KIRKPATRICK-THOMAS

FIRST  NAVY  CHAPLAIN  TO  DIE  IN  WWII

Thomas L. Kirkpatrick was born on July 5, 1887, in Cozad, Nebraska.  He was appointed by the Navy an Acting Chaplain on February 19, 1918, and after several short assignments was transferred to the battleship USS NORTH DAKOTA (BB-29) on June 24, 1919.  During the next 20 years he served on the battleship USS UTAH (BB-31), armored cruiser USS PITTSBURGH (CA-4) and aircraft carrier USS SARATOGA (CV-3) in addition to duty at Samoa from 1935 to 1937.  He reported to his last duty station aboard USS ARIZONA (BB-39) on September 13, 1940, and while aboard was promoted to the rank of Captain on July 1, 1941.

On the fateful morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, Chaplain Kirkpatrick was nearing the end of his Navy career and was reportedly in the wardroom of ARIZONA with some of his fellow officers enjoying a cup of coffee when the Japanese attack commenced against the fleet moored in Pearl Harbor.  Presumably, when general quarters sounded with the announcement, “THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” he rushed to his battle station on the same deck in the nearby sickbay to minister to any casualties.  Within minutes after the attack began the last Japanese bomb to fall on ARIZONA likely penetrated the armored deck near the ammunition magazines located in the forward section of the ship.  While not enough of the ship is still intact to judge the exact location, its effects are indisputable.  About seven seconds after the bomb hit, the forward magazines detonated in a cataclysmic explosion, mostly venting through the sides of the ship and destroying much of the interior structure of the forward part of the ship.  In an instant Chaplain Kirkpatrick, along with 1,176 other crewmembers, was killed of the 1,512 crewmen on board at the time.  On December 5, 1941, Chaplain Kirkpatrick prophetically wrote to his friend and fellow chaplain aboard USS NORTH CAROLINA, “This is a tense week with us out here, and before you get this it will be decided one way or another, doubtless.”

In his honor the USS KIRKPATRICK (DE-318/DER-318) was commissioned in October 1943 and served until decommissioned in June 1960.  CAPT Kirkpatrick became the first Navy Chaplain to be killed during World War II and lies forever entombed in the remains of ARIZONA on the bottom of Pearl Harbor.  During exploration of the sunken battleship the desk clock from Chaplain Kirkpatrick’s quarters was recovered and presented to his family.  In 1996 his son donated the clock for permanent display at the Arizona Memorial Museum in Honolulu.  The clock is pretty much intact except for the face and will forever tell the time at which it stopped – 8:04:35.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)