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 (1939-1945) WWII
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17thfabn
Ohio OH USA 		Posts: 187
Joined: 2008
Collision between USS Oklahoma & USS Arizona led to Arizona's demise?
8/27/2021 2:19:14 PM
On 22 October 1941 the USN battleships Oklahoma and Arizona collided during naval exercises. The USS Arizona took the brunt of the damage. 

I'm currently reading "To Wake the Giant" by Jeff Shaara, a historical novel about the build up to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. Over all a good book. Per his narrative the USS Arizona was due to be in dry dock in Washington State in December 1941. Due to the damage from the collision repairs were made in Hawaii and the trip to Washington was delayed. If so the October accident indirectly ended up with the destruction of the USS Arizona . Would some other ship have been the victim if the USS Arizona was not there on that December day?

One nagging error Mr. Shaara makes several times in the book. He refers to the War Department as if it was the parent of the Department of Defense and had control of the Navy. The War Department for most of its life controlled only the U.S. Army and before the establishment of the Department of Defense the U.S. Army Corp or Army Air Forces. The War Department was split into the Department of Army and the Department of airdales. There was no equivalent of the Department of Defense as a civilian headed agency in that era. 
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Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy.
Jim Cameron
Ossining NY USA 		Posts: 969
Joined: 2005
Collision between USS Oklahoma & USS Arizona led to Arizona's demise?
8/27/2021 9:37:55 PM
Only if literally every other event took place precisely as in the actual event. Including the bomb runs, bomb drops, and, a substantially identical ship in Arizona's berth. The destruction of the Arizona required a very specific set of circumstances.
Put another way, there's no way of knowing.
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Jim Cameron Every time I go to Gettysburg, I learn two things. Something new, and, how much I still don't know.
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