On this 79th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, we Americans remember and appreciate the brave men who fought to defend our fleet and country. One of the ships of the United States Navy that suffered horribly against the Imperial Japanese was the USS Oklahoma (BB-37). Struck by several torpedoes, she capsized and rolled over. Of her crew, 429 lost their lives.
For well over a year she sat upside down in Pearl Harbor, until probably the most famous parbuckle salvage operation incredibly righted her.
Some years ago I was fortunate to acquire a truly remarkable relic of USS Oklahoma and the Attack on Pearl Harbor – a large gavel and sound block both made of shipworm-eaten teak wood, with an old note plastered on the bottom of the sound block reading, “PART OF TEAKWOOD STAIR TREAD LEADING to gun Turret on U.SS. OKLAHOMA SUNK AT PEARL HARbor DEC. 1941 RAISED – DEC. 1943.”
The very shipworms whose shells remain embedded in the wood of this artifact were alive and boring their way through the hulk of the Oklahoma while the ships that would avenge the deaths of the men still aboard steamed by on their way to the battles of Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal.
