USS South Dakota (BB-57)

USS South Dakota (BB-57)

BB-57 off Norfolk, 1943

Ship data flag  United States Ship type Battleship class South Dakota class Shipyard New York Shipbuilding Keel laying July 5, 1939 Launch June 7, 1941 Commissioning March 20, 1942 Decommissioning January 31, 1947 Whereabouts Wrecked in 1962

Ship dimensions and crew length 210 m ( Lüa ) width 33 m Draft Max. 11.10 m displacement 35,000  ts   crew 2,364

Machine system machine 4 steam turbines Machine performance 130,000 SHP Top speed 27.8 kn (51 km / h) propeller 4 propellers

Armament 1942: 3 × 3 16 "guns (16 inches L / 45) 8 × 2 5 "guns (12.7 cm L / 38) 2 × 4 40 mm anti-aircraft guns 7 × 4 28 mm flak 34 × 20 mm MK 8 × Cal. 50 MG Armor Belt armor: 310 mm Deck: 135 mm Main turrets Front: 457 mm

Furnishing Aircraft capacity 3 Vought OS2U

The South Dakota was a battleship of the United States Navy and the lead ship of the South Dakota-class battleship . She served in the US Navy from 1942 to 1947 and was used primarily in the Pacific theater of war during World War II . It was scrapped in 1962.

history

Planning and construction

Main article: South Dakota class

While the construction had already been decided on May 17, 1938 in the second Vinson Act by the US Congress , the contract for the construction was in December 1939. The South Dakota was on July 5, 1939 in Camden (New Jersey) on the facilities of New York Shipbuilding Corporation laid down. It was launched on June 7, 1941 after it was baptized by Vera Bushfield , wife of Harlan J. Bushfield , Governor of South Dakota. The construction cost was around 73 million US dollars. In contrast to the other ships of the class, South Dakota only carried 16 12.7 cm guns, as it was equipped as a fleet flagship and this high additional weight had to be compensated for.

First use

The South Dakota ran through the Panama Canal into the Pacific on August 21, 1942 . She reached Tonga in early September . After ramming a coral reef on September 4th , she first moved to Pearl Harbor for necessary repairs . Before leaving Tonga, she had to dismantle 1,000 of her 5-inch grenades and some of her fuel. Severe damage to the hull was found in Pearl Harbor, the repair of which continued until October 12, 1942. Two of their 28 mm anti-aircraft guns were replaced by 40 mm weapons, and they also received two more 40 mm anti-aircraft quadruplets and eight more Cal. 50 machine guns , which were later replaced by 20 mm weapons, so that then 57 20-mm-MK formed the backbone of their air defense.

It was initially assigned to TF 16, the core of which was the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise . The task force was supposed to support TF 17, which was deployed against Japanese naval units in the waters around Guadalcanal . On October 25, the Combined Fleet Association (now as TF 61) received the order to intercept a Japanese fleet of aircraft carriers that was approaching Guadalcanal.

South Dakota during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 26, 1942

Main article: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

During the developing duel between the aircraft carriers and their air fleets, the South Dakota was deployed near the Enterprise , fighting Japanese aircraft. In the course of the battle, the battleship received a direct hit from a Japanese 250 kg bomb on the roof of turret  A, but this did not cause any critical damage. Only the commander, Captain Thomas L. Gatch, was wounded by splinters because he was outside the armored bridge. The air defense of South Dakota shot in the course of the day from 26 enemy planes.

In the early morning of October 30, the South Dakota collided with the destroyer USS Mahan while attempting to evade a reported submarine . The destroyer was badly damaged and the battleship slightly damaged. On November 11th it was operational again and ran from Nouméa to Guadalcanal. Together with the Washington and four destroyers, she formed the TF 64 combat group.

Battle of Guadalcanal

Main article: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

Aided by moonlight, it was possible on the bridge of the South Dakota to optically record the first enemy contact at a distance of almost 16,000 meters. Their main guns opened fire on the closest enemy contact. The crew observed hits and fires on the target. It continued to be tracked and shot at by radar before disappearing from screens. Tower C of the South Dakota fired over the stern at another contact and destroyed its own reconnaissance aircraft parked on the quarterdeck by the pressure wave , so that they caught fire. The pressure wave of the next volley threw the burning aircraft wreckage overboard and extinguished most of the fires. The first difficulties arose here, because the vibration when the main artillery was fired led to disturbances in the ship's electrical systems.

A short time later, the radar recognized other enemy ships that had already approached within five kilometers. The advantage that the radar should actually have provided was neutralized because the Japanese ships had approached the island of Savo under protection, which initially made it impossible to detect them on the radar screens, which were also repeatedly disturbed by power fluctuations. The enemy fleet locked on the South Dakota with their searchlights , and it was hit by concentrated gunfire from the Japanese battleship Kirishima , the cruisers Takao , Atago and several destroyers .

A 35.6 cm shell from the Kirishima exploded when it hit the Barbette immediately below Tower C. The shrapnel wedged two of the gun barrels, so that only one 40.6 cm barrel worked aft. The 20.3 cm shells of the Japanese cruisers perforated the superstructure of the South Dakota , destroyed the main radar, damaged the radar control room and the control systems for the central artillery , damaged the fire control system of the 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and destroyed a searchlight. Only a few shells hit the hull, none of which penetrated the armor over the ship's vital systems. At least 26 hits were counted. The damage to the cabling and the fire control system had the worst effect, so that only the radar on the reserve rangefinder was operational. The short circuits in the electrical systems made the entire fire control system temporarily inoperable and also caused the radio systems to fail.

Since it was still buoyant and controllable and had no significant water ingress, the South Dakota , which had lost contact with Washington and lost track of the battle, finally withdrew after the failure of its systems that were important for combat in the dark. 38 crew members were killed and 60 others wounded. A final investigation attributed the comparatively small extent of the damage, measured by the large number of around 26 large-caliber hits, to the long delay times of the Japanese time fuses , which had ensured that many projectiles penetrated the superstructure without exploding. Analysts later came to the conclusion that , contrary to initial estimates, the South Dakota itself did not achieve any successes during the battle - none of the 115 16-inch shells fired, and a single hit of the 305 5-inch shells fired possibly the destroyer Ayanami .

Repair & upgrade

The South Dakota 1943 in Scapa Flow

On December 18, 1942, she reached New York City to repair the battle damage. The remaining 28 mm (1.1 inch ) anti-aircraft weapons were replaced by 40 mm Bofors guns and additional 40 mm guns were installed, so that ultimately 17 of these quadruple guns were on board.

North Atlantic

This time the South Dakota was deployed to the North Atlantic to support the British Home Fleet . During Operation Gearbox , she was used on June 9, 1943 together with the USS Alabama (BB-60) , the HMS Duke of York and the HMS Anson on a relief mission for the Allies on Svalbard .

On August 1, 1943, South Dakota and Alabama were released from the British Home Fleet and moved back to the Pacific after a short stay in the shipyard .

Second Pacific mission

The South Dakota carried out now mainly support and securing missions, first during the attack on the Gilbert Islands in November 1943, later, in December 1943, against the Marshall Islands .

In February 1944 she supported the Allied attack on Truk , while the Japanese air raids on the carrier group shot down four enemy planes from the South Dakota gunners . In April it finally bombed Pohnpei , an island in the Caroline Islands .

The memorial service for the sailors killed on June 19, 1944 on the South Dakota

During its deployment around Saipan Island , it was repeatedly the target of enemy air strikes. On June 19, 1944, shortly before 11 a.m. local time, a Yokosuka D4Y dropped a 250 kg bomb with an impact fuse on the battleship, which exploded on the upper deck around frame 70. A hole was torn in the deck and numerous pipeline systems were destroyed. A 40-mm anti-aircraft gun was damaged and, as a result of the lack of armor protection at the rear of the anti-aircraft positions, 24 men were killed and 27 wounded. Major ship systems were not affected. The operation ended and the South Dakota eventually moved back to the US via Pearl Harbor for refurbishment and repair in Puget Sound , where it arrived on July 10th.

After completing the work, she returned to Pearl Harbor on August 26, 1944. After deployments against Japanese garrisons in the Philippines and surrounding islands, she took part in the operations against Okinawa and Iwo Jima in the spring of 1945 .

In May 1945, while ammunition was being loaded, an explosion occurred in the magazine of Tower B, in which a cartridge with powder for the 16-inch guns exploded. The magazine had to be flooded to save the ship. Eleven sailors died and 24 were wounded.

On July 14, 1945, the South Dakota was the first warship to bombard the Japanese main islands during an attack on heavy industrial plants in Kamaishi on Honshu . Until the end of the war, it was still used as a backup for aircraft carriers that launched several air raids on Japan.

The End

After her return to the USA, the South Dakota was transferred from active service to the reserve on January 31, 1947, removed from the fleet register in June 1962 and finally sold to a scrapping yard on October 25, 1962 for $ 446,000. Parts of their armor were used by the US government for other projects.

memorial

Parts of the equipment of the South Dakota , including the radar antenna of a Mark 4 fire control device, a propeller and smaller devotional objects , can be viewed today at a memorial for visitors in Sioux Falls , South Dakota .

literature

• Ralph Ingram: History of the USS South Dakota (BB-57) in World War II. Southwest Texas State University, 1990.
• William H. Garzke, Robert O. Dulin: Battleships: United States battleships. 1935-1992, US Naval Institute Press, Revised Edition, 1995, ISBN 1-55750-174-2 .
• Norman Friedman: US battleships: an illustrated design history. US Naval Institute Press, 1986, ISBN 0-87021-715-1 .

Web links

Commons : USS South Dakota (BB-57)  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

• History of South Dakota in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
• Pictures of the South Dakota at navsource.org (engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ James W. Hammond, Jr .: The Treaty Navy: The Story of the US Naval Service Between the World Wars. Trafford Publishing, ISBN 1-55212-876-8 , p. 169.
2. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.ussnewjersey.org/thejerseyman/2007-4q.pdf Helvig, Tom (Ed.). USS South Dakota (BB-57) Memorial, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Jerseyman. P. 56, 7., viewed on August 18, 2009
3. ↑ ^{a b c} History of the South Dakota in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English); sighted August 18, 2009
4. ^ ^{A b} Norman Friedman: US battleships: an illustrated design history. US Naval Institute Press, 1986, ISBN 0-87021-715-1 , pp. 290-299
5. ^ John B. Lundstrom: First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942. US Naval Institute Press, ISBN 978-1-59114-472-4 , p. 433
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Report, formerly on dcfp.navy.mil USS SOUTH DAKOTA (BB-57), GUNFIRE DAMAGE - Battle of Guadalcanal, November 14-15, 1942. PDF (945 kB) ( Memento from March 18, 2009 on the Internet Archives )
7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from December 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) USS SOUTH DAKOTA (BB-57), GUNFIRE DAMAGE - Battle of Guadalcanal, November 14–15, 1942. Sighted August 18, 2009
8. ^ William H. Garzke, Robert O. Dulin: Battleships: United States battleships, 1935-1992. US Naval Institute Press, 1995 revised edition, ISBN 1-55750-174-2 , p. 76.
9. ^ Vincent P. O'Hara: The US Navy against the Axis: Surface Combat - 1941-1945. US Naval Institute Press, ISBN 1-59114-650-X , p. 126.
10. ↑ http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-01BB-Anson.htm HMS Anson SERVICE HISTORIES of ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS in WORLD WAR 2. Lt Cdr Geoffrey B Mason, 2003, viewed August 18, 2009
11. ↑ http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/BB57/1944DamageReport/PSNSWarReport.html Shipyard damage report, PUGET SOUND NAVY YARD , viewed August 19, 2009

Coordinates: 43 ° 32 '36 "  N , 96 ° 45' 46"  W.