Photo By Lauren Matakas Arita | Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility Commander Capt. Ryan...... read more read more
As part of the annual commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy and the National Park Service held a ceremony at the USS Oklahoma Memorial on Ford Island Dec. 7, 2025, honoring the Sailors and Marines who were aboard USS Oklahoma (BB 37) on the “day that will live in infamy.”
Every year, the U.S. Navy and the National Park Service jointly hold a variety of commemoration events on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Events memorialize those that lost their lives that day and honor the survivors of the attack.
During the ceremony, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility Commander Capt. Ryan D. McCrillis, remembered those who died that day.
“Although 84 years have passed, it is vital we keep their memory alive, to remember the impact of their lives and their deaths,” McCrillis said. “As we move further away from the events of that day, it may be tempting to think of the men of Oklahoma simply as a group – a statistic, rather than fathers, sons, husbands, friends, with stories unfinished. A group of dedicated people, who had chosen to serve in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, each far from home, with their own dreams and aspirations - with lives as unique, wonderful, and complicated as our own.”
PHNSY & IMF participates in the annual ceremony honoring Oklahoma and her crew due to their linked and solemn history.
Just before 8 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor where 100 warships and auxiliary ships were docked as part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The crew of Oklahoma, a Nevada-class battleship, had been preparing for an inspection and had opened all the doors and hatches. In just 12 minutes, torpedo fire caused the ship to take on water, and the open doors and hatches made the ship flood faster than if they had been closed. The attack caused the ship to capsize and turn upside down with more than 450 crew on board.
The Sailors and Marines tapped on the hull and yelled to let responders know they were still in the ship. Knowing that they could help, workers from the Navy Yard (now Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard) grabbed their equipment and their tools to figure out how to cut into the steel hull of the overturned Oklahoma. Using their skills, developed while maintaining the same ships that were just attacked, shipyard workers were able to rescue 32 people who otherwise would have been lost.
“This incredible act of courage and dedication, born from the chaos of war, is a powerful example of how everyday actions can contribute to a larger goal,” McCrillis said. “This, among many other actions carried out by the shipyard that day and in the years since, is their contribution to building peace. In that collective mindset – we honor those who fought and died to win peace. Today, each of us is charged with a duty in whatever role we have to protect our most basic beliefs of freedom and democracy.”
PHNSY & IMF’s mission is to keep the Navy’s fleet “Fit to Fight" by repairing, maintaining, and modernizing the Navy's fast-attack submarines and surface ships. Strategically located in the heart of the Pacific, it is the most comprehensive fleet repair and maintenance facility between the U.S. West Coast and the Far East.
| Date Taken: | 12.07.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.09.2025 15:05 |
| Story ID: | 553542 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 55 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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