Ray Bowden US Navy USS Oklahoma |
December 7, 1941, looked like it was going to be a beautiful Hawaiian day. There were a few scattered fluff clouds floating in the sky. A light breeze of about 2-3 knots was blowing down between the USS Oklahoma and the USS Maryland. The two behemoths lay tied up to each other the Oklahoma out board of the Maryland. Their moorings would tighten then relax as they reacted to the tides winds and currents. Amid ships there were two cane fenders that hung on lines secured to a cleat on the Maryland's deck. They would keep the two ships from banging into each other. Made of woven cane these fenders were about two feet in diameter and were cylindrical in shape. To the land lubber it might seem to be a lesson in futility trying to keep two 29,000 ton giants apart with two bundles of reeds but, they were very effective. There were ships tied up to moorings all around Ford Island. On the east side, this row of ships, known as battle ship row, was the USS California, then the Neosho, a tanker, that had just unloaded thousands of gallons of aviation fuel. Then came the USS Maryland tied up inboard of the Oklahoma. Astern of us the West Virginia (weevee) was tied up outboard of the Tennessee. Astern of them was the USS Arizona with the USS Vestal, a repair ship, tied up outboard of her. Astern of them was the USS Nevada. This was known as battleship row. Reveille had been at 0600. At 0630 the boatswains mate of the watch piped sweepers and announced over the loudspeakers, "sweepers man your brooms, clean sweep down fore and aft. Empty all spit kits (a throw back to when most of the crew chewed tobacco) and trash cans. Clamp down all weather decks (this was done by sprinkling water on the wooden decks and going over them with a swab. The custom was to hose down all weather decks, with fire hoses and salt water. However, Pearl Harbor was considered contaminated thus the abbreviated wash down). Breakfast consisting of hot cakes, syrup, bacon and coffee, was served, family style, at 0700. I was in the port watch and the port watch had the weekend duty. At about 0745 my crew and I manned our motor launch, Tied up to the starboard quarter boom between the okayed and the Maryland, we had the duty, which meant that any time, for whatever reason, that a boat was needed we were one of the two boats assigned to duty that day. We got the boat cleaned up wiping the dew off the thwarts (seats) and the poop deck and affray. We were standing there watching the ships band and the marines getting ready to raise the colors as the band played the national anthem. At about 0755 I heard planes diving but didn't think too much about it as the army, navy and marines had been diving in fake dog fights with each other for months so this wasn't anything to get excited about. Then I heard a machine gun open up and I thought these guys are putting realism in this sham. Then there was an explosion as the first torpedo hit the weevee on the port bow. Half a heartbeat later the first of seven struck the okayed opening up her side like a can opener opening a can of sardines. A plane flew over and I looked up and saw the meat balls on the wings. I yelled at my crew get the hell out of here this ain't no friggin drill man your battle stations. My battle station was up over the bridge I was the senior anti air craft director operator in the starboard director that directed the fire of five 5 inch guns on the starboard side of the boat deck. These guns could be fired electronically from the director or by the pointer stepping on a pedal or pulling a trigger on his wheel. The pedal was for manual firing if there was no electricity. The gun could also be rammed by hand. Normally they were rammed by compressed air. The gun captain would actuate a lever that controlled the air. Each gun had a pointer, he would control the elevation with a wheel that he would turn to elevate or depress the gun. The trainer also had a wheel in which he could train the gun from left to right and visa versa. There was a man called a sight setter that would adjust the telescope the pointer and trainer used. He would adjust for speed and direction. The fuse setter set the fuse on the projectiles that were placed, up right in fuse pots and according to either the range observed by the gun captain or the director the fuse would be set to go off at a certain distance or height. There were two loaders to a gun the first loader took the ammo out of the fuse pot and handed it to the 2nd loader who placed it in the trough of the breech of the gun the gun captain would activate his lever and the round would be rammed home. The ram could also be placed on automatic so that when the round was entered in the breech, the ram would automatically ram the round home. Then there was the hot shell catcher. He wore asbestos gloves and had a big bag that he would catch the hot shell casings in. Other wise they would clutter up the deck and make it unsafe for the ammunition train to operate. The ammo train consisted of three or four men stretching from the ammo hoist to the gun and the ammo would be passed to the gun. As I ran up the boat deck behind these guns I could hear pinging as rounds from the strafing planes bounced off the mounts and ready boxes. I ran up the ladder to the signal bridge and up another ladder to the navigation bridge and another ladder to my battle station. The ship was beginning to list to port as I seated my self at my station. There was only one other man there where ordinarily there would have been 6 men I turned to my buddy and said lets get the hell out of here. We left. Going back down those ladders was getting to be pretty tricky by time I reached the boat deck. Going off the port side was out of the question the ship could come over on top of me so I opted for the starboard side which was up hill and getting steeper every second. I started out walking upright but it wasn't long until I was on all fours grabbing at anything to keep from sliding back to the port side. I thought that maybe I should have stayed with my boat. Finally I made it to the starboard life line and pulled my self through. I found myself standing on the side of the ship looking down at the bottom of the ship. The hull was a series of plates about two feet wide and eight feet long riveted together with 1-1/2 inch rivets sliding down would be a rough trip but it was the only way I was going to be able to get off the ship. I sat down and prepared to push off. I took one last look around, thinking I might possibly see my brother who had been below decks. As I glanced aft I saw the Arizona blow up, she kinda lifted up out of the water and settled back down with her back broken and her masts askew. I slid down the curve of the bottom of the ship and hit the water. Burning oil was coming down between the weevee and the Tennessee. Time was running out! I knew I had to get out of there before the burning oil got to where I was. I swam over to the Maryland and climbed up on one of the cane fenders and with the help of a couple of guys walking along the blister I was able to get up on the blister and walk aft to where I could step through the Maryland's life line as I did I looked up and there was my brother coming through not over a foot or so away. We greeted each other and went on to what would have been our battle stations, al to the ammo train and me to the anti air craft director. Some of the gunners off the Oklahoma observed their Maryland counterparts standing around waiting for air and electricity to fire their guns. The okie gunners were mad as hornets they removed the crew from one gun and commenced firing manually. Ordinarily these guns were rammed by air and fired by electricity. Yelling at the ammo train to get busy with this ain't no friggin drill! Move!! They started passing the ammo and the okie gunners loaded and fired fast and furious wearing blisters on their hands and blistering the paint on the guns. Most of the ammo they fired though was training ammo it could do a lot of damage if it was close enough to the target when it exploded. At the director control the officer in charge said he had plenty of operators but I could help out by being a sky lookout reporting any planes headed our way. As I took my place between a lieutenant and a seaman I heard a cheer go up. Every one was looking to port so I did too and there was the USS Nevada trying to get out of the harbor on an auxiliary boiler, she had a big hole in her port bow. The enemy planes were diving on her like flies over a potato salad at a picnic. One more came in to bomb and strafe her but there wasn't room for him. He spotted the Maryland wedged in between the capsized Oklahoma and ford island. I watched him go into a dive and saw the bomb leave the underside of the plane's wing. I stood there watching that missile fall. I really thought I was goner as I was looking right at the business end of this thing and the trajectory it was traveling it was going to land right where I was standing. There was no place to run just stand there and take what ever happened. I wondered what it was going to feel like. When its forward motion was spent the bomb fell on the fo'c'sle deck amid the anchor chain. The anchor chain on a battle ship is made up of links that weigh about 50 lbs each and are about 18 inches long. The bomb exploded and threw shrapnel and pieces of anchor chain all over the forward part of the ship. A piece hit the lieutenant and killed him. A piece hit me in the chest. It broke the skin and bruised ribs that bothered me for a couple of years. The seaman got a big hunk imbedded in his leg. There was a big piece lying on the deck between my feet. When the bomb exploded it was right over the paint locker. In the locker was a work bench that was just a couple of feet below the overhead which was the bottom side of the fo'c'sle deck. The first class painter was sleeping off all the beer etc. He had drunk the night before. The bomb woke him up. He came charging up through the hatchway looking for the sob that was making all the racket. He saw all the destruction and sobered up immediately. Looking around for any other planes that might try to attack us I glanced off to starboard and saw the USS Curtis. The Curtis was a seaplane tender and had one long barreled(50 caliber) 5 inch gun mounted on the fan tail. There was a kind of flight deck affair that was built out over the fan tail limiting the gun's elevation capabilities to about 15 degrees. A zero was making a run toward for island and was about 25 feet or so off the water. It was about 150 yards astern of the Curtis. The Curtis gunners saw this and loaded a round into the breech of the gun and locked it. The pointer and trainer had this guy in their cross hairs the pointer yelled fire! The gun captain yanked the lanyard the gun fired sending the projectile off towards the plane. It hit right where the engine connects to the fuselage, severing the engine from the plane. The engine went on by itself for quite a ways and the plane and pilot dropped into the water. You would probably expect to see something like that, the engine going along by itself, in cartoons but in real life no way!! A large cloud of black smoke came over the Maryland. I found myself right in the middle if this monster. Hold your nose close your mouth and try to breathe that was about what it was like for what seemed for ever. It began to lift a couple of minutes later. Finally things quieted down the galley sent up hot coffee and sandwiches. The sandwiches for the most part was made of tongue and the coffee was black and nasty and hot. Now I never did like tongue and I needed cream and sugar in my coffee but on this day I ate two sandwiches and had two cups of coffee. The next question was now what do we do?? |
