Hello,
Does anyone know the differences, if any, between the USS Arizona and the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor? The only thing I know is that the turret tops were different colors. Thank you all!!
Different class of battleship. i believe Oklahoma was of the same class as Nevada. Ten 14"guns on four turrets instead of twelve.
Unfortunately (for modelers) they were members of two different classes. The Arizona was a sister ship of the Pennsylvania; the Oklahoma was a sister ship of the Nevada. The most conspicuous distinction probably was the main armament: the Arizona and Pennsylvania each had twelve 14" guns in four triple turrets, whereas the Oklahoma and Nevada each had ten guns in two twin and two triple turrets (with the twin turrets mounted one level higer than the triple ones). There were plenty of other differences. The two classes looked quite similar from a distance, but the designs were quite a bit different. And the *Pensylvania-*class ships were noticeably bigger.
A good source to start studying these ships (and just about any other vessel of the U.S. Navy) is http://www.navsource.org/ . Click on “Battleships” at the head of the column on the left side of the homepage, then on “Post Dreadnought/Newport Conference Design Battleships,” then on the name of the individual ship you want to look up. Be warned: once you get started looking at those old pictures you’ll want to spend quite a bit of time on that site.
One other significant difference between the Nevada/Oklahoma, and the rest of the Super Dreadnaughts made around the same time, was a notch in the stern of the Nevada & Oklahoma. It identifies these two ships from as far as you can see them.
Good point by jtilley about navsource.org. It is definitely addicting! Also, at the end of each ship’s description and list of photos is usually a link to DANFS - Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. This is a complete as possible description of that ships history, and every other ship that had the same name. Also can be addicting… Enjoy! [t$t]
Thank you everyone for all your information! I was considering converting Trumpeter’s 1/350 USS Arizona to the Oklahoma (as OK is my home state) but, I think now that I’m not up to such a challenge.
It’s too bad that no one makes a kit of either Oklahoma or Nevada in injection molded plastic. Especially when one considers Nevada’s war record- Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Aleutians, Southern France, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.[:@]
i’m converting 2 revell 1/426 scale models of the arizona to the nevada of 45 & oklahoma of dec 41. hulls shortened, torpedo bulges added, stern notched, new deck glued on & propeller area of stern corrected.
Okay, neat! Are you using any set of plans, such as Floating Drydock, or are you just going by photos or the like? I’d be interested if you could offer any more info. Thanks!
drawings i’ve got off the net like from navsource. if i was doing a large scale model like 1/144 or bigger then i might go for proper plans but as this is 1/426 scale then i’ll use what i find on the net free.