Evening star. [volume], May 18, 1947, Page A-7, Image 7

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
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WATCHMAKERS • JEWELERS |
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913 Pfc Ayr. N.W. ]
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Memo—
* A Home-Style Dinner at
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Occasion!
Sunday Dinner Features
Fried Young Chicken,
Venezia Style
Fresh Pineapple Tart
Our delicious pastries are baked
fresh daily in our own kitchens
FRANK F. FENWICK
1356 Connecticut Ave.
Visit Our Fountain Room
Take Conn. Are. bus or
car to our entrance .
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Your discharge papers make you eligible
You Are Entitled to Take One of These Practical
Courses Under the Gl Bill of Rights
LEADING TO THESE POSITIONS
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————————■ _
Oklahoma Sinks in Mid-Pacific
While Being Towedto Junkyard
By tin Awocio**d Pm)
PEARL HARBOR, May IT.—The
tragic battleship Oklahoma, raised
from a shallow grave after the Japa
nese assault on Pearl Harbor, sank
quietly in mld-Paciflc today, thwart
ing the mainland junkyard for
which she was bound.
The venerable warship, symbol of
American sorrow .and pride, went
down without a soul on board at
1:40 am., 540 miles northeast of
Pearl Harbor.
One week ago today she had left
in tow of the tugs Monarch and
Hercules, and was due in San Fran
cisco Bay on Memorial Day.
The hull was shipshape when she
left. Suddenly and inexplicably she
began to list heavily late yeterday.
Last night Capt. Kelly Sprague of
the Hercules radioed that waves
were washing over the Oklahoma a
desolate decks—long since stripped
of guns and superstructure. He was
ordered to head back for Pearl Har
bor, but a little later—as if deter
mined to escape the ignominious
fate on the scrap heap—the Okla
homa parted the tow lines ant
plunged toward the bottom of th<
ocean—three miles down.
Seamen compared her end with
that of the famous British battleship
Warspite, which on April 23 was
wrecked on the Cornish coast, alsc
while being towed toward a breaker’!
yard.
The tugs stood by until daybreak
but so cleanly had the Oklahomt
died that not even a scrap of flotsair
was to be seen.
Thus closed the colorful but un
heroic career of a ship that never
in two wars, succeeded in fulflllinf
her intended destiny. She never
in all her 31 years, had fired a shol
at an enemy.
The 29,000-ton ship was laid dowr
in 1912, launched March 23, 1914
and finally commissioned May 2
1916. The authoritative directory
Jane’s Fighting Ships, listed her ant
her sister ship, the Nevada ol
Bikini fame, as super-dreadnaughts
UlOV Ul UiC v*
theory of ship construction, with
tremendous armor, ten 14-inch guns
sixty 5-tnchers, and myraid smallei
weapons. She was 583 feet long
107 feet, 11 inches wide, and hat
places for more than 1,300 fighting
men.
In the first World War she wai
based at Berehaven, Ireland, bul
saw no action.
In the peacetime years, while
training thousands of cadets anc
sailors, she made headlines by col
liding with a railroad barge at Brem
erton, Wash., and with the battle
ship Arizona on another occasion
The Oklahoma was anchored al
Pearl Harbor when the Japanese
planes struck on December 7, 1941
The nearby Arizona was destroyed
Pierced by five torpedoes, the
Oklahoma herself was on the bottoir
and capsized within 11 minutes. She
went down so fast that her crea
did not have time to man the guns
Many died in their bunks, and
others fell as they raced to battle
stations. Thirty-two men, trapped
deep inside her, were later rescued
alive with the aid of cutting
torches.
Proudly determined to raise and
fight her, the Navy finally sue
ceeded 18 months later, sne was
to be refitted and gain vengeance,
as did the Nevada, the Maryland,
the Tennessee, the West Virginia,
the Pennsylvania and the Califor
nia.
It was not worthwhile. Battered
and obsolete, still reeking of violent
death, she was abandoned late in
1944.
Throughout the rest of the war
she lay at anchor in Pearl Harbor,
a gruesome reminder of the attack.
The Navy debated long whether it
would be best to sink her or cut
her up for scrap.
Eventually she was sold to the
Moore Drydock Co., of Oakland,
Calif., for $46,000. She had cost;
$75,000,000 to bUild and untold
sums to raise.
Recognized as uuobk.
Navy men said the attempt to tow
the ship to the mainland was rec
ognized beforehand as a big gamble,
but that the buyers had stood to
make a big profit on the scrap had
they succeeded.
Rear Admiral Louis Dreller. com
mandant of the Navy Yard, said the
sale was on a “where is and as is’’
basis but the Navy made all repairs
requested by the Moore company.
"Then the work was inspected and
we gave them all files and informa
tion,” he said.
Capt. J. S. Ryssy of the Coast
Guard said that since there were
no passengers, formal certification
of seaworthiness had not been nec
essary.
It was not known here whether
insurance was carried. More com
, pany members in Oakland also were
uncertain on this point in the
absence of the official handling
insurance matters.
The company had planned to start
cutting her up in June. Only this
week, Joseph Moore, head of the
company, said he had received word
that nearly 500 Oklahomans, in
cluding Gov. Roy J. Turner, planned
a special visit to Oakland to pay
their final respects to a gallant
but unlucky ship.
Instead, the Oklahoma died at
sea.
Paper Collections
Reach 99,400 Pounds
In Star-PTA Drive
A slight Increase In paper collec
tions in The Evening Star-PTA
salvage campaign was noted yester
day when the total moved from
93,020 pounds for the previous week
to 99,400.
Falling prices for paper on the
wholesale market have brought a
cutback here starting with the first
collections in May. The price now
is $1 per hundred pounds for
magazines and 70 cents per hundred
pounds for newspapers. The high
i mark was set in March and April
| when the prices stood at $1.15 for
! magazines and 90 cents for old
newspapers.
Individual school cpllections not
yet reported are: janney, 1,360
pounds; Murch, 3,058; Westbrook,
343: Mann, 575; Key, 670; Hardy,
833; Stoddert, I960; St. Thomas
Apostle, 516; Oyster, 290; Lafayette,
1,972; Hyde, 707; Sumner-Magruder.
600; Stevens, 1,710; Congress
Heights. 1,325; Woodridge, 3,488;
Hilton-Peabody, 5.203; Benning, 877;
Smothers, 525; Kingsman, 1,096;
Blair, 1.018; Hayes, 727; Four Cor
ners, 2,400.
Collection schedules tor tomorrow
in District 1, together with the
leaders, are as follows:
Buchanan -,430.074 pounds
Stanton _s- 80.230 "
Jefferson _ 77,755
Orr _ __ 75.278 ”
Congress Heights __ 67,967
Amidon Payne
Baers Randall
Brent Randle Highlands
Bryan Van Ness
Dent. Wallach
Oiddings Chamberlain
Ketcham Turner-Oarfleld
Kimball _ _
Hospital Group to Meet
At Salisbury Friday
By the Associated Press
SALISBURY, Md„ May 17.—The
Hospital Association of Maryland
and the District of Cloumbia will
hold it’s spring conference at the
Wicomico Hotel here Friday and
Saturday.
Presiding at the 2-day session will
be Dr. J. H. Capossela of Emergency
Hospital, Washington, who succeedr
Dr. Edwin L. Crosby, director of
the Johns Hopkins Hospital, ar
president.
B
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Former Price $203.80 . . . you cave $43.75
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ARLINGTON BRANCH
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