USS Maryland (BB-46)
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The USS Maryland was a battleship of the Colorado class of the United States Navy . She was the first ship of this class (which is therefore also often referred to as the Maryland class) and the third ship in the US Navy to receive this name. The battleship was named after the state of Maryland . The Maryland was approved under the US Navy Act of August 29, 1916 and was commissioned on December 15, 1916 under the registration number BB-46. The keel-laying of the ship at the shipyard of Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News ( Virginia ) took place on 24 April 1917th After being launched on March 20, 1920, it was put into service on July 21, 1921.
Technology and special features
The Maryland and her sister ships were the first American battleships to be planned and equipped with 16-inch guns, making units of this type second in the world for use of this caliber (the first ship to use the entered service with 16-inch guns, the Japanese battleship Nagato had been, which was completed only about eight months before the Maryland ). At the time of its commissioning, the Maryland was the most powerful battleship in the US Navy.
The Maryland was also the first American battleship to receive a catapult for seaplanes in 1922 , which was installed on the Schanz and remained in service until the end of the war. In 1923, a second catapult was installed on the ceiling of the aft tower C, which was in use until 1942, but was then removed. There were mostly three float planes on board, including machines of the types Vought VE-9H (1920s) and Vought OS2U (from 1941).
In addition, this ship was the first of its class to be equipped with torpedo bulges on both sides, each around 1.6 m wide. In addition, the characteristic round lattice masts of the Maryland (and also those of the sister ships) were shortened or completely rebuilt in the course of the Second World War. The aft lattice mast of the Maryland was shortened to the level of the chimneys in early 1942 and completely dismantled at the end of 1943. In its place was a multi-storey and massive tower structure, which accommodated radar antennas, light anti-aircraft guns and searchlights.
Artillery armament
The total of eight 40.6 cm guns of the Mark 1 L / 45 type were housed in four twin towers, each weighing around 880 tons, with two towers being installed in front of and behind the main superstructure. The guns of the main artillery were able to fire a 957.1 kg armor-piercing projectile over a maximum distance of about 31,300 m. The rate of fire was around 1.5 rounds per minute. Both pipes in the twin towers were in separate compartments and were separated from each other by fireproof bulkheads.
Between 1936 and 1938, the guns of the Colorado -class ships were revised as part of a general modernization of the US battle fleet, with the name of the 40.6-cm cannons changed to Mark 5 with the same barrel length (L / 45). These guns were able to fire a newly developed and introduced 40.6 cm AP (armor piercing) Mark 5 tank shell, which weighed 1,016 kilograms. The range was also increased to around 35,000 m, which was achieved by increasing the elevation range. As a result of the renovations, the weight of the towers increased to around 920 tons. In the course of the Second World War , a thin-walled (and therefore not armor-piercing) grenade with a larger explosive charge was used to bombard land targets. This grenade, also known as the HC ("high capacity") Mark 13, weighed only 862 kilograms, but had about four times as much explosives as the AP grenade.
From the time of commissioning, there were also 14 individually set up 12.7 cm guns (L / 51) from 1911 on board, with seven guns on each side of the superstructure (six of them in casemates , one in an open carriage setup below the bridge). However, since they could not be used for air defense, these guns were gradually expanded and replaced by more modern ones. The air defense initially consisted of only eight older 3-inch cannons. From 1929 on there were only ten 12.7 cm casemate guns on board the Maryland , but eight additional 12.7 cm multi-purpose guns Mark 10 L / 25 were installed individually on board (which included the 7.6 cm cannons replace). After repairing the damage sustained at Pearl Harbor , these eight guns were in turn replaced by eight more modern 12.7 cm multi-purpose guns Mark 12 L / 38. In the summer of 1945, shortly before the end of the war, all 12.7 cm guns on board were removed and replaced by a total of 16 12.7 cm Mark 12 guns in eight twin towers; Four towers stood on either side of the superstructure.
During the Second World War, the Maryland's light and medium air defense also experienced constant reinforcement. By 1945 this grew to a total of 40 40-mm anti-aircraft guns (in ten quad mounts) and 37 20-mm cannons (in individual installation). At times, before these were replaced by 40-mm tubes, there were also twelve 28-mm anti-aircraft guns (from 1938) and eight heavy 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns (from around 1935 to 1942) on board.
Machine system
The Maryland had eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers connected to two General Electric geared turbines . These transmitted the power to two double-phase generators (each with 5,424 kW ), which in turn drove four screw shafts via interposed electric motors. According to the planning, a total of 28,900 PS ( PSe ) would have been available on four screws , which would have been sufficient for a top speed of 21 knots (approx. 39 km / h).
During test drives, the machine system achieved an output of 36,167 hp, which means that the output was a good 25 percent above the planning specifications. However, this did not result in any appreciable gain in speed: even when driving for miles, the highest speed that the Maryland had ever reached was 21.17 knots. The total weight of the drive system was 2,034 tons.
The machine system was largely considered to be fully developed and had the advantages that, on the one hand, separate turbine controls were not required for reversing (which saved space, which in turn enabled a better expansion of the underwater protection) and, on the other hand, that all screws were still activated in the event of a generator failure could be (and thus no braking effect was created by no longer turning screws). In addition, compared to conventional turbine circuits, the generators allowed the output (and thus also the speed) to be reduced or increased relatively quickly, which was an advantage in dangerous situations, such as an impending collision. The disadvantage, however, was that you had to work with a lot of electricity, which - especially in the event of a water ingress - could lead to dangerous moments for the operating crew.
Armor
The tank scheme largely corresponded to that of the previous Tennessee class . The only major concession was the increase in the thickness of the side armor from 356 to 406 mm (whereby the armor thickness corresponded to the caliber of the main guns of the respective class). As part of conversions and modernizations, the armored deck was reinforced from 89 mm to 102 mm during the Second World War. In addition, the protection of the navigating bridge was increased from 381 mm to 406 mm (1942).
Overall, the ship was considered to be well protected, in particular the three torpedo bulkheads arranged on both sides (each 19 mm thick, which took up about 6.6 m of space on both sides) ensured good protection against underwater hits, which the surpassed many other battleships of the time.
Working time
After the commissioning of the Maryland , under the command of Captain Charles F. Preston, initially undertook training trips along the US east coast. At the end of 1921, the ship was finally incorporated into the US Atlantic fleet .
Pre-war period
In the summer of 1922, the ship took part in the celebrations of the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17) and the US National Day on July 4 in Boston . Between August and September 1922, the battleship transported the then American Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes to the opening of the World's Fair in Rio de Janeiro . After returning , after several months of maneuvering in the Caribbean , the Maryland moved through the Panama Canal in June 1923 and joined the American Pacific Fleet on the west coast.
During 1925, the Maryland made several voyages in the Pacific, visiting New Zealand and Australia , among others . In 1928, the newly elected (but not yet sworn in) US President Herbert Hoover embarked on board the ship and undertook a visitor trip to Central America . This was followed by a stay in the shipyard in 1928/29, during which the first modifications to the air defense were made (among other things, the old 7.6 cm anti-aircraft guns came off board).
The 1930s spent the ship relatively uneventful in the Pacific Fleet, with mainly maneuvering activities and occasional shipyard stays (for the purpose of further anti-aircraft retrofitting) shaped the existence. The growing tensions in the American-Japanese relationship and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 induced the American naval command to relocate the Maryland and the core of the US battle fleet to Pearl Harbor on Oahu ( Hawaii ) in late 1940 . There the ship was surprised by the Japanese attack in December 1941 .
Missions 1941: Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Maryland was anchored on Battleship Row off Ford Island . The ship lay next to the battleship USS Oklahoma , which shielded the Maryland from the seaside so that it was protected from attacks with air torpedoes. Almost all the torpedoes dropped in this area hit the Oklahoma , which capsized after five or six hits and sank with over 400 men on board.
However, during the first wave of Japanese attacks, the Maryland was hit by high-flying Nakajima B5N bombers with two armor-piercing 800-kilogram bombs. Both bombs hit the forecastle. The first penetrated the armored deck and two decks below and exploded in the third tween deck . This tore a hole about 50 cm in diameter and five additional smaller holes, each about 7 to 8 cm in diameter, in the hull (about 7 m below the waterline). Overall, this hit caused a water ingress of around 1,000 tons in the forecastle. The second bomb hit the front twin turret of the heavy artillery, breached the armored deck and exploded inside the ship. This caused considerable damage: the upper deck was devastated (among other things, a nearly 22 m² hole was torn in the deck), the front tower damaged (by splinters), and inside most of the bulkheads and partition doors between sections 9 and 20 were torn out or bent so that they had to be replaced. The force of the detonations, however, was somewhat lessened by the fact that several rooms with life jackets and food were destroyed and the pressure waves were partially absorbed.
Targeted counter-flooding (around 540 tons of water) reduced the bow from around 1.5 m to only around 0.5 m. In addition to the damage caused by the bomb hits, there was also damage from close-range hits, gunfire and oil fires (from other ships hit). One of the 12.7 cm guns failed due to splinter damage, burned out several pumps and compressors and two radar antennas were torn down. In total, the crew had four dead (two officers and two crew ranks) and 13 wounded.
In the course of the attack, the Maryland air defense , which fired a total of 450 12.7 cm grenades, 4,500 rounds of 28 mm ammunition and around 2,500 rounds of machine-gun ammunition, managed to shoot down at least two, possibly three Japanese aircraft. Seaman 1st Class Leslie V. Short managed in the first minutes of the attack to shoot down a Japanese torpedo bomber , which had previously attacked the Oklahoma , with his 12.7 mm MG as it passed over the Maryland . Short had written postcards for the Christmas days next to his combat station and had been by chance next to his Fla-MG before the actual alarm was triggered.
For fear of a Japanese landing on Hawaii immediately following the attack, the Maryland was kept ready for 48 hours in spite of the damage suffered , in order to be able to fight any new attacks or a landing.
Missions in 1942: Midway and Fiji
The damage caused by the bombing was provisionally repaired in Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Subsequently, the Maryland moved to the US west coast in late December and was completely repaired there by the end of February 1942 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard . There were no major modifications here, as the Navy wanted the ship to be ready for use again as soon as possible. From the end of May 1942, the Maryland , together with the older battleships USS Tennessee , USS Colorado and USS Mississippi, some of which were also damaged in Pearl Harbor, but now repaired , formed the Task Force (TF), which was newly established in spring 1942 and stationed in San Francisco . 1 (Vice Admiral William S. Pye ).
In June 1942, Task Force 1 indirectly participated in the Battle of Midway and acted about 1,400 nautical miles west of San Francisco as a long-range coverage group to which the US fleet should retreat in the event of a defeat. After the American victory in this battle, the Maryland and Colorado moved to Samoa and towards the Fiji Islands. There the battleships acted until the end of November 1942 as security units for the Allied supply and convoy routes in the direction of Australia and the Solomon Islands .
Operations in 1943: Tarawa
After a brief mission in the New Hebrides in February 1943, the Maryland marched back to Pearl Harbor at the end of February and was there, after almost ten months of uninterrupted use, subjected to an extensive, almost seven-month overhaul. Numerous additional 40 mm anti-aircraft guns were installed on board.
In October 1943, the ship returned to the Southwest Pacific and took in November 1943, as flagship of Task Force 53 ( Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill ) and the commander of the 2nd US Marine Division , Major-General Julian C. Smith , aboard , participated in the US offensive against the Gilbert Islands ( Operation Galvanic ). The Maryland shelled the hard-fought island of Betio ( Tarawa- Atoll) for five days from November 20 . After the island was conquered, the battleship moved back to the US west coast in early December 1943.
Missions in 1944: Kwajalein, Saipan, Peleliu and the battle in the Leyte Gulf
After an overhaul in San Pedro , the Maryland went back to sea in January 1944 and rejoined Task Force 53 in late January. After a bombardment off Kwajalein as part of Operation Flintlock , in which the Maryland came within 500 meters of the coastline, the battleship had to relocate again to the US west coast in February 1944, as the artillery tubes were partly shot out. These were exchanged at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard ( Bremerton ) by the end of April 1944 .
Detached to Task Group (TG) 52.17 (Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf ) in June 1944, which consisted mostly of older battleships , the Maryland took part in the attack on Saipan from June 14, 1944 . On June 15, the battleship successfully fired at Japanese fortifications and destroyed two 15 cm guns. On June 22nd, while the Maryland was anchored off Garapan (west coast of Saipan) together with the battleship USS Pennsylvania , a twin-engine Mitsubishi G4M torpedo bomber approaching over the nearby mountains broke through the anti-aircraft fire at low altitude and dropped a torpedo. This hit the bow of the Maryland on the port side and tore a hole through both sides. Two men of the crew were killed.
The surprise attack ended the ship's use off Saipan. Although the damage in the bow area was considerable , since the front collision bulkhead stopped, the Maryland was able to move independently at a top speed of around 10 knots first to Eniwetok and later to Pearl Harbor, where the necessary repairs were carried out.
In mid-August 1944, the Maryland was ready for action again and joined Rear Admiral Oldendorf's battleship association with the Solomon Islands (now renamed Task Group 32.5). With this, the ship took part in the Battle of Peleliu from September 12 to 15, 1944 and again provided fire support against land targets. A total of 519 40.6 cm shells were fired on the island, which was only 16 km² in size. Immediately afterwards, the battleship was transferred to the 7th US Fleet (Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid ) in order to be able to be used in the ongoing US offensive against the Philippines . The ship, together with five other older battleships, eight cruisers and 21 destroyers, formed Task Group 77.2 (again under the command of Rear Admiral Oldendorf).
After the US troops landed on Leyte on October 20, 1944, the Japanese fleet launched a large-scale counterattack, which resulted in the sea and air battle in the Leyte Gulf . Task Group 77.2 caught the approaching Japanese southern group (Vice Admiral Shōji Nishimura ) in the early morning hours of October 25 in the Strait of Surigao , which included the two battleships Yamashiro and Fusō . The numerically superior US ships equipped with radar could almost completely wipe out the Japanese association, which was also in a so-called Crossing the T position. The Maryland opened fire on the Japanese top ships at 3:59 a.m. and fired a total of 48 16-inch shells by 4.17 a.m. It was the last artillery battle between battleships in naval warfare. Both Japanese battleships and four other ships of Nishimura's armed forces were sunk.
The Task Group then moved 77.2 to the south exit of Surigao Street and performed security services there during the ongoing fighting in the Philippines. The ships were exposed to strong Japanese air raids from the end of November 1944. On November 27th alone, the ships of Task Group 77.2 shot down eleven aircraft. However, at dusk on November 29, a kamikaze broke through the flak fire and lunged at the Maryland . The aircraft hit the ceiling of the forward artillery tower, exploded between towers A and B, killing a total of 31 crew members. Although both towers remained operational, the explosion caused significant damage to the light and medium anti-aircraft weapons on the upper deck. At the beginning of December 1944, the Maryland was therefore removed from the fleet and detached again to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
Missions 1945: Okinawa and Operation Magic Carpet
After the repair work, which lasted around three months, the Maryland returned to the fleet and participated in the offensive against Okinawa from March 21, 1945 (as part of Task Force 54) , with the ship firing on land targets on the island for the first time on March 25 . During one of these bombardment missions, however, the Maryland was hit again on April 7th by a kamikaze. This was also loaded with a 250-kilogram bomb, which exploded on the ceiling of the eighth cantilevered tower C. Again the damage was considerable and almost all light and medium anti-aircraft weapons in the vicinity of the tower were destroyed; 53 crew members, mostly operating teams, were also killed.
The Maryland then moved back to Bremerton to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where she arrived on May 7, 1945. In a major renovation that lasted until August 1945, all individually set up 12.7 cm anti-aircraft guns were removed and replaced by 16 12.7 cm Mark 12 guns in eight twin turrets. This conversion was hardly worth it, however, since the Second World War ended on September 2, 1945 with the capitulation of Japan . As a result, the converted battleship did not take part in any further combat missions.
Between August and December 1945, however, the ship made a total of four trips to the Pacific and transported around 9,000 US soldiers back home as part of the Operation Magic Carpet troop return mission.
Post-war and scrapping
After returning from the last transport operation on December 17, 1945, the Maryland was initially held for a few months in Bremerton in readiness, but then on April 15, 1946 initially transferred to the reserve. After the subsequent decommissioning on April 3, 1947, there was hesitation in scrapping, as the ship had only been completely modernized in 1945 and was still in relatively good condition. For this reason, the Maryland remained in the mothballed state in the reserve fleet until early 1959. Only on July 8, 1959, the ship was sold to the Learner Company in Oakland . This had the battleship scrapped from August 1959 at the Todd Pacific Shipyard in San Pedro .
literature
- Breyer, Siegfried: Battleships and battle cruisers 1905 to 1970 . JF Lehmanns publishing house, Munich 1970.
- Stefan Terzibaschitsch : US Navy battleships in World War II . Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Bonn 2001.
