I just ran across this image while looking for something else unrelated. It shows the turret top in the foreground with a definitely different color painted on top. I wish that it was in color.
That’s a very muddy red color.
Oklahoma got hammered; I’ve researched her at the archives looking for information for / against the midget sub torpedo theory. The damage is awe-inspiring both in how gutted she was, as well as how “well” she took all those torpedoes and damage from rolling over twice.
Oh, also, for those who might not be aware what this is about, the Navy had a color system for ship identification that started in the late 1920s and evolved up to and through the attack on Pearl Harbor. Battleships and cruisers had colored turret tops during the attack, and several ships had them for a few months after. I have some information on this posted here.
Thanks for the link, Tracy.
Tracy, why would it be rolling twice unless you mean 1st time she capsized after sinking from torpedo hits & 2nd time when they were righting her as in the picture above?
Bingo! from the Pearl Harbor Damage Report:
An effort was made to determine the number, type and location of hits received. However, since floors, bulkheads, framing etc., buckled as the port side of the hull was pushed inboard, due to various reasons in addition to the actual torpedo and bomb explosions, the appearance of the initial damage was changed before a visual examination was possible. Some possible causes of this additional damage are listed as follows:
(a) The depth of the water where the OKLAHOMA was moored was about 40 feet or less and the possibility exists that pressure waves from the exploding torpedoes and bombs may have reflected from the harbor bottom and caused additional pushing in of the port side.
(b) Some pushing in of the port side may have occurred when the vessel capsized and rested on the harbor bottom.
(c) It is believed that during the righting process which employed mechanical forces to pull the vessel right side up, the enormous pull exerted on the vessel plus the weight of the vessel itself turning on solid harbor bottom caused general pushing in of the already weakened port side. This damage is referred to in this report as “rolling over damage”.