Another Four Are Known

8 thoughts on “Another Four Are Known”

1. Slow Salute*

2. Rest In Peace, Dear Sailors.

3. Welcome Home.

4. Hondo, thanks again for your diligence & efforts in reporting about these great heros.

   In the past, I would post here on TAH some more personal information (including photos if possible) about these elder heros. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I stopped. Will try to do a better job this time around. (smile)

   1. FC1c Hubert P. Clement (USS Oklahoma)

      https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=80140

      EM1c Edward L. Conway (USS Oklahoma)

      https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000Xg7ZEAS

      S1c Wilbur F. Newton (USS Oklahoma)

      https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XeK9EAK

      At 6:00 a.m. Reveille was sounded aboard Oklahoma. As sailors and marines prepared for their daily duties or liberty at 6:30 a.m. the boatswain of the watch piped sweepers and announced “Sweepers, man your brooms, clean sweep down fore and aft. Empty all trash cans. Clamp down all weather decks.” By 7:00a.m. breakfast was being served, with Sunday’s fare of hotcakes, syrup, bacon and coffee.

      The attacking Japanese forces found Oklahoma in an extremely vulnerable state. The annual inspection by Battleship Division 1 commander, Admiral Kidd, was scheduled for Monday.

      The ship had been cleaned, painted and opened-up to help dry the fresh paint as well as to dissipate the paint smell. Hatches were undogged and normally closed off areas, such as the torpedo blisters, were wide open to the Hawaiian breezes.

      The firing mechanisms and ammunition for the ships antiaircraft guns and been removed and stored below decks. Finally, most of her senior officers had spent Saturday night ashore. None of these conditions were due to negligence, but all ultimately sealed the fate of Oklahoma.

      The Japanese aircraft quickly targeted the American battleships. Aboard the Oklahoma there was an air raid announcement, followed by two calls to general quarters. As sailors raced to their battle stations, three Japanese torpedoes rapidly tore into the hull.

      Within minutes, she developed a dangerous list. The speed of the attack prevented counter flooding to right her. Several more torpedoes struck the injured ship, with at least one striking above the armored belt due to listing.

      Within a mere eleven minutes, the crippled Oklahoma capsized, rolling 151 degrees until her tripod masts and superstructure jammed into the mud on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. Less than two-thirds of her crew had escaped; the rest of the crew was trapped within the overturned hull.

      Navy and civilian personnel quickly gathered on the overturned hull of the USS Oklahoma. Tools and ships plans were obtained and the search for survivors began. Two trapped crewmembers were discovered and spoken with, through a discharge pipe.

      Unfortunately, when they were cut out the rescuers found them dead, most likely killed by fumes from the cutting torch. Soon a party of civilian shipyard workers under the leadership of Julio DeCastro arrived with pneumatic tools and joined in the rescue efforts.

      Trapped men were located at frames 22, 78, 116 and 131. Frames are the structural ribs of the ship and numbered from the bow to the stern. Using pneumatic cutting tools, by 8:00 a.m. on Monday, December 8 the first six men were rescued.

      By 11:00 a.m. eleven men were rescued from the “Lucky Bag” near Turret No.4. Another five were freed from a 5 inch ammunition handling room by 2:00 p.m.. Eventually, the number of rescued men reached thirty-two. Rescuers continued to search for more survivors. One escapee had reported 125 men in a single compartment of the third deck, but they were never found.

      Tapping was heard at frames 70 and 76, but holes cut at these locations revealed no additional survivors. The Navy kept a guard on board the hull to listen for any additional tapping. Finally, at 8:00 a.m. on December 11 Lieutenant Commander Hobby called off the efforts. 429 sailors and Marines perished aboard USS Oklahoma. This was the second greatest number of casualties suffered by any ship at Pearl Harbor.

      The survivors of USS Oklahoma were dispersed to many different ships and locations following the attack. Some of the ships that received her crewmembers were Enterprise, Helena, Honolulu, Helm, Hull, Gridley, Jarvis, Louisville, San Francisco, Tennessee, and Warden. For most of the survivors, the attack was just the first in a long series of combat actions that would stretch over the length of the war.

      By late July of 1942 the Navy had created a plan to salvage USS Oklahoma commencing in March 1943. This was a cooperative effort between the Navy and Pacific Bridge Company, a commercial construction and salvage operator. The initial stage in salvage required righting the capsized ship.

      This was accomplished by lightening Oklahoma by removing 350,000 gallons of fuel oil, and filling the empty bunkers with air. Next twenty one electric street car motors were installed on Ford Island and connected by cables the hull of the ship. Finally, twenty-two hundred tons of crushed coral was dumped on the shore side of the ship to prevent sliding.

      USS Oklahoma was finally righted on June 16, 1943. Once she was upright, great efforts were made to cover the many holes caused by Japanese torpedoes. This was accomplished by securing patches, one of which was 130 feet long by 57 feet tall. Large portions of the ship were then dried with the use of ten inch water pumps. The ship was finally floated in early November 1943 and moved by tugs into Drydock #2 some weeks later.

      The bodies of the four hundred and twenty nine casualties were recovered for burial. Prior to the righting, the Navy had decreed that the USS Oklahoma would be scrapped rather than refitted for duty, so she was stripped of all material useful in the war effort.

      She was decommissioned and, after the war was sold for scrap. While under tow to Oakland, California, the USS Oklahoma developed a list and sank at sea on May 17, 1947. She rests somewhere on the bottom, five hundred and forty miles northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. She was one the few ships which sank twice.

      S2c Tceollyar Simmons (USS California)

      https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56122432/tceollyar-simmons

      1. Welcome Home Warriors. A Salute to your Service and Honors paid to your Sacrifice.

         Thanks Hondo.

         And a special Thanks to our Skyjumper for his added linkys on these Heros. Damn good find on that dpaa site. A story on each Hero. Say their names, be their witness.

5. Welcome home Brothers. Rest in peace now.

6. Welcome home, men.

   Rest well.

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