T Bolt
Colonel
The book just came yesterday and I've been flipping through it. Looks very interesting. Can't wait to really start digging into it.
"Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor"
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Marauderman26
Airman
For more try this site: PEARL HARBOR HISTORY ASSOCIATES, INC.
Excellent.
Excellent.
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- #23
ccheese
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daveT
Senior Airman
14 inch guns were salvaged from the sunken battleship, USS ARIZONA and reused.The Navy decided that the Army would receive gun turrets No. 3 and 4 for use as coastal defense guns. Two sites were selected: one at Mokapu Head (Kaneohe) known as Battery Pennsylvania and battery Arizona the second at an area known today as Electric Hill (HEI generating plant) on the western shore of Oahu, up the slopes of the Wianae Mountains. They were to be placed on the tip of Mokapu Peninsula, to cover the eastern portions of Oahu, and on Kahe Point, to cover the south and west, respectively. The Army in 1943 intended to incorporate these turrets into the coastal defense of Hawaii. Only Battery Pennsylvania was completed in 1945. A test firing took place on V-J day. Today both sites are abandoned; the guns were removed and cut up for scrap shortly after the war ended.
Battery Pennsylvania at Ulupa'u Crater Head is seven stories deep.
Photos attached.
Does the book include more information about the guns from the USS Arizona???
Battery Pennsylvania at Ulupa'u Crater Head is seven stories deep.
Photos attached.
Does the book include more information about the guns from the USS Arizona???
Attachments
daveT
Senior Airman
Battery Arizona info and pictures.
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ccheese
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In addition to the above, 5 inch, 38 cal. guns from USS Cassin and USS Shaw were taken off the ships and sent to Ewa as shore batteries. One 5 inch, 38 from the Downes went to Ewa as part of a four gun battery, with the other three guns coming from the USS Shaw. A gun director, rangefinder and loading machine from the USS Cassin also went to the Ewa battery. Of the other nine guns taken off the two destroyers, three of the Cassin's five guns were only slightly damaged and able to be refurbished. Only one or two of the Downes guns had any hope of being repaired.
Charles
Charles
Wow! I must get this book!
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- #28
ccheese
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Thanks Charles! It's on my wish list.
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ccheese
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In Chapter 7, while working to raise USS California, human remains were found. At first just a human head, then other parts and whole bodies. After the head was found Hospital Corpsman were on stand by to deal with the bodies. When one was found it was not touched by the salvers, a Corpsman was called. He and his shipmates would go below with white canvas sacks (body bags, as we know them, hadn't been invented yet) and recover the remains. With so much trash being removed from the ship, no one really noticed two men carrying a white canvas bag.
After the bombing, forty-five of California's personnel were unaccounted for. When salvage was complete, only 14 were left unaccounted for.
Charles
After the bombing, forty-five of California's personnel were unaccounted for. When salvage was complete, only 14 were left unaccounted for.
Charles
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ccheese
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I've finished the book. What is really surprising is the fact that when the original survey of the damage was completed, only one ship, the USS Oklahoma, was deemed to be a total loss. According to the survey (conducted right after the attack) everything else could be salvaged and refloated. In the last chapter the powers that be (mostly BuShips) determined the Arizona and the Utah were not worth the cost and were to be left as war grave sites.
The Oklahoma had not only been sunk, but had rolled 162 degrees to starboard. The salvage team believes she was hit with at least five torpedoes and maybe as many as seven. There was evidence that she was hit with torpedoes after she had started to roll, because there was torpedo damage above the armor belt !
After Oklahoma was righted and re-floated a board was convened (on 7 July 1944) to determine if she should be repaired or scrapped. The board determined she was not worth the cost. In September of 1944 she was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy register. She was towed to the repair basin, stripped of her guns and superstructure and moored in West Loch for the remainder of the war. She was sold for scrap, but the damage she suffered on 7 December weakened her greatly. She sank under tow to San Francisco on 17 May 1947, about 500 miles from the U.S. coast.
USS Utah was decommissioned 5 Sept. 1944 and was stricken from the Naval resister on 13 Nov. 1944. Like the Arizona, she was more than a derelict, she was a war grave.
Unfortunately, an operation of this size had to have some fatalities. There were seven during the salvage operation.
Charles
The Oklahoma had not only been sunk, but had rolled 162 degrees to starboard. The salvage team believes she was hit with at least five torpedoes and maybe as many as seven. There was evidence that she was hit with torpedoes after she had started to roll, because there was torpedo damage above the armor belt !
After Oklahoma was righted and re-floated a board was convened (on 7 July 1944) to determine if she should be repaired or scrapped. The board determined she was not worth the cost. In September of 1944 she was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy register. She was towed to the repair basin, stripped of her guns and superstructure and moored in West Loch for the remainder of the war. She was sold for scrap, but the damage she suffered on 7 December weakened her greatly. She sank under tow to San Francisco on 17 May 1947, about 500 miles from the U.S. coast.
USS Utah was decommissioned 5 Sept. 1944 and was stricken from the Naval resister on 13 Nov. 1944. Like the Arizona, she was more than a derelict, she was a war grave.
Unfortunately, an operation of this size had to have some fatalities. There were seven during the salvage operation.
Charles
