011 - The Courageous Chaplain

Father Aloysius Schmitt [USS Oklahoma]
.

Within moments after the initial bomb blast, the USS Oklahoma was destined a miserable fate. Battleship Row was actually set in two rows of ships. The inboard row, located closest to Ford Island, was largely protected from torpedo attack. In turn, those ships on the outside, the Battleships Oklahoma and West Virginia, were directly exposed to the harbor, which meant they were most susceptible to torpedo attack.
.
It became apparent to the sailors of the Oklahoma in the first minutes of war as three torpedoes pierced her hull. In the second torpedo run, the Oklahoma took another pair of torpedoes n the side and within the next ten minutes, she had completely capsized. Only the main mast that scraped the shallow bottom kept her from sinking completely. Meanwhile, sailors from the Oklahoma who had abandoned ship began swimming towards the Maryland and joined in the battle. The unlucky few floated lifelessly on the surface in the spilled fuel oil and debris. Meanwhile, survivors trapped inside the overturned ship looked for any way out.
.
Among those survivors trapped inside the Oklahoma, Father Aloysius Schmitt helped others through a meager porthole while he stayed behind. Even when it was his turn, he stayed behind to find others. In all, he was responsible for saving the lives of twelve men. Meanwhile, dozens of others were trapped, too. The sounds of wrenches and pistols and any available hunk of metal banging on the hull signaled a person struggling to escape the sunken Oklahoma. In the murky darkness of the ship, the survivors hoped someone would hear them. However, the sounds of war erupted all around them as bombs continued to explode overhead. For the trapped survivors, all hope was lost.
.