The Pearl Harbor worker who heard faint tapping from the upside-down USS Oklahoma and helped save 32 souls

The 32-Hour Nightmare Inside the Capsized USS Oklahoma

The Pearl Harbor National Memorial holds one of the most harrowing rescue stories from December 7, 1941.

At the USS Oklahoma Memorial, 429 white marble markers honor each crew member who died when the battleship capsized after taking eight torpedo hits in just eleven minutes.

The visitor center’s “Attack” museum displays artifacts from the desperate rescue efforts that followed. But the memorial tells only part of the story.

Inside the overturned hull, 32 sailors survived a terrifying 32-hour ordeal in pitch-black compartments as civilian shipyard workers raced against time to cut them free.

Here’s the incredible story of courage both inside and outside the capsized USS Oklahoma during Pearl Harbor’s greatest rescue mission.

Sailors Left Hatches Open for Monday’s Inspection

The USS Oklahoma buzzed with activity on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941.

Sailors got ready for a Monday admiral’s inspection, leaving watertight doors and hatches open throughout the ship.

Nineteen-year-old Stephen Bower Young went to his battle station below deck in gun turret number four.

The Oklahoma sat tied up next to USS Maryland at Berth F-5. Most crew members slept in, with only the morning watch working.

Japanese Planes Struck Without Warning

Japanese torpedo bombers hit Battleship Row with deadly aim. The first torpedo smashed into Oklahoma’s port side around 7:50 AM, making the ship tilt.

Within just eleven minutes, eight more torpedoes ripped through a 250-foot section of her hull. Young and ten shipmates in gun turret number four felt the ship rolling under them.

Water rushed in through open hatches and torpedo holes, and the huge battleship began to flip over. Sailors scrambled in darkness, trying to escape.

Massive Ship Flipped Over in Minutes

Oklahoma rolled 135 degrees and settled with her masts touching the harbor bottom. The huge starboard hull and propeller now pointed up above the water.

Many sailors jumped into burning oil slicks or crawled across the rolling hull to reach the USS Maryland.

Inside the flipped ship, 429 crew members died or got trapped. Survivors found themselves in dark air pockets throughout the hull.

The quick capsizing created dozens of sealed spaces where sailors stayed alive but couldn’t escape.

Tapping Sounds Showed Sailors Still Alive

Trapped sailors grabbed wrenches and metal tools to bang SOS patterns against the hull walls. Young’s group ended up in the “Lucky Bag,” a room used for storing peacoats and personal items.

The men huddled in total darkness as water slowly rose around them. Outside, during the attack, rescuers heard faint metallic tapping coming from the flipped hull.

The sounds proved sailors were still alive inside, but reaching them seemed impossible as Japanese planes kept shooting across Pearl Harbor.

Civilian Worker Became Unlikely Hero

Hawaiian yard worker Julio DeCastro stopped when he heard the desperate tapping from inside Oklahoma’s hull.

He quickly gathered a team of Navy Yard workers with blowtorches and air tools.

Commander E. P. Kranzfelder from the USS Maryland gave ship blueprints to help DeCastro find his way through the complex interior.

The civilian team began work in dangerous conditions with nearby ships still burning and Japanese planes flying overhead.

DeCastro, a regular shipyard worker, led what would become Pearl Harbor’s greatest rescue mission.

Rescue Teams Fought Fire and Bullets

DeCastro’s crew worked through the night of December 7th using air tools and cutting torches. Their first tries with torches failed when compartments caught fire from paint and cork inside the hull.

Workers lay flat against the hull when antiaircraft fire got heavy around them. The burning USS Arizona lit up the rescue work throughout the night.

The team faced a scary problem: cutting through steel might release air pockets keeping trapped sailors alive, possibly drowning them before rescue.

Breakthrough Came After Day-Long Struggle

On the morning of December 8th, rescue teams switched to air hammers to cut through Oklahoma’s tough hull. Yard worker Joe Bulgo finally broke through to sailors trapped in the number four radio compartment.

The weak but thankful men pointed to a wall next to them and said, “There are some guys trapped in there.” DeCastro promised, “We’ll get ’em out,” and told his team to start cutting into the Lucky Bag compartment.

After 25 hours in darkness, Young and his shipmates heard rescue tools grinding against their steel prison.

Flooding Threatened Last-Minute Disaster

Each cut in the steel hull let precious air escape from the Lucky Bag compartment where Young and his shipmates waited.

Water rushed in quickly, reaching the knees of the trapped sailors who stuffed rags into openings to slow the flooding.

The men faced a scary sixty-minute race against time as Bulgo made three careful cuts in the steel wall. The trapped sailors stood on tiptoes as water kept rising around them.

Their 32-hour ordeal now came down to the most critical moments as they hoped rescuers would break through before they drowned.

Sledgehammer Smashed Through Final Barrier

“Look out for your hands, boys,” Joe Bulgo shouted before smashing the final opening with his sledgehammer.

Young and ten tired sailors crawled through the jagged hole after 32 hours of terror.

DeCastro’s team guided the men up and out of the flipped hull at 9:00 AM on December 9th. The rescued sailors squinted in pain as bright sunlight hit their eyes for the first time in more than a day.

Their skin looked ghostly white after the long darkness, and they gulped fresh air after breathing the stale air inside their steel prison.

Cheers Erupted as Survivors Emerged

Sailors aboard the USS Maryland saw the dramatic rescue and broke into cheers as each man came out of Oklahoma’s hull.

Medical teams treated the survivors for dehydration and exposure while they told their scary story. In total, DeCastro’s determined rescue saved 32 Oklahoma sailors.

The civilian yard worker became a hero right away, though he simply said he did what anyone would have done.

Tragic Calendar Marked Final Days Below

Faint tapping from other trapped sailors continued through December 10th as rescuers tried hard to reach more survivors.

More rescue attempts failed as the remaining survivors stayed trapped below the waterline in unreachable compartments.

The sounds slowly stopped as air ran out in the unreachable parts of the ship.

When workers later raised the Oklahoma, they found three sailors who had marked a calendar through December 23rd before dying.

These men had lived for more than two weeks in their dark prison before running out of air, water, and hope.

Visiting Pearl Harbor National Memorial

Pearl Harbor National Memorial is free to visit and open daily from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

To learn about the USS Oklahoma rescue mission, you’ll need to take a shuttle from the visitor center to reach the Oklahoma Memorial.

Parking costs $7 per day. Leave your bags at the storage facility near the entrance as they’re not allowed inside.

For a deeper experience, grab a spot on the free Ford Island Bus Tour (Monday, Wednesday, Friday afternoons), but you must reserve ahead.

The tour gives you access to areas where rescuers worked to free trapped sailors.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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