USS Oglala ( CM - 4 ) USS " Oglala " ( ID - 1255 / CM - 4 / ARG - 1 ) was a minelayer in the United States Navy . Commissioned as " Massachusetts " , she was renamed " Shawmut " a month later , and in 1928 was renamed for the Oglala , a sub - tribe of the Lakota , residing in the Black Hills of South Dakota . She was originally built as Eastern Steamship Company ' s SS " Massachusetts " by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , in 1907 for overnight coastal passenger steamer service through the Cape Cod Canal and Long Island Sound between Boston , Massachusetts and New York City . After the United States entered World War I " Massachusetts " and her sister ship " Bunker Hill " were among the eight civilian steamships purchased to lay the North Sea Mine Barrage . World War I . The Navy converted the two passenger steamships at the Boston Navy Yard with decks to improve seaworthiness as mine planter s . The ship was commissioned as " Massachusetts " ( ID - 1255 ) , on 7 December 1917 , and renamed " Shawmut " on 7 January 1918 . She steamed to Britain in June 1918 and spent the rest of World War I helping lay the anti - submarine mine barrage across the North Sea by : " Shawmut " laid a total of 2 , 970 anchored mines while under command of Captain Wat Tyler Cluverius , Jr . , USN . Captain Cluverius had been a midshipman aboard at Havana Harbor . In December 1918 , " Shawmut " returned to the United States . Seaplane tender and minelayer . Through the next two decades , she served as an seaplane tender and minelayer , receiving the hull number CM - 4 in 1920 . To avoid verbal confusion with , she was renamed " Oglala " on 1 January 1928 . At about the same time , she was given new boilers and other modifications , changing her appearance from two smokestacks to one . " Oglala " was flagship of the 1934 Aleutian Islands Survey Expedition . Despite many recognized deficiencies resulting from her civilian origins and advanced age , " Oglala " served as the Fleet ' s principal minelayer into the early 1940s under the command of Captain John L . Collis USN . Captain Collis was awarded the Legion of Merit as commander of a minelaying division in the Solomon Islands during World War II . When the Japan ese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 , she suffered underwater damage from nearby bomb and torpedo explosions , gradually rolled onto her port side and sank . 7 December 1941 . On the morning of 7 December 1941 USS " Oglala " , flagship of the Pacific Fleet Mine Force , was tied up outboard of the light cruiser . They were alongside Pier 1010 at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard , with an eight - foot floating cushion ( camel ) between them . Japanese torpedo planes of the first attack wave hit the cruiser with a single torpedo , which ran under " Oglala " to hit " Helena " s starboard side . The torpedo ' s explosion broke through the minelayer ' s port bilge amidships , and she rapidly took on water . A bomb that burst nearby caused further damage . The " Oglala " ' s hull had the marginal watertight integrity typical of older ships ; as a result , the flooding could not be contained . When it became clear that she might sink , " Oglala " was moved aft of " Helena " , so she would not pin the warship against the dock . About two hours after receiving her initial damage , she rolled over to port and sank beside 1010 dock . There " Oglala " became the object of a prolonged , and ultimately successful , salvage effort . Salvage , 1942 . Though " Oglala " was originally evaluated as a total loss , with the only salvage goal being to clear valuable pier space , it was ultimately decided to fully recover and repair the ship . The salvage effort was complex work , with the inherent difficulties of righting and refloating a capsized ship compounded by " Oglala ' s " poor stability . Fifteen to eighteen divers were kept busy for nearly 2000 underwater hours during the salvage , patching her hull , rigging chains , cutting away unwanted structure and executing many other tasks . After her tophamper had been removed , ten salvage pontoons were used to pull the ship upright while air was pumped into her to lighten the load . The first parbuckling ( or righting ) attempt , made on 11 April 1942 , failed when several connecting chains parted . However , a second try succeeded twelve days later . " Oglala " was now upright , but still mostly underwater . A large wooden cofferdam was built around the edges of her decks to allow water to be removed from her interior . The ship was refloated in June , but resank on 25 – 26 June when the failure of a pump led to cascading flooding in her forward hull . Afloat again on 29 June , she promptly went down for a third time when the cofferdam failed . After another raising , a serious fire on 2 July nearly produced a fourth resubmergence . However , the next day " Oglala " was finally drydocked , completing a job that became a legend among marine salvors . She received temporary repairs during much of the rest of 1942 and , in December , left Pearl Harbor for the U . S . west coast , there to be refurbished for active service . 1943 - 1965 . Through 1943 and into 1944 , the old ship was permanently repaired and converted to an internal combustion engine repair ship . She was redesignated ARG - 1 in May 1943 and recommissioned at the end of February 1944 . After arriving at Milne Bay , New Guinea , in April 1944 , " Oglala " began tending patrol , mine and landing craft . She shifted her base to Hollandia , New Guinea , in July and to Leyte , Philippine Islands , in December 1944 . Returning to the U . S . west coast in early 1946 , " Oglala " was decommissioned in July of that year and transferred to Maritime Commission custody . She remained a depot ship at Benicia , California for the Suisun Bay National Defense Reserve Fleet until September 1965 , when she was sold to Joffee Shipbreakers of Richmond , California for scrapping .