USS Oklahoma Memorial, Pearl Harbor. Photo: Wally Gobetz.

U.S.S. Oklahoma Memorial, a memorial dedicated to the 429 sailors and Marines who lost their lives when the USS Oklahoma sunk during the 1941 strike on Pearl Harbor, was completed in 2007, more than 65 years since the Japanese attack.

14 Marines and 415 Sailors Remembered

The $1.2 million black granite and white marble memorial was dedicated Dec. 7, 2007. The names of those who lost their lives when the ship rolled over at its mooring on Battleship Row and sunk — her masts and superstructure jammed into the mud on the bottom of Pearl Harbor — are engraved in black granite on 429 individual white marble columns, each of which is 7 feet tall and weighs 120 pounds.

Less than two-thirds of the crew escaped. The death toll was topped only by the USS Arizona’s 1,177 casualties.

USS Oklahoma Was Salvaged and Lost Again

In 1942, the Navy created a plan to salvage the ship. Righting the huge vessel was a massive job. It was pulled from the water by more than 20 electric street car motors connected by cables to the hull of the ship. The ship was finally floated in early November 1943, and the bodies of the 429 casualties were recovered for burial.

But the USS Oklahoma went down again, this time for the last time. The ship was under tow to Oakland, California, when it developed a list and sank at sea. She rests somewhere on the bottom, 540 miles northeast of the Hawaiian Islands.

USS Oklahoma 1940s Salvage Photos

USS Oklahoma- Salvage – Personnel after work in #2 section of main air bubble showing equipment, including face masks with air supply, battery powered miners lights and small air cyliners for emergency supply, 12/11/1942. Photo: Marion Doss.

USS Oklahoma- Salvage; Aerial view looking forward on inshore side with ship in 40 degree positon , 03/28/1943. Photo: Marion Doss.

USS Oklahoma- Salvage- Aerial view of starboard side looking forward showing ship in 17 degree position during righting , 04/07/1943. Photo: Marion Doss.