Pearl Harbor | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

December 6, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Shrine Bowl

The College of Hawai‘i was founded in 1907 (now known as the University of Hawai‘i.) Two years later, in 1909, the university fielded its first football team.

The “Fighting Deans,” as Hawai‘i athletic teams were known then, defeated McKinley High School, 6-5, under head coach Austin Jones in its inaugural game. The historic game was played before 2,500 fans at O‘ahu College (now known as Punahou School.)

In 1926, the Rainbows made the newly built Honolulu Stadium, a 24,000-seat facility in Moiliili, their home field. UH played its first game at the stadium on November 11 against the Town Team. Hawai‘i lost that game, 14-7, before 12,000 fans.

For 48 years, the affectionately nicknamed “Termite Palace” housed the Rainbows and their fans until the construction of Aloha Stadium in 1975.

The Aloha Chapter of the Shriners sponsored the Shrine Bowl Classic, pitting Hawai‘i against mainland teams. For the 11th annual Classic, teams in the three-game series included San Jose State College, the University of Hawaii, and Willamette. The game guaranteed a $5,500 payout – enough to cover teams’ travel expenses, plus a small profit for the athletic departments.

“Today, 24 hours before the Shrine battle, staunch supporters of the Rainbow football machine will express utter confidence in their warriors at a mammoth rally to be held in Hemenway hall.”

“All week Hawai‘i students had been anticipating this occasion together with the arrival of Willamette University. For even as they were on the high seas, awesome tales of Willamette’s football power reached Hawai‘i.”

“While aiming for their third success in the Shrine games, the Rainbows realize that they will be thoroughly scouted by San Jose, their opponent in the Police Benefit December 12. But the desire to maintain an undefeated intersectional record for the season and the prestige gained by a victory over Willamette will add to the lust for conquest.” (Ka Leo o Hawai‘i)

On November 26, hundreds of supporters gathered at a noisy rally at Salem’s Southern Pacific railroad depot to see the Willamette delegation off. At 10:30 am, the train rolled south toward the Port of San Francisco. (Southworth)

On the San Jose side, while Ben Winkleman was listed as the official coach, advisor-coach Glenn Scobey ‘Pop’ Warner, retired after several decades of successful college coaching, did all the coaching. (Hamill)

Twenty-five members of the San Jose State College football team, and twenty-seven football players from Willamette University, plus their head coaches and assorted friends and family members, boarded the Lurline at the Port of San Francisco. On November 27, the Lurline left from San Francisco’s Pier 35 and glided under the 4-year-old Golden Gate Bridge.

On the 28th, the Lurline left the Los Angeles-area dock in San Pedro with 783 passengers. Folks on board did what people on cruises do: enjoy the view, try not to get seasick, and discuss what they’ll see when they get to their destination.

The Shriners met and greeted the teams. They furnished the players with cone-shaped straw hats which mimicked the conical ones the Shriners wore. University of Hawai‘i coeds supplied flowered leis, while Hawaiian tunes played and hula girls swayed.

Both the Willamette and San Jose contingents checked into the opulent Moana hotel in Honolulu, one of only two hotels on Waikiki Beach at the time. Their nine-day stay in a double room on the “American plan” cost $54 per person.

Three days after arriving, the Willamette Bearcats played what was slated as the first in the three-game series. Their opponent was Hawai‘i, with profits from this opening Shriner’s game designated for disabled children. The game started at 2:30 pm December 6.

24,000 had shown up to watch the Shriner’s game, the largest crowd in the stadium’s history. Since the 1920s, Shriner football games had been the biggest and most popular sporting event in Hawai‘i. Spectators for this Willamette-San Jose game comprised a tenth of Honolulu’s current population. (Southworth)

Hawai‘i won 20-6. The next scheduled games were San Jose vs. Hawai‘i on December 13 and San Jose vs. Willamette on December 16.

Plans changed …

“… they had planned this picnic for us, or gathering, with the University of Hawai‘i, and they were supposed to come by at 9:30 in the morning. And so, we’d had breakfast, and we were out, enjoying the sunshine, looking, you know, and waiting for that bus to come, and the bus didn’t come.”

“While we were sitting out there, we saw planes fly over. They were just silver specks up in the sky. And then somebody got up and walked through the hotel and went out on the beach and they said, ‘Hey, there’s maneuvers going on out here.’” (Ken Jacobson; Southworth)

“We didn’t realize we were seeing the start of World War II for the US; mostly we just heard noise.” (Wayne Hadley; Southworth)

The police declared a state of emergency beginning that evening, enacting martial law and ordering everyone off the streets. The military closed and censored regular channels of communication.

The teams volunteered to assist the Army, essentially temporarily conscripting them. Their first task was guarding the perimeter of an ammunitions stash.

The US Army Corp of Engineers had been bombed from their headquarters the previous day, and moved their ammunition storage to the fenced Punahou School in the hills above Honolulu. The military instructed the players to call out, “Halt, who goes there! Stand and be recognized!”

Women from the Willamette group volunteered as nurses’ aides at Tripler Army Hospital. They helped overworked staff with a group of children hit by shrapnel on their way to Sunday School the morning of December 7, 1941

The women kept the children company until their families could locate them, assisting with meals and reading to them. The women also made beds, helped change dressings, carried food trays, and bathed and took temperatures of the wounded.

On December 7, the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, the SS Coolidge had been traveling to San Francisco when it was diverted to Honolulu to pick up injured soldiers.

The Coolidge, a former luxury cruise liner, arrived in Honolulu on December 17 with evacuees from the Philippines. Officials quickly assembled a small on-board hospital to transport soldiers wounded at Pearl Harbor to California medical centers. Two Navy doctors and three Navy nurses would care for 125 patients.

On December 19, the Coolidge was ready to leave Honolulu. The football groups received only two hours’ notice. “The day that we got to come home, they had scheduled a trip to Pearl Harbor so we could see the damage that was done, and they were gonna take us out there for a sight-seeing, and then instead they said we were going home.” (Jacobson; Southworth)

Willamette’s players had to sign a form promising to assist with evacuation of wounded soldiers from the ship, if necessary. Two players were assigned to one patient deep in the bowels of the ship. The players acted as orderlies, carrying patients to the operating room, feeding them, and changing dressings. They also chatted with patients to boost morale.

Frank Knox, the Secretary of the Navy, later wrote the following to Carl Knopf, president of Willamette: “On board, as passengers, were the football squads of Willamette University and San Jose College, in Honolulu for games with the University of Hawai‘i at the time of the Japanese attack.”

“These men, under their respective coaches, volunteered in case of emergency to rescue and place in the ship’s boats the seriously wounded men. They drilled at their assignments.”

“In addition, they volunteered and did feed such wounded as were unable to help themselves. They promoted good morale among the patients in many ways. I consider the services rendered by these young men to be very commendable.” (Knox; Southworth)

On December 25, 28 days after they’d originally left San Francisco, the Coolidge sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. To most, it felt like a miracle from God. The Willamette group burst into tearful song, California, Here I Come! As it turned out, they’d arrived just one day later than their originally-scheduled return. (Southworth)

None of the athletes for either squad was injured that day. The teams volunteered to assist the Army and volunteered to assist the wounded on their ship’s return to the mainland. Most of the San Jose State and Willamette players would serve in the military. Many would see combat over the next 3-years. (Marqua)

San Jose Spartans Video:

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Willamette Cheerleaders and Players

Willamette Footbal Team

Arriving footbal players in Shriners hats

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November 18, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Facility 161

Facility (or building) numbers on military bases are generally assigned during the building planning process. It’s not like an address; the numbers are typically assigned chronologically to buildings as they are built on the base, location doesn’t determine the number.

Facility 161 is located at Pearl Harbor and is classified as a Recreation and Morale facility. It was originally comprised of three main components that were all classified as permanent uses.

It is a uniquely designed building, a sunken amphitheater with recreation facilities in an attached section (originally a portion of which was open-air) that is flanked by two elongated wings. This design utilizes natural ventilation and lighting. There is no other facility in Hawai‘i that shares this same design.

It included the arena, a recreation building (two bowling alley wings topped by a smaller second floor billiard and game room), and a dance floor. The second floor of the recreation building is the only portion of the complex constructed of wood. (Mason; Navy)

The octagonal arena is joined to a long, narrow rectangular structure that was home to two bowling alleys and was connected to an open-sided, nearly circular dance hall.

Although the period of the 1930s saw decreasing expenditures for recreation services for the Pacific fleet, during the final years of that decade “the growth of service and civilian personnel led to the realization that more recreation facilities were needed on base.” (HABS)

Prior to World War II, because Pearl Harbor was still a relatively small naval establishment, minimal funding was allocated for recreational facilities. Personnel were expected to use civilian recreational facilities as well as those at Pearl Harbor.

As late as 1938 the only recreation center at the Navy Yard was a YMCA that showed movies and offered classes to enlisted personnel.

Because of the pre-WW II build-up of permanent facilities at Pearl Harbor, as well as visiting ships bringing large numbers of sailors who needed recreational facilities rather than accommodations, Facility 161 was intended for use by both groups.

After the US entered the war, recreation was recognized as a vital outlet for Navy personnel. The purpose of recreation programs and facilities was to “contribute in some way towards maintaining the fighting spirit of the officers and men who man the ships of the Pacific Fleet.”

Once the war ended, multitudes of men waiting to be discharged relied on recreational facilities to pass their free hours.

According to the original seating plan, there were 6,000 seats for boxing events – 5,000 seats in the bleachers and 1,000 seats ring side (on the main floor.)

The boxing ring was assembled in the center of the main floor, surrounded by seating. Seating was listed as 4,000 for motion pictures – 3,000 in the bleachers and 1,000 in the reserved area on the main floor.

It was the ‘largest single expenditure [$175,000]’ in the 1940 housing and recreation center expansion project of 1940. Other facilities at the time included Hale Moku and Makalapa housing, and Richardson Recreation Center on the Aiea waterfront.

Construction on the project began in October 1940 and the facility was completed in August 1941. (HABS) In 1948, ʻōhiʻa flooring was installed in the arena.

Facility 161’s bowling alleys have been replaced with miscellaneous functions including small offices, and the original dance floor has been enclosed and significantly altered.

The facility is commonly called Bloch Arena, named for Claude Charles Bloch; he was born on July 13, 1878 in Woodbury, Kentucky, graduated from the Naval Academy in 1899 and commissioned in 1901.

He became Admiral in January 1937 and was Commander of Battle Force 1937-1938, Commander in Chief of US Fleet 1938-1940 and Commandant of Eleventh Naval District 1940-1942.

He retired in August 1942 and was recalled to active duty on the General Board in World War II; his decorations included the Navy Cross. Bloch died on October 4, 1967.

On March 25, 1961 Elvis performed a benefit concert at Bloch Arena as a fundraiser to build the Arizona Memorial. That event raised $54,678.73, more than ten percent of the $515,728 cost of constructing the memorial.

Appearing along with Elvis were; Minnie Pearl, The Jordanaires, and DJ Fontana and Scotty Moore, two members of Elvis’ original backing band. Sterling Mossman, a local Hawaiian comedian, also served as master of ceremonies and performed.

The event was the times “biggest single gate in the history of show business in Hawaii.” Bloch Arena has been venue to a number of other events and activities.

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Claude Charles Bloch

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Elvis at Bloch Arena Poster March 25, 1961

Elvis at Bloch Arena March 25, 1961

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November 2, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Jack Roosevelt Robinson

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” (Jack (‘Jackie’) Roosevelt Robinson)

He was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia, the fifth, and last child of Mallie and Jerry Robinson. (In 1936, his older brother Mack won an Olympic silver medal in the 200-meter dash (behind Jesse Owens.))

Jackie was a four-sport athlete in high school and college; during a spectacular athletic career at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA,) he had starred in basketball, football, track, and baseball (and became the first student to earn varsity letters in four sports: football (1939 and 1940,) basketball (1940 and 1941,) track (1940) and baseball (1940.)

After exhausting his sports eligibility, Jackie decided to leave UCLA before attaining his degree, despite his mother’s objection, because he wanted to repay her for supporting him during his college career.

Jackie found a job in the winter of 1941 in Honolulu, where he played in the semipro Hawaii Senior Football League for the Honolulu Bears, who had joined the league in 1939 as the Polar Bears or the Hawaiian Vacation Team. (Ardolino)

Unlike the other three teams, the University of Hawaii Rainbows, the Na Aliis (Chiefs) and the Healanis (the Maroons,) the Bears signed their players to contracts, giving Robinson a paying sports job. (Ardolino)

He was paid a $150 advance (deducted from his salary,) a fee of $100 per game, a bonus if the team won the championship and a draft-deferred construction job near Pearl Harbor.

He arrived to great fanfare as the league’s all star, had some superb moments, but succumbed to a recurring injury and faded in the last games.

He stayed at Palama Settlement, rather than with the team in Waikiki (the hotels barred him entry because of the color of his skin.) (PBS)

Their first exhibition game was in Pearl Harbor. Jackie left Honolulu on December 5, 1941, just two days before the Japanese attacked. He was on the Lurline on his way home when Congress formally declared war. He was shortly thereafter inducted into the Army.

Stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, he was originally denied entry into Officer Candidate School despite his college background. Intervention by a fellow soldier, boxing great Joe Louis, who was also stationed at the base, managed to get the decision reversed. (Swaine)

While in the Army, he had an incident similar to Rosa Parks – on July 6, 1944, Robinson, a twenty-five-year-old lieutenant, boarded an Army bus at Fort Hood, Texas.

He was with the light-skinned wife of a fellow black officer, and the two walked half the length of the bus, then sat down, talking amiably. The driver, gazing into his rear-view mirror, saw a black officer seated in the middle of the bus next to a woman who appeared to be white. Hey, you, sittin’ beside that woman,” he yelled. “Get to the back of the bus.”

Lieutenant Robinson ignored the order. The driver stopped the bus, marched back to where the two passengers were sitting, and demanded that the lieutenant “get to the back of the bus where the colored people belong.”

Lieutenant Robinson told the driver: “The Army recently issued orders that there is to be no more racial segregation on any Army post. This is an Army bus operating on an Army post.”

The man backed down, but at the end of the line, as Robinson and Mrs. Jones waited for a second bus, he returned with his dispatcher and two other drivers. Robinson refused, and so began a series of events that led to his arrest and court-martial and, finally, threatened his entire career.

Later, all charges stemming from the actual incident on the bus and Robinson’s argument with the civilian secretary were dropped. He had still to face a court-martial, but on the two lesser charges of insubordination arising from his confrontation in the guardhouse.

The court-martial of 2d Lt. Jackie Robinson took place on August 2, 1944. After testimony, voting by secret written ballot, the nine judges found Robinson “not guilty of all specifications and charges.” (Tygiel) In November 1944, he received an honorable discharge and then started his professional baseball career.

He played for the Kansas City Monarchs as a part of the Negro Leagues until Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey decided he wanted to integrate baseball. (Hall of Fame)

On October 23, 1945, it was announced to the world that Robinson had signed a contract to play baseball for the Montreal Royals of the International League, the top minor-league team in the Dodgers organization.

Robinson had actually signed a few months earlier. In that now-legendary meeting, Rickey extracted a promise that Jackie would hold his sharp tongue and quick fists in exchange for the opportunity to break Organized Baseball’s color barrier. (Swain)

Robinson led the International League with a .349 average and 40 stolen bases. He earned a promotion to the Dodgers. (Hall of Fame)

On April 15, 1947 Jackie Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in their opening-day game against the Boston Braves. In so doing, he became the first African-American to play in the major leagues since an abortive attempt at integration in 1884. (Schwarz)

At the end of his first season, Robinson was named the Rookie of the Year. He was named the NL MVP just two years later in 1949, when he led the league in hitting with a .342 average and steals with 37, while also notching a career-high 124 RBI. The Dodgers won six pennants in Robinson’s 10 seasons. (Hall of Fame)

Playing football was not Robinson’s only sports experience in Hawaiʻi; immediately following the 1956 Worlds Series (that the Dodgers lost to the Yankees,) on October 12, 1956, the Dodgers went on a Japan exhibition tour.

Along the way, Robinson and the Dodgers stopped for pre-tour exhibitions in Hawaii with games against the Maui All-Stars, the Hawaiian All-Stars and the Hawaiian champion Red Sox. (Jackie Robinson died on October 24, 1972 at the age of 53.)

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Associated Press Photo Caution: Use Credit Negro Signs With Montreal Baseball Team Jackie Robinson (Above), former negro football and baseball star with U.C.L.A. and an infielder with the Kansas City Monarchs last season, signed a contract in Montreal, Oct. 23, to play with the Montreal Royals of the International League, a Brooklyn Dodger farm, next season. He will be the first negro to play organized baseball. Robinson is 26 and a native of Pasadena, Calif. 10/23/45

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May 27, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Unknown Negro Mess Man’

Following the attack, the reports from all of Pearl Harbor’s ships and shore facilities of the events of December 7, 1941 were assembled and analyzed; then, the process of confirmation and then giving commendations to all personnel cited in the hundreds of reports began.

The Navy Board of Awards was established on February 12, 1942. A Navy spokesman recommended that the ‘unknown Negro mess man’ be considered for an award (the sole commendation to an African American.)

The unknown Negro mess man was named to the 1941 Honor Roll of Race Relations. On March 12, 1942, Dr Lawrence D Reddick announced, after corresponding with the Navy, that he found the name was ‘Doris Miller.’ (Aiken)

Let’s look back …

Doris Miller was born on October 12, 1919, the third of four sons to Connery and Henrietta Miller in Waco, Texas. He was named for the midwife present at his birth.

The family lived in a three room farmhouse near Speegleville, Texas where his father was a farmer. His life had begun in a time of controversy, turmoil and violence, although his immediate surroundings appeared to be peaceful and simple. Everyone in America struggled through the Great Depression. (Baltimore AfroAmerican)

Along with his siblings, Doris worked to support the family farm from an early age. In his youth, he became an excellent marksman as he hunted for small game with his brothers.

Doris also had a successful school career at AJ Moore High School. His tall stature gained the attention of the football coach at the school who recruited Doris as a fullback on the team.

However, as Doris became older, and as war loomed on the horizon, he longed to join the armed forces much to the chagrin of his parents. After several attempts to join different sectors of the military, Doris enlisted in the US Navy in Dallas, Texas, on September 16, 1939.

Unfortunately, at the time of his enlistment, discrimination limited the areas of service for African Americans in the military. After training, his assignment was as a mess attendant, third class. (Danner; Waco History)

“You have to understand that when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president in 1932, he opened up the Navy again to blacks, but in one area only; they were called mess attendants, stewards, and cooks,” says Clark Simmons, who was a mess attendant on the USS Utah during the Pearl Harbor attack.

“The Navy was so structured that if you were black, this was what they had you do in the Navy – you only could be a servant.” (National Geographic)

After training in Norfolk, Virginia, and serving a stint on the ammunition ship Pyro, Miller was assigned to the battleship West Virginia in 1940. He soon won renown as the best heavyweight boxer onboard.

With the exception of a training stay at Secondary Battery Gunnery School, Miller would remain on the West Virginia until December 7, 1941, when the ship was in port at Pearl Harbor, Hawai‘i.

The morning of the Japanese attack, Miller was doing laundry rounds when the call to battle stations went out. He rushed to his station, an antiaircraft-battery magazine. Seeing the magazine damaged by torpedo fire, he went above decks to help the wounded to safety.

Word came that “the captain and the executive officer, the ‘XO,’ were on the bridge and they both were injured,” says Simmons. “So Dorie Miller went up and physically picked up the captain and brought him down to the first aid station. And then he went back and manned a .50-caliber machine gun, which he had not been trained on.” (National Geographic)

He committed his efforts to the defense of the West Virginia until superiors ordered all to abandon ship.

“It wasn’t hard,” said Miller shortly after the battle. “I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I fired her for about 15 minutes. I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us.” (National Geographic)

Here’s a clip of Cuba Gooding, Jr portraying Miller in ‘Pearl Harbor.’

Of the 1,541 men on West Virginia during the attack, 130 were killed and 52 wounded. Then, word circulated about the ‘unknown Negro mess man’ and his actions that day.

On March 14, 1942, The Pittsburgh Courier released a story that named the black mess man as ‘Dorie’ Miller. This is the earliest found use of ‘Dorie,’ an apparent typographical error. (Some sources have further misspelled the name to ‘Dore’ and ‘Dorrie.’

Various writers have attributed ‘Dorie’ to other suggestions such as a “nickname to shipmates and friends”… or “the Navy thought he should go by the more masculine-sounding Dorie.” (Aiken)

On May 27, 1942 in a ceremony at Pearl Harbor, Admiral Chester W Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, personally recognized Miller aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise.

Miller became the first African American recipient of the Navy Cross, the highest decoration the navy can offer besides the Congressional Medal of Honor. (Danner; Waco History)

The Navy’s commendation noted, “For distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawai‘i, by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941.”

“While at the side of his Captain on the bridge, Miller, despite enemy strafing and bombing and in the face of a serious fire, assisted in moving his Captain, who had been mortally wounded, to a place of greater safety, and later manned and operated a machine gun directed at enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to leave the bridge.” (Navy)

The Pittsburgh Courier called for Miller to be allowed to return home for a war bond tour like white heroes. In November 1942, Miller arrived at Maui, and was ordered on a war bond tour while still attached to the heavy cruiser Indianapolis.

In December 1942 and January 1943, he gave talks in Oakland, California, in his hometown of Waco, Texas, in Dallas and to the first graduating class of African-American sailors from Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Chicago.

Miller then reported to duty aboard the aircraft carrier Liscome Bay as Petty Officer, Ship’s Cook Third Class. After training in Hawai‘i for the Gilbert Islands operation, Liscome Bay participated in the Battle of Tarawa which began on November 20, 1943. (Philadelphia Tribune)

During the battle of the Gilbert Islands, on November 24, 1943, a single torpedo from a Japanese submarine struck the escort carrier near the stern. (Texas State Historical Assn)

The aircraft bomb magazine detonated a few moments later, sinking the warship within minutes. There were 272 survivors. The rest of the crew was listed as “presumed dead.”

On December 7, 1943 — exactly two years after Pearl Harbor —Miller’s parents were notified their son “was dead.” (Philadelphia Tribune)

In addition to conferring upon him the Navy Cross, the Navy honored Doris Miller by naming a dining hall, a barracks and a destroyer escort for him. The USS Miller (a Knox-class frigate) is the third naval ship to be named after a black navy man.

In Waco, a YMCA branch, a park and a cemetery bear his name. In Houston, Texas, and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, elementary schools have been named for him, as has a Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter in Los Angeles.

An auditorium on the campus of Huston-Tillotson College in Austin is dedicated to his memory. In Chicago, the Doris Miller Foundation honors persons who make significant contributions to racial understanding. (Doris Miller Memorial) In Honolulu, there is a Doris Miller Loop, just mauka of the airport. (There are many more memorials to Doris Miller.)

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Admiral Chester Nimitz presenting the Navy Cross to Doris Miller

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Miller speaking during a visit to the Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois, on 7 January 1943-80-G-294808

Miller speaking with sailors and a civilian at Naval Station Great Lakes, January 7, 1943

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Above_and_beyond_poster-1943 U.S. Navy recruiting poster featuring Doris Miller

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May 17, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Salvaging Oklahoma

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was planned as the initial step of their Pacific campaign. Admiral Isoruku, then Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet, supposedly originated the plan in early-1941.

The force assembled 2 battleships, 6 carriers, 3 cruisers, approximately 20 destroyers and 5 submarines, including midgets which were carried by mother submarines.

The force departed at 6 am, November 26, Japan time, and set an indirect northern course for the next rendezvous, 200 miles north of Oahu. On December 6, when the force was still 800 miles north of O‘ahu; it received the long awaited code message to proceed with the attack.

When the Japanese attacked, 86 vessels, including 8 battleships, 7 cruisers, 28 destroyers and 5 submarines, plus the usual complement of small craft, were based in the harbor (there were no aircraft carriers moored at Pearl Harbor at the time.)

When the onslaught subsided, nearly every ship bore scars. One of the worst damaged, the Oklahoma, was salvaged by one of the most complex operations in history. (Morris) Salvage efforts concentrated on the least damaged ships first, the Oklahoma was one of the last ships to receive serious attention.

The Oklahoma was, at the time of the attack, located outboard of the battleship Maryland, which was moored alongside Ford Island. She was struck on the port side by four to nine torpedoes, which caused the ship to capsize quickly and come to rest on the bottom at an angle of over 150-degrees from upright.

The righting and refloating of the capsized battleship Oklahoma was the largest of the Pearl Harbor salvage jobs, and the most difficult. Because the Oklahoma was old and very badly damaged, future active service was not seriously contemplated. The salvage effort focused on clearing an important mooring berth for further use.

Refloating operations were commenced by installing four independent patches in breaches of the hull, the largest of which consisted of five sections and was 130 ft long by 57 ft high.

The external structure served to reinforce the patch, which consisted of 4-in. thick siding sealed with packing materials. The sections were secured to the sides by means of hook bolts installed in holes burned by divers through the damaged shell of the ship. The patches were sealed by means of concrete poured into forms along the bottom and up both ends.

Fuel oil, ammunition and some machinery were removed to lighten the ship. Coral fill was placed alongside her bow to ensure that the ship would roll, and not slide, when pulling began.

Oklahoma’s port side had been largely torn open by Japanese torpedoes, and a series of patches had to be installed. Divers worked in and around her to make the hull as airtight as possible; their work was critical to the salvage success.

They wore deep-sea diving dresses weighing 185-lbs, and worked for many hours several hundred feet from access openings. All of this was done in total darkness, underwater lamps being of no use because of the excessively murky water.

All in all, about 6000-individual dives were made, during salvage operations at Pearl Harbor, averaging approximately four hours per dive.

An extensive system of righting frames (or “bents”) and cable anchors was installed on the ship’s hull, twenty-one large winches (the winches were powered by motors from Honolulu street cars) were firmly mounted on nearby Ford Island, and cables were rigged between ship and shore. (Navy)

The Oklahoma capsized in a position parallel to the shore. Righting operations involved the use of 21 five hp DC motor-driven winches, each of which, through two 17-part tackles, applied an approximately horizontal force transverse to the ship.

To allow turning moments, pendants extending from the outer blocks were secured to the tips of 21 40-ft-high “A” frames mounted on the above-water portion of the starboard bilge.

The first pull began on March 8, 1943, the final pull was on May 20, 1943 – it took 74-days to turn the ship over. She was floated by pumping air into air-tight compartments and pumping water out of the hull.

The ship came afloat in early November 1943, and was drydocked in late December. Once in Ship Yard hands, Oklahoma’s most severe structural damage was repaired sufficiently to make her watertight.

Guns, some machinery, and the remaining ammunition and stores were taken off. After several months in Drydock Number Two, the ship was again refloated and moored elsewhere in Pearl Harbor

The Oklahoma was later sold to the Moore Drydock Co of Oakland, California, for scrapping. On May 17, 1947, while under tow, the Oklahoma sank 540-miles out of Pearl Harbor with no one on board.

In the attack on Pearl Harbor, there were 2,402 US deaths from the attack. 1,177 of those deaths were from the USS Arizona, while 429 of the deaths were from the USS Oklahoma (14 Marines and 415 Sailors.)

Thirty-five crew members were positively identified and buried in the years immediately after the attack. By 1950, all unidentified remains were laid to rest as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Recently, the Defense Department recovered for identification and return to families the last of 388 sailors and Marines killed on the battleship USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941, and later buried as “unknowns” in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. (Lots of information here is from Navy, Morris and USSOklahoma-com.)

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