, a
''Nevada''-class Battleship was the only ship of the
United States Navy to be named for
The 46th State . Her
Keel was laid down on
26 October 1912 by the
New York Shipbuilding Corporation of
Camden, New Jersey . She was
Launched on
23 March 1914 sponsored by Miss Lorena J. Cruce, and
Commissioned at
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , on
2 May 1916 with
Captain Roger Welles in
Command . She was the last ship of the U.S. Navy to be installed with
Vertical Triple Expansion (VTE) reciprocating machinery instead of
Steam Turbines ; she had a vibration problem throughout her lifetime as a result.
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 Of The United States Woodrow Wilson to
France , departing
December 14 for
New York City and winter fleet exercises in
Cuba n 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 .
A part of the Atlantic Fleet for the next two years, ''Oklahoma'' was overhauled and her crew trained. 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
Peru vian 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 .
After being modernized at Philadelphia between September 1927 and July 1929, ''Oklahoma'' rejoined the Scouting Fleet for exercises in the
Caribbean Sea , and 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 the ''Oklahoma'' during the next four years included joint operations with the Army and the training of reservists.
,
1941 ]]
She was based at
Pearl Harbor from
6 December 1940 for patrols and exercises, and was moored in
Battleship Row on
7 December 1941 , when
The Japanese Attacked . Outboard alongside
USS ''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
Strafe d as they
Abandoned Ship . Within 20 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 clear.
Many of her
Crew , however, remained in the fight, clambering aboard ''Maryland'' to help serve her
Antiaircraft Batteries . Twenty
Officers and 395
Enlisted men were either
Killed or
Missing . One of those killed -
Father Aloysius Schmitt - was the first American
Chaplain of any
Faith to die in the
Second World War . Thirty-two others were wounded, and many were trapped within the capsized hull, to be saved by heroic rescue efforts. Such an effort was that of
Julio DeCastro , a civilian yard worker who organized the team which saved 32 ''Oklahoma''
Sailors . Some of those who died later had ships named after them such as
ENS John Charles England for whom
USS England DE-635 and
USS England DLG-22/CG-22 are named.
The difficult
Salvage job was commenced on
15 July 1942 by Pearl Harbour Naval Shipyard men under the immediate command of Captain F.H. Whitaker, USN. Preparations for righting the overturned hull took 7¾ months. The actual righting took 3¼ months, between
8 March 1943 and
16 June , with ''Oklahoma'' being towed into
Dry Dock on
28 December .
Decommissioned 1 September 1944 , ''Oklahoma'' was stripped of
Guns and superstructure, and sold on
5 December 1946 to Moore Drydock Company of
Oakland, California . ''Oklahoma'' sank on
17 May 1947 , 540 miles out of Pearl Harbor, while being towed to
San Francisco .
''Oklahoma'' received one
Battle Star for her
World War II service.
- Beigel, Harvey M. ''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., 2004. ISBN 1575101130
See Daniel Madsen's ''Resurrection-Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor''. U. S. Naval Institute Press. 2003, for a detailed account of her salvage.
