USS West Virginia (BB-48)
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The USS West Virginia was a battleship of the US Navy and the fourth ship of the Colorado class (alternatively also Maryland class after the first completed ship). She entered service in 1923 and sank in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The West Virginia was then raised again and restored. She took part in the fighting in the Pacific until the end of the war.
Colorado class
The Colorado-class ships were almost identical to the Tennessee-class , the only difference being that the main gun caliber was increased from 14 "to 16", but the size of the ship could only accommodate eight heavy artillery tubes The Tennessee class , on the other hand, had twelve smaller caliber tubes on board. One was forced to act, since the Japanese Navy had already introduced this caliber to the new battleships of the Nagato class and they did not want to accept the disadvantage of being inferior in caliber to an expected opponent. The advantage of increasing the caliber lay in the range and penetration power, the disadvantages were a reduced rate of fire and the reduction in the number of tubes in the main caliber. Even when planning the ships, these points were discussed intensely. It is believed today that the Tennessee class was neither better nor worse than the Colorado class .
The US Navy had to do without one of the Colorado-class ships as a result of the Washington Naval Agreement , which established a fixed size for battle fleets . Since the first two ships were already finished, the sister ship USS Washington was abandoned and later sunk as a target ship. The construction of the West Virginia , which was in about the same construction phase as her sister ship the USS Washington , was completed. Thus, the West Virginia was the most modern battleship in the American Navy until the beginning of World War II , as no more battleships were built during this time.
The ships of the Colorado class were very heavily armored and had the latest development stages in warship construction, so that they had better protection against torpedo and mine hits than comparable older battleships. Their biggest disadvantage was the low speed of just under 22 knots, with which they could not keep up with foreign competition, as newer battleships (and still existing battle cruisers ) could run around 30 knots.
history
From commissioning to war
The construction of West Virginia was decided as early as 1916, but due to the First World War it was only started afterwards, as more ships were needed to defend against German submarines during the war and, given its long construction period, completion before the end of the war was rejected as unreal.
The ship was built in the New York Navy Yard , the keel was laid on April 12, 1920. The launch followed on November 17, 1921 and on December 1, 1923 the West Virginia could be put into service. She was immediately assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and was the flagship of the commander of the battleships from 1924.
During this time she won various awards in various practice shooting.
In 1926 she made a world tour and was assigned to the Pacific Fleet in the spring of 1939, as it was assumed that a war with Japan could break out in the foreseeable future.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the West Virginia was in port next to the battleship USS Tennessee and sunk. Since the harbor was not very deep at this point, it was burning on a level keel in the harbor silt.
She received at least six torpedo hits, a dose that would have caused even more modern battleships to sink, as was the case with the Japanese super battleship Yamato in 1945 or the Italian battleship RN Littorio in 1940 . She was also hit by two aerial bombs that penetrated the ship but did not detonate.
Captain Mervyn Sharp Bennion was critically wounded but refused to leave his ship and continued to give instructions to the crews. He was posthumously honored with the Medal of Honor for this . The ship's cook Doris Miller also stayed on the ship and fought the attacking aircraft, for which he was later awarded the Navy Cross as the first black American .
Uplift and recovery
In the first half of 1942 they were busy closing the leaks and lifting the ship. After being lifted in mid-1942, it was towed to the American West Coast to the Puget Sound Navy Yard , where it was completely restored in 1942-1944. Restoring the ship made no economic sense, but the propaganda background for overcoming the trauma of Pearl Harbor was far more important. Only the Oklahoma and Arizona were no longer manufactured, as restoration of these ships could not have been completed until after the end of the war.
As with the Tennessee-class ships , the lattice masts were completely removed, the two funnels were combined into one chimney, the bridge superstructures redesigned in the style of the Iowa-class battleships , new optical rangefinders installed, radar added and a significant increase in anti-aircraft armament installed. so that the ship fundamentally changed its appearance and was equipped for the new kind of naval warfare.
In September 1944, the West Virginia was able to participate in active missions in the Pacific Fleet.
War missions
Up until the surrender of Japan, West Virginia took part in various combat missions by the US Navy in the Pacific. These included the sea and air battles in the Gulf of Leyte , the Battle of Iwojima and the Battle of Okinawa .
In the Gulf of Leyte, West Virginia led the battleship line and was instrumental in the successful sinking of the Japanese battleships Yamashiro and their sister ship Fuso .
On November 29, 1944, the West Virginia also suffered a kamikaze hit and was slightly damaged. Her extensive anti-aircraft armament helped her that some Kamikaze pilots could be prevented from their project.
Their main task was to give cover fire to the landing forces during the island's income and to break the Japanese resistance through this land fire.
After the war until it was scrapped
Immediately after the war, West Virginia was relocated to San Diego to be viewed as a Navy Day attraction.
She then took over the repatriation of veterans from the Pacific from Hawaii to the American west coast. In 1946 she moved to Bremerton and Seattle and was decommissioned there and was part of the reserve of the American Pacific Fleet.
In 1959 she was finally struck from the US Navy shipping register and sold to New York for scrapping . By 1962, the ship was completely scrapped, the ship's bell is now in the West Virginia State Museum . The mast of the West Virginia and the ship's bell of the armored cruiser USS West Virginia (ACR-5) are on display at Memorial Plaza on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown .
Awards
West Virginia was awarded five Battle Stars during the war, the majority of which the ship was unable to cope with due to its restoration .
Others
A US Navy Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine was named USS West Virginia in 1990 and is still in active service in the Navy.
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