Oklahoma Journeys

Week of May 3, 2008

Battleship USS Oklahoma commissioned 1917

Battleships and naval superiority are probably not the first things you think of when you hear the name “Oklahoma,” yet in 1917 those ideas and words were on the minds of many Oklahomans. In 1917, the U.S. Navy commissioned what was for that time the most modern and powerful warship ever built. It’s the USS Oklahoma this week on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

In 1914 thoughts of naval power and warfare on the high seas probably didn’t cross the minds of many Oklahomans, yet those concepts were household topics in March of that year. In March 1914 the daughter of then governor Lee Cruce, Lorena, stood on a high scaffold in New York City and christened the newest of the U.S. battleships, the USS Oklahoma. After assurance that the champagne used for the christening wouldn’t be consumed by humans (Oklahoma, after all, was a dry state at that time), Lorena Cruce smashed the bottle on the ship’s bow, and she slid gracefully into the water. It was to be three years later, however, before the Oklahoma was fully outfitted and ready for duty.

The USS Oklahoma along with her sister ship, the USS Nevada, sported the latest in Naval technology. They were the first battleships in the U.S. fleet to use fuel oil instead of coal, and they both held technologically advanced engine designs. Following completion in 1917 the Oklahoma underwent her shakedown cruise and with the exception of a few minor glitches, she passed with flying colors.

It was in this week of 1917 that the USS Oklahoma became a fully commissioned vessel of the United States Navy. During World War One, the ship was held up for repairs and served as escort for only one Atlantic convoy. Following the “Great War,” the Oklahoma went on a variety of important tasks. Under President Wilson, the mere presence of the Oklahoma in places like Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Vera Cruz, Mexico; and the Panama Canal helped to reinforce and strengthen the influence of the United States.

Throughout most of the twenties and thirties the battleship served in the Pacific fleet and remained there until 1936 when she was sent to Spain to rescue civilians caught in the middle of the Spanish Civil War. But by 1940 threats of a new war brewing sent the Oklahoma back into battle mode and back to the Pacific. As the now-aging ship sat moored at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Japanese forces made their now infamous strike of Dec. 7, 1941. One of the dozens of naval victims of that assault, the USS Oklahoma was hit by seven torpedoes and capsized shortly thereafter. She lost 448 men, the second largest loss of life the Navy suffered in that attack.

The USS Oklahoma proudly served the United States for twenty-four years and did so, as various crewmembers have pointed out, without ever firing a shot in anger. There was a tradition at the time when a battleship was named for a state, that state presented a silver service set to the Navy for use by officers aboard the ship named for that state. You can see the original silver service set that presented by the State of Oklahoma to the Navy for use on the USS Oklahoma on display at the Oklahoma History Center, located on NE 23rd Street just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma Journeys a production of the Oklahoma History Center dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.