USS North Carolina (BB-55)
_underway_at_sea_on_3_June_1946_(NH_97267).jpg) USS North Carolina (BB-55) off New York City, June 3, 1946
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The USS North Carolina (BB-55) was a battleship of the United States Navy and the lead ship of the North Carolina-class battleship . It was the US Navy’s first battleship to be built 13 years after the West Virginia was completed in 1923. The North Carolina served in the US Navy from 1941 to 1947 and was deployed in the Pacific theater during World War II . She took part in almost all major US Navy missions in the Pacific. Since 1962 she has been a museum ship on the banks of the Cape Fear River in Wilmington , North Carolina .
technology
For more information, see North Carolina Class # Engineering
The North Carolina was the first ship of a completely new generation of battleships, which differed massively from its predecessors due to the long construction pause due to the Washington Fleet Treaty. It is 222.1 meters long, 33 meters wide and has a draft of 8.1 meters with a displacement of 36,600 tons . The drive was carried out by four General Electric - geared turbines that their total output of 121,000 hp levies on four propellers. The maximum speed was 27.3 knots , the range was 14,200 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 15 knots.
Who was armed North Carolina with nine guns in caliber 16 inches (406 mm) caliber length 45. The guns were in three triple turrets housed two towers were on the bow, one on the back deck. The middle artillery consisted of 20 guns in caliber 5 inches (127 mm), caliber length 38, which were mounted in ten twin turrets on both sides of the superstructure. As anti-aircraft weaponry possessed the North Carolina -Flakvierlinge 1.1-inch, and 12 at putting four .50 cal - machine guns . The former proved to be unreliable, the latter too light to effectively combat aircraft. The 1.1-inch quadruplets were replaced by 40-mm guns , the machine guns by 20-mm automatic cannons . Towards the end of the war, the ship had 15 40-mm quadruplets and 36 20-mm guns.
history
Construction and commissioning
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Planning for the first battleship to be built under the terms of the Washington Naval Agreement began in 1933. On June 3, 1936, the United States Congress approved the construction of the battleship. On October 27, 1937, Navy Day , the keel was laid in the Brooklyn Navy Yard . After three years and eight months of construction, the ship was christened on June 13, 1940 by the daughter of the governor of North Carolina Clyde Hoey , Miss Isabel Young Hoey. Then the ship was launched. Ten months later, on April 9, 1941, the North Carolina was put into service under the command of Captain Olaf M. Hustvedt. The battleship had cost $ 76,885,750 to build .
As the first newly commissioned battleship in the US Navy, the North Carolina received so much attention while it was being fitted out that it was soon nicknamed "Showboat". During the test it was found that the propulsion systems caused strong vibrations when driving fast, which made some decks almost uninhabitable and threatened to destroy the sensitive radar systems . The North Carolina was one of 14 ships to receive the CXAM-1 radar system from RCA . The test drives in the Caribbean were completed at the beginning of December 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , preparations began for the battleship's military service.
South pacific
In early June 1942 the North Carolina left Norfolk for the Panama Canal . On June 10, the battleship was in the Pacific for the first time after crossing the Channel . On July 11, the battleship entered the port of Pearl Harbor, it was the first ship to arrive from the United States as reinforcement for the Pacific Fleet. The arrival of the North Carolina caused a significant increase in morale in the Pacific Fleet.
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The first combat mission led the North Carolina to Guadalcanal . On August 7, at the start of the Battle of Guadalcanal , she was the only battleship to escort the aircraft carriers USS Saratoga , USS Enterprise and USS Wasp . It secured the association against enemy surface forces and also provided air defense. During the Battle of the East Solomon Islands on August 24th and 25th, the North Carolina had its baptism of fire when it shot down at least seven Japanese aircraft and proved the suitability of fast battleships as aircraft carrier escorts. On September 15, however, the battleship was hit by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-19 , which had recently damaged the aircraft carrier Wasp so badly that it later had to be sunk. The explosion of the torpedo tore a three by ten meter hole in the port side below the forward turret. Despite the penetration of almost 1000 tons of water and a list of 5.5 °, the North Carolina remained operational and was able to continue to accompany the USS Hornet at 26 knots . Four days later, emergency repairs were carried out in Tongatabu to make the ship seaworthy for the crossing to Hawaii. On September 21st it sailed in the direction of Pearl Harbor, where the North Carolina arrived nine days later and on October 10th, the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard was in dry dock . The final repairs to the damage were completed on November 9, 1942.
After several maneuvers in Hawaiian waters, the battleship was declared operational again in mid-December and relocated to the sea area around the Solomon Islands. There it secured the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Saratoga as well as supply and troop transports in the sea area around Guadalcanal. On March 27, the North Carolina ran again in Pearl Harbor, until the end of April 1943 the ship was in dock. Anti-aircraft weapons and current radar systems were also installed on board.
Central Pacific
On May 8, the North Carolina left Hawaii with the British aircraft carrier HMS Victorious to assist the Saratoga , which at the time was the only operational American carrier in the Pacific, in securing the invasions of Bougainville , Munda , and New Georgia . This operation lasted until the end of July 1943, on September 17th the battleship returned to Pearl Harbor.
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On November 10, the next operation began, along with the aircraft carriers Enterprise , USS Yorktown , USS Lexington , USS Belleau Wood , USS Cowpens and USS Monterey , and the battleships USS Indiana and USS Massachusetts ran the North Carolina toward the Gilbert Islands from . On November 19, preparations began for the US Marines to land on Tarawa . Task Force 50 battleships fired the islands' beaches in an attempt to break enemy resistance. On December 5, the association left the sea area around the Gilbert Islands and headed for Nauru , which was shelled by the battleships on December 8. On December 12, the Union's ships entered Havannah Harbor on Efate , New Hebrides , where they stayed until Boxing Day. The association spent the turn of the year 1943/1944 maneuvering at sea, and at the beginning of January the North Carolina was back in Havannah Harbor. On January 18, Task Group 37.1 moved with the battleships North Carolina , Washington , USS South Dakota , Indiana and Massachusetts from Efatu to Funafuti , where preparations for the operation against Kwajalein began on January 20 .
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On January 23, North Carolina left Funafuti for the Marshall Islands as part of Task Group 58.5. On January 29, the aircraft carriers of Task Force 58 launched the first air strikes on Kwajalein in preparation for the battle for Kwajalein two days later . Towards evening the North Carolina sank a Japanese freighter with its main artillery in the lagoon. On the evening of February 4, the battleship entered the Majuro Atoll together with the other ships of the Fast Carrier Task Force . On February 12, the task force ran out again, this time in the direction of Truk , which was bombed from February 16 to 18 during Operation Hailstone . On February 19, the association set course in a north-easterly direction, and three days later air raids began against Saipan, Tinian and Guam. On February 26, the association returned to Majuro.
From there, the North Carolina ran out together with Task Force 50 on March 16 to secure the air strikes on Palau and Woleai on March 31 and April 1. On April 6th, the association returned to its berth in Majuro Atoll. Another mission began a week later, leading to New Guinea , where Hollandia was attacked. At the end of April, the battleship secured a massive air strike against the Japanese base on Truk, and on May 4th the ships returned to Majuro. Since the rudder of the battleship was damaged, the North Carolina ran on May 14th in the direction of Pearl Harbor, where the damage was repaired from May 19 to 23 during a dry dock stay. The ship then returned to the Majuro Atoll at the end of May.
On June 6, the North Carolina ran out to the Mariana Islands together with the battle group around the Enterprise . There she not only secured the porters against air strikes, but also fired at targets on Saipan with her artillery. From June 15, she provided fire support to the troops that landed on the island. Three days later, the battleship ran south with the aircraft carriers to face the Japanese first mobile fleet, which developed into the battle of the Philippine Sea on June 19 and 20 , which turned into a devastating defeat for the Japanese navy developed. At the beginning of July, the North Carolina then secured air strikes on Guam , which prepared the later battle for Guam . On July 7, the battleship left the Mariana Islands and ran via Eniwetok and Hawaii into Puget Sound , where it was docked on August 1 for a two-month overhaul.
Western pacific
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On October 1, work on the North Carolina was completed and it ran south to conduct initial exercises off the California coast and in the sea area around Hawaii. On November 5, she entered the Ulithi Atoll , where she rejoined the fleet. A first mission took the battleship with some aircraft carriers to the Philippines, where attacks on shipping were carried out. On November 7th and 8th, the association got into the foothills of a typhoon that passed about 45 nautical miles southwest of the association. On November 17th, the association returned to Ulithi Atoll. Another mission began on November 22nd, with aircraft of the carriers USS Essex , USS Ticonderoga and USS Langley attacking targets on Luzon on November 25th . The association returned to its berth at the beginning of December.
On December 11, 1944, the North Carolina ran out with Task Group 38.3 to support the American landing on Mindoro. From December 14-16, Task Force 38 planes carried out massive air strikes on Japanese targets in the Philippines, particularly Luzon. When the association moved east to bunker on December 17, it was caught in the severe Typhoon Cobra , which overturned three destroyers and caused serious damage to the association's ships. The operation had to be canceled and the ships of the task force returned to Ulithi on December 23.
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On December 30th, the North Carolina left the atoll for Formosa , where it secured the air strikes of Task Force 38 on Japanese targets. Targets in Indochina and China were also attacked by the association's carrier aircraft in early January 1945. On January 26, the task force returned to Ulithi. On February 10, the battleship ran out together with Task Force 58, this time the target was the Japanese main island of Honshu, which was attacked from February 17. The following day the unit ran south to secure Operation Detachment , the landing on Iwo Jima . On March 1, the North Carolina returned to Ulithi. The next mission took the ship on March 14th again off the main Japanese islands, where air strikes on Kyushu were carried out from March 18th . The following day, the aircraft carrier USS Franklin was hit by a Japanese bomb near North Carolina and badly damaged. At the end of March the association began to attack Okinawa , and on April 1st the battle for Okinawa began . Until May 1, the battleship provided fire support to the ground forces and secured the aircraft carriers against air strikes, then the North Carolina ran to Hawaii, where it anchored in Pearl Harbor on May 9. From May 25 to June 4, the battleship was in dry dock for repairs, after some training missions around Hawaii it then left the islands on June 28 in the direction of Eniwetok, where the North Carolina arrived on July 5. On the same day she ran north with Task Force 59, where air raids on the main Japanese islands were carried out from July 8 to the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945.
Post-war period and decommissioning
The association remained off the coast until the beginning of September, and on September 5, the North Carolina entered Tokyo Bay . The next day she set course for Hawaii, where she arrived on September 20th. Five days later, she set course for the Panama Canal Zone with the aircraft carriers Enterprise , USS Bataan and USS Monterey as well as the battleships USS Idaho , USS Mississippi and USS New Mexico . On October 8, the ships arrived at the Miraflores locks, where they anchored for three days. On October 11th, the association, which now also included the USS Ranger , crossed the canal and was incorporated into the Atlantic fleet. On October 12, the association set course for the US east coast, and on October 17, the North Carolina entered Boston.
After an overhaul in the New York Naval Shipyard , the battleship operated in the waters off New England and served, among other things, as a training ship for cadets of the United States Naval Academy . On June 27, 1947, the North Carolina was decommissioned and transferred to the reserve fleet in Bayonne , New Jersey .
Museum ship
In 1958 it was announced that the ship should be scrapped, whereupon a citizens' initiative was formed in the eponymous US state that wanted to keep the former battleship as a museum ship. After successful fundraising, the ship was transferred to the USS North Carolina Battleship Commission. On June 1, 1960, the North Carolina was removed from the shipping registers of the Navy, on September 6, the decommissioned warship was transferred to the State of North Carolina. At the end of September, the ship was towed from Bayonne to Wilmington, where it was moored on October 2, 1961 at its current berth on the banks of the Cape Fear River. On April 29, 1962, the ship was opened to the public as a museum ship.
Web links
- History of North Carolina in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
- Homepage of the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial (Engl.)
- North Carolina images at navsource.org
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rob Stern: US Battleships in action. Part 2 . ISBN 0-89747-157-1 . P. 17
- ↑ Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY - Sponsor and Maids of Honor: (L to R) Mrs. Charles Padgett, Miss Isabel Young Hoey (Sponsor), Mrs. Albert Robinson ( Memento September 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) at battleshipnc.com As of March 17, 2009
- ^ Battleship North Carolina, Prewar ( Memento of September 21, 2005 in the Internet Archive ), as of February 21, 2009
- ^ Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1921-1997. International battleship construction . P. 264
- ^ Battleship North Carolina, Arrival at Pearl Harbor ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), as of February 21, 2009
- ^ Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1921-1997. International battleship construction . P. 254
- ↑ Battleship North Carolina, Operations Schedule of BB55, page 12 ( September 18, 2010 memento in the Internet Archive ), as of February 21, 2009
- ^ Battleship North Carolina, Operations Schedule of BB55, page 24 ( Memento of September 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), as of February 21, 2009
- ↑ battleshipnc.com: History of BB 55 , as of February 21, 2009
- ^ Battleshipnc.com: Saving our Ship ( Memento of May 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), as of February 21, 2009
Coordinates: 34 ° 14 ′ 11 ″ N , 77 ° 57 ′ 15 ″ W.