USS Oklahoma (BB-37)

USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at anchor
History
United States
Name	Oklahoma
Namesake	Oklahoma
Ordered	4 March 1911
Builder	New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey
Laid down	26 October 1912
Launched	23 March 1914
Commissioned	2 May 1916
Decommissioned	1 September 1944
Fate	Sunk in attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941; refloated for scrapping; sank under tow 1947
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Nevada-class battleship
Displacement	27,500 long tons (27,900 t)
Length	583 ft (178 m) LOA 575 feet (175 m) LWL
Beam	95 ft 6 in (29.1 m)
Draft	28 ft 6 in (8.7 m)
Installed power	12 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 24,800 ihp (18,500 kW)
Propulsion	2 × shafts 2 × triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph)
Range	8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[1]
Complement	As built: 864 officers and crewmen[3] From 1929: 1,398[2]
Armament	As built: 2 × triple, 2 × twin 14 in (356 mm)/45 cal. guns 21 × single 5 in (127 mm)/51 cal. guns 2 × single 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal. AA guns 2 or 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes After 1927–1929 refit: 12 × single 5 in/51 cal. guns 8 × single 5 in/25 cal. AA guns
Armor	Belt: 13.5 to 8 in (343 to 203 mm) Bulkheads: 13 in (330 mm) to 8 in Barbettes: 13 in Turrets: 18 in (457 mm) Decks: 4.5 in Conning tower: 16 in (406 mm), 8 in (203 mm) top
Aircraft carried	as built: 3 × floatplanes 2 × catapults[2] 1941: 2 × floatplanes 1 × catapult[2]

USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was a Nevada-class battleship built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation for the United States Navy, notable for being the first American class of oil-burning dreadnoughts. Commissioned in 1916, the ship served in World War I as a part of Battleship Division Six, protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic. After the war, she served in both the United States Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet. Oklahoma was modernized between 1927 and 1929. In 1936, she rescued American citizens and refugees from the Spanish Civil War. On returning to the West Coast in August of the same year, Oklahoma spent the rest of her service in the Pacific.

On 7 December 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, several torpedoes from torpedo bombers hit the Oklahoma's hull and the ship capsized. A total of 429 crew died; survivors jumped off the ship 50 feet (15 m) into burning oil on water or crawled across mooring lines that connected Oklahoma and Maryland. Some sailors inside escaped when rescuers drilled holes and opened hatches to rescue them. The ship was salvaged in 1943. Unlike most of the other battleships that were recovered following Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma was too damaged to return to duty. Her wreck was eventually stripped of her remaining armament and superstructure before being sold for scrap in 1946. The hulk sank in a storm while being towed from Oahu, Hawaii, to a breakers yard in San Francisco Bay in 1947.