Salvaging the Oklahoma

[davparlr]

These may be posted already. I couldn't reconstruct how I found them but I had never seen these before.

USS Oklahoma parbuckled in 1943 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor - Telegraph

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

If I'm not mistaken, the tug that was towing her back to the west coast was also lost when the Oklahoma was lost while under tow.

 

[imalko]

Nice find. Haven't seen this before.

 

[Shinpachi]

 

[Lucky13]

 

[GrauGeist]

If I'm not mistaken, the tug that was towing her back to the west coast was also lost when the Oklahoma was lost while under tow.

Neither tug was lost, though they had a hell of a time, the first tug was unreeling it's tow line when the Hercules (the 2nd tug) got yanked past it as the Oklahoma started going down.

Fortunately, both tugs had over 1,000 feet of cable out and were able to cut line, but not before both of thier sterns were awash. Must have been a pretty hairy experience for them.

This all happened about 500 miles out of Pearl

 

[model299]

I'd seen some of those before, but still a very good review. Thank you for that link.



The local daily blab was publishing various accounts of the Costa Concordia salvage, breathlessly proclaiming that nothing like this had ever been done before. I sent a few links and notes for them to check regarding the Oklahoma salvage, and by golly, when their final account of the Costa salvage story got published, they mentioned the Oklahoma recovery operation.

If you look at those pictures, you'll see a very large amount of structural steel and lots of rigging and tackle being used, much of which probably couldn't be spared right after the war began. Another reason I'm sure they waited until they just couldn't spare the docking space anymore.