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USS Oklahoma (BB-37)

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The USS Oklahoma
Oklahoma running trials, 1916
History
US
NameUSS Oklahoma BB-37
NamesakeOklahoma
BuilderNew York Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down26 October 1912
Launched23 March 1914
Commissioned2 May 1916
Decommissioned1 September 1944
Honors and
awards		One battle star for World War II service.[1]
FateSunk in Attack on Pearl Harbor, raised and sold for scrap but sunk again during transport
General characteristics [2]
Class and typeNevada-class battleship
Displacement27,500 long tons (27,900 metric tons)
Length583 ft (178 m)
Beam95.3 ft (29.0 m)
Draft28.5 ft (8.7 m)
Speed20.5 kn (23.6 mph; 38.0 km/h)
Capacity2,042 short tons (1,852 metric tons) of fuel oil
Complementas built:
  • 864 officers and men[4]
from 1929:
from 1945:
Armamentas built:
in the late 1920s:
Armor
Aircraft carriedas built:
1941:
  • 2 floatplanes, 1 catapult[3]

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; her sister ship was Nevada. She, along with her sister, were the first two U.S. warships to use oil fuel instead of coal.[6][page needed]

Commissioned in 1916, Oklahoma served in World War I as a member of BatDiv 6,[3] protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic. After years of spending time in the Pacific and the Scouting Fleets, Oklahoma was modernized from 1927 to 1929. She rescued American citizens and refugees from the Spanish Civil War in 1936; after returning to the West coast in August of that year, she spent the rest of her life in the Pacific. She was sunk by Japanese bombs and torpedoes on 7 December 1941, in the attack on Pearl Harbor, taking 429 of her crew with her as she capsized.

She was uprighted in 1943, but unlike most of the other battleships damaged in the Pearl Harbor attack, she was never repaired and returned to duty. Instead, Oklahoma was stripped of her guns and superstructure, and sold for scrap. She sank while under tow to the mainland in 1947.

Construction

Launch on 23 March 1914

Authorized along with her sister ship in 1911 under the Naval Appropriation Act,[6][page needed] Oklahoma was the last ship of the U.S. Navy to be installed with vertical triple expansion reciprocating machinery instead of steam turbines; she had a vibration problem throughout her lifetime as a result.[6][page needed]

Her keel was laid down on 26 October 1911 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, who bid $5,926,000 to construct the ship.[7] By 12 December 1912, she was 11.2 percent complete,[8] and by 13 July 1913 she was at 33 percent.[9] She was launched on 23 March 1914, being sponsored by Miss Lorena J. Cruce, daughter of Governor of Oklahoma Lee Cruce. The launch was preceded by an invocation given by Elijah Embree Hoss—the first for an American warship in half a century—and was attended by various dignitaries from Oklahoma and the federal government. The battleship was subsequently moved to a dock near the new Argentine battleship Moreno and Chinese cruiser Fei Hung (soon to be the Greek Elli) for fitting-out.[10] On the night of 19 July 1915, large fires were discovered underneath the fore main battery turret, the third to flare up on an American battleship in less than a month.[a][11][12] However, by the 22nd, the Navy believed that the Oklahoma fire had been caused by "defective insulation" or a mistake made by a dockyard worker.[13] The fire delayed the completion of the battleship such that Nevada was able to conduct her sea trials and be commissioned before Oklahoma.[14]

On 23 October 1915, she was 98.1 percent complete.[15] She was commissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 2 May 1916 with Captain Roger Welles in command.[1]

Service history

Oklahoma under way during her sea trials.

Presidential escort

Oklahoma joined the Atlantic Fleet and was homeported at Norfolk, Virginia. She trained on the eastern seaboard until 13 August 1918, when she joined sister ship Nevada in the task of protecting Allied convoys in European waters. In December she was among the ships that escorted President Woodrow Wilson to France, departing on 14 December for New York City and winter fleet exercises in Cuban waters. She returned to Brest on 15 June 1919 to escort President Wilson in George Washington home from his second visit to France, returning to New York on 8 July.

Overhauled and re-assigned

Ship newsletter, the "Sea Bag", 20 June 1920

A part of the Atlantic Fleet for the next two years, Oklahoma was overhauled and her crew trained. The secondary battery was reduced from 20 to 12 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal guns in 1918.[16] Early in 1921, she voyaged to South America's west coast for combined exercises with the Pacific Fleet, and returned later that year for the Peruvian Centennial. She then joined the Pacific Fleet for six years, highlighted by the cruise of the Battle Fleet to Australia and New Zealand in 1925. Joining the Scouting Fleet in early 1927, Oklahoma continued intensive exercises during that summer's midshipmen Cruise, voyaging to the East Coast to embark midshipmen, carrying them through the Panama Canal to San Francisco, and returning by the way of Cuba and Haiti.

Rescuing Americans and refugees in Spain

After being modernized by addition of eight 5 in (130 mm)/25 cal guns[16] at Philadelphia between September 1927 and July 1929, 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 with the outbreak of civil war in Spain, as Oklahoma sped 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 24 October.

The Pacific Fleet operations of Oklahoma during the next four years included joint operations with the Army and the training of reservists.

Pearl Harbor assignment

Pre-war Pearl Harbor history

She was based at Pearl Harbor from 6 December 1940 for patrols and exercises, and only twice returned to the mainland, once to have anti-aircraft guns and armor added to her superstructure at Puget Sound Navy Yard in early February 1941[6][page needed] and once to have armor replaced at San Pedro in mid August of the same year. En route on 22 August, a severe storm hit Oklahoma, and one man was swept overboard along with three men injured.[6][page needed] The next morning, a broken outboard coupling on the starboard deck forced the ship to halt, assess the damage, and move to San Francisco, the closest navy yard with an adequate drydock. She would remain in drydock for two months.[6][page needed]

During the attack on Pearl Harbor

Further information: [[:Attack on Pearl Harbor]]
USS Oklahoma capsizes in a photo taken during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Based at Pearl Harbor from 6 December 1940 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.

Three Medals of Honor, three Navy and Marine Corps Medals and one Navy Cross were awarded to sailors onboard the Oklahoma during the attack.[6][page needed]

Salvage

The difficult salvage job was commenced on 15 July 1942 by Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard men under the immediate command of Captain F.H. Whitaker, USN. Preparations for righting the overturned hull took under eight months. The actual righting took under four months, from 8 March to 16 June 1943, with Oklahoma being towed into dry dock on 28 December. Decommissioned on 1 September 1944, Oklahoma was stripped of guns and superstructure, and sold on 5 December 1946 to Moore Drydock Company of Oakland, California. On 17 May 1947, Oklahoma sank in a storm at 1:40 a.m.,[17] 540 mi (869 km)[18] out of Pearl Harbor while being towed to San Francisco for scrapping.

Memorial

On December 7, 2007, a memorial for the crew of the Oklahoma was dedicated on Ford Island, just outside the entrance to where the Missouri is docked as a museum.[19] The Missouri is docked where the Oklahoma was docked when she was sunk.

See also

  • List of commanding officers of the USS Oklahoma (BB 37)
  • List of U.S. Navy losses in World War II
  • Pearl Harbor Survivors Association
  • Pearl Harbor: Why, How, Fleet Salvage and Final Appraisal, [[Homer N. Wallin]], Naval History Division, retrieved 2011-10-10 {{citation}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)

Notes

  1. ^ The other two fires were found on Alabama and New Jersey; all were started under the fore main battery turret.

References

  1. ^ a b DANFS Oklahoma (BB-37).
  2. ^ Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 115.
  3. ^ a b c d e Fitzsimons 1978, p. 1982.
  4. ^ US Naval History Division 1970, p. 46.
  5. ^ Fitzsimons 1978, p. 1982, is mistaken saying four.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Phister, Hone & Goodyear 2008.
  7. ^ New York Times 5 January 1912.
  8. ^ New York Times 13 December 1912.
  9. ^ New York Times 13 July 1913.
  10. ^ New York Times 24 March 1914.
  11. ^ New York Times 20 July 1915.
  12. ^ New York Times 21 July 1915.
  13. ^ New York Times 22 July 1915.
  14. ^ New York Times 19 September 1915.
  15. ^ New York Times 23 October 1915.
  16. ^ a b Breyer 1973, p. 210.
  17. ^ Associated Press 18 May 1947.
  18. ^ NavSource Oklahoma (BB-37).
  19. ^ Oklahoma Memorial.

Bibliography

Print sources
  • Beigel, Harvey M. (2004). Parallel Fates: The USS Utah (BB 31/AG-16) and the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) in Peace and War. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co. ISBN 1575101130. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Breyer, Siegfried (1973). Battleships and Battle Cruisers 1905–1970. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 0385-0-7247-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. (1978). "Nevada". Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare. Vol. 18. London: Phoebus. p. 1982. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Madsen, Daniel (2003). Resurrection-Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor. U. S. Naval Institute Press. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Phister, Jeff; Hone, Thomas; Goodyear, Paul (2008). "1". Battleship Oklahoma: BB-37. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3936-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • US Naval History Division (1970). The Battleship in the United States Navy. Washington D.C.: Naval History Division. OCLC 298306. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |in= ignored (help)
  • Young, Stephen Bower (1991). Trapped at Pearl Harbor: Escape for Battleship Oklahoma. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Online sources
New York Times
Other
  • "Ill-Fated Battleship Dies at Sea". The State. No. 20, 417. Columbia, S.C. AP. Sunday 18 May 1947. p. 1-A. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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