most Remains of Those Killed on USS Oklahoma". defense.gov. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
- ^ "USS Oklahoma Sailors Accounted For From World War II (Group ID)". dpaa.mil. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
Sources
- "Dictionary of American naval fighting ships / Vol.5, Historical sketches : letters N through Q". OCLC 769806179.
- Arroyo, Ernest (2001). Pearl Harbor. Metro Books. ISBN 978-1586631499.
- Breyer, Siegfried (1973). Battleships and Battle Cruisers 1905–1970. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 0-385-07247-3.
- Cox, Ormund L, Lt. (1916). "U.S.S. Nevada; Description and Trials". Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers. 28: 20. doi:10.1111/j.1559-3584.1916.tb00598.x. Retrieved 5 September 2008.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. (1978). "Nevada". Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare. Vol. 18. London: Phoebus. p. 1982.
- Friedman, Norman (1985). U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. OCLC 12214729.[permanent dead link]
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
- La Forte, Robert S.; Marcello, Ronald E (1991), Remembering Pearl Harbor: Eyewitness Accounts by US Military Men and Women, Wilmington, DE: SR Books, OCLC 645772276
- Madsen, Daniel (2003). Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-488-1.
- Newell, Gordon (1957). Pacific Tugboats. Seattle, WA: Superior Publishing.
- Phister, Jeff; ISBN 978-0-8061-3936-4
- US Naval History Division (1970). The Battleship in the United States Navy. Washington DC: Naval History Division. OCLC 298306. 72-604171.
- Young, Stephen Bower (1991). Trapped at Pearl Harbor: Escape for Battleship Oklahoma. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. OCLC 555364424.
- "Chronology Of The Attack From The Deck Logs Of The Vessels Moored At Pearl Harbor December 7 1941 Compiled For The Pearl Harbor Court Of Inquiry Hearings", NavSource Naval History
Other reading
- "Oklahoma". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
- "Battleship Photo Archive BB-37 USS Oklahoma". NavSource.com. NavSource Naval History. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
- "USS Oklahoma Memorial Official Site". Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
- Students of Hawaii Pacific University HIST 4961, Seminar in Military History (2008). A Centennial of Strength, Spirit, and Technology: Pearl Harbor Military Shipyard (PDF). Honolulu: Hawaii Pacific University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - "Ill-Fated Battleship Dies at Sea". The State. No. 20, 417. Columbia, SC. Associated Press. 18 May 1947. p. 1-A.
- Beigel, Harvey M (2004). Parallel Fates: The USS Utah (BB 31/AG-16) and the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) in Peace and War. Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co. ISBN 1-57510-113-0.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Oklahoma (BB-37).- Maritimequest USS Oklahoma BB-37 Photo Gallery
- 2003: Survivors dedicate Pearl Harbor USS Oklahoma Memorial highway
- Photo gallery of USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at NavSource Naval History
- USS Oklahoma (BB-37) Official Web Site