Ada Man Chief On Oklahoma. Captain Cullins In Charge of Ship.
Newspaper Unknown
The battleship U. S. S. Oklahoma, commissioned May 2, 1916, is in command of an Oklahoman, Capt. T. O. Cullins, 42 years old, Ada, and it was indicated that a number of Oklahoma boys are members of the ship's compliment of 1,1518 officers, sailors and marines.
Captain Cullins graduated from the United States Naval academy at Annapolis, Md., in 1921. He was appointed to the school by William H. Murray when the former governor was a member of congress.
Family in Honolulu
Captain Cullins served two years at Annapolis as an instructor and later was commander of a ship that carried President Roosevelt on his goodwill trip to Argentina.
The captain's wife and their two children, Patricia, 16, and Peter, 12, are in Honolulu. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. T. O. Cullins Sr., who live at Ada.
When the ship was launched, a delegation of Oklahoma dignitaries attended the ceremony and presented the officers' mess with a complete silver service.
Escorted Wilson
During the World war the Oklahoma saw service in American waters and later operated out of Bantry boy, on the west coast of Ireland, as a defense for U. S. transports against German raiders.
The vessel escorted the ship which carried President Wilson back from the Paris peace conference. The Oklahoma made an Australian cruise in 1925 and was a member of the battle fleet in 1927, then was in dock two years for alterations and renovation.
The ship is 583 feet long with a beam of 108 feet, and has six boilers generating about 25,000 horsepower with a speed of about 21 knots, or about 25 miles per hour. "Blisters" were added to the ship's sides as protection against mines and torpedoes; armored fighting tops were installed, along with a five-inch armor plating on decks for protection against bombing attacks.
The ship's ten 14-inch guns can fire about 20 miles. It has a battery of five-inch secondary guns, anti-aircraft batteries. It could not be learned how long the ship has been with the Pacific fleet.