USS Oklahoma memorial dedicated at Pearl Harbor

HONOLULU (AP) _ The USS Oklahoma officially remembered with a permanent exhibit nearly 63 years after it sank during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. <br/><br/>Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole joined

Monday, December 6th 2004, 12:28 pm

By: News On 6

HONOLULU (AP) _ The USS Oklahoma officially remembered with a permanent exhibit nearly 63 years after it sank during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole joined other officials from Oklahoma at the Arizona Memorial visitors center, where the memorial for their state's namesake battleship was dedicated.

On December 7th, 1941, Japanese torpedoes ripped the Oklahoma's port side stem to stern. Within 20 minutes the old battleship rolled almost completely over, trapping hundreds of sailors in the ship's hull.

More than 400 crewmen lost their lives, the second-highest number of casualties on one ship during the attack.

The Oklahoma was refloated in 1943 and sold for scrap after the war. But the ship sank in the Pacific while being towed to California.