Oklahoma Journeys
Week of December 6, 2008
The USS Oklahoma Sinks
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She was a happy ship, her crew loved her, and when the USS Oklahoma went down during the attack on Pearl Harbor on that day in infamy, she took with her more than 400 of her crew. But the survivors remember her to this day, and her story is this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.
From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.
Battleships were the largest naval vessels afloat, most powerful, and at that time the ultimate sea going weapon. And since they were the largest government units below the federal level, it only made sense to name them for the states. In 1911 the Navy began construction of its newest battleship at the New York Shipyard. It was to be named the USS Oklahoma for the 46th state. After years of work, she was launched in 1914 with the daughter of Governor Lee Cruce, Leorna Cruce, as the ship’s sponsor.
The Oklahoma was modern in every sense of the word. She was among the first ships built to burn oil, not coal. She had sleeping spaces for the entire crew. No longer would they have to find a place to hang their hammocks. She was equipped with the latest wireless equipment.
In December 1940, the Oklahoma left the Atlantic Scouting fleet for a new home port: the warm, sunny environs of Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. Through 1941, the Oklahoma took part in fleet exercises in the Pacific. On Saturday December 6th, 1941, she returned to port to give her crew a much needed rest.
Oklahoma City native Joe Lawter was a Private First Class in the Marine Corps, assigned to the ship’s Marine Detachment as a bugler. Sunday morning, December 7th, he was to play attention at the colors for the flag raising at 8 a.m. Just as he was about to start the bugle call, he spotted a group of Japanese planes diving on battleship row. Within seconds the first torpedo struck the Oklahoma. He was ordered to sound general quarters, and turned to the sailor standing next to him, who had the microphone for the ship’s public address system in his hand. That sailor yelled into the microphone “general quarters, general quarters, this is no blankety blank.” Lawter said that one announcement saved more lives than anything else they could have done because of the language the sailor used. In six minutes the ship was capsizing, and Lawter slipped overboard into the oily waters of the harbor. As he was swimming to the USS Maryland he watched the Arizona blow up. Covered with oil, he was dragged to the deck of Maryland and survived the attack.
The Oklahoma never returned to active duty in the Navy. In 1947 she was sold for scrap and was being towed back to the west coast. About halfway between Hawaii and California, she began taking on water and sank in middle of the Pacific Ocean. The crewmen who had survived that morning felt it was the proper end for their ship. They didn’t want to see the Oklahoma, in their words, turned into soup cans. Lawter passed away on December 4, 1995, and fittingly his memorial service was held on December 7th.
You can learn more about this tragic episode in our military history by visiting the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City on NE 23rd Street, just east of the state capitol. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center, dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.