Petty Officer 3rd Class Kristofer Piros and state Rep. Gary Banz listen during the Aug. 16 TMA luncheon as USS Oklahoma survivor Paul Goodyear describes the Pearl Harbor attack. (Photo by Dave Faytinger)

Base association remembers USS Oklahoma
Kandis West - Staff Writer, Tinker Takeoff

Tinker Management Association members were taken back to Dec. 7,1941, at this month’s luncheon

District 101 Oklahoma State Rep. Gary Banz interviewed 89-year-old Paul Goodyear, a crew member aboard USS Oklahoma during the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor.

Mr. Goodyear, then a 23-year-old signalman third class and supervisor of the signal watch, witnessed the first Japanese bombs strike the sea plane hanger on Ford Island, he said.

"The Oklahoma was a happy ship. It was always considered good duty to be on the Oklahoma," said. Mr. Goodyear

The USS Oklahoma, also known as the BB-37, suffered the second highest number of causalities, 429, of all nine ships in the harbor. USS Arizona lost 1,177 crew members

Mr. Goodyear explained how an unusual course of events left the harbor exposed. He said they weren’t even supposed to be there.

"We went for a training session in 1940 and somebody in Washington decided we would stay there," he said.

Mr. Goodyear said Adm. James Richardson, U.S. Fleet commander-in-chief until February 1941, didn’t want to be there and neither did the crew members because it was not a home port, therefore Sailors couldn’t bring their families.

As the weekend approached in that first week of December 1941, the officer in tactical command ordered all ships to the harbor, which was unusual, Mr. Goodyear said, because normally only certain ships were ordered to the harbor.

The USS Oklahoma had orders to have an admiral inspection. On Friday night, the crew began preparing for the inspection, including opening a series of water tight doors and hatches that compartmentalize the ship and protect the vessel from total damage if one section is struck.

"Everything in our ship was opened up, including our torpedo blisters," Mr. Goodyear said. "Instead of being a combat ship, we became an eggshell."