USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

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Wisconsin around 1990 on the high seas
The Wisconsin around 1990 on the high seas
Overview
Order June 12, 1940
Keel laying January 25, 1941
Launch December 7, 1943
1. Period of service flag
Commissioning April 16, 1944
Decommissioning September 30, 1991
Whereabouts Museum ship
Technical specifications
displacement

approx. 45,000  ts (standard);
approx. 57,500 ts (fully loaded)

length

270.43 meters

width

32.98 meters

Draft

11.6 meters

crew

Between 1500 and 2800

drive

4 steam turbines, on 4 propellers; 212,000  wave horsepower (158  MW ); 8  steam boilers

speed

33 knots

Armament

Originally 3 ×  triple towers 406 mm, 10 × twin mounts 127 mm, flak. Later partially replaced by 32 cruise missiles and 16 anti-ship missiles

The USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is a battleship of the United States Navy and belongs Iowa-class battleship of. It was named after the US state of Wisconsin . After commissioning on April 16, 1944, the Wisconsin was used in World War II that same year . Until the end of the war in August 1945, it was in service in the Pacific off Japan. Their main tasks were the protection of the aircraft carriers from Japanese fighter planes as well as the coastal fire. After the war, the ship was assigned to the reserve fleet, but was reactivated in 1951 to support the UN troops against North Korea in the Korean War . As in the Second World War, Wisconsin mainly destroyed industrial facilities and infrastructure, but also shot at artillery positions and troop concentrations. After the war, it was decommissioned and mothballed again in 1958.

The Wisconsin remained in the reserve fleet for over 30 years . It was only reactivated in 1988 as part of the Navy of 600 Ships program and used in the 1991 Gulf War. The final decommissioning took place in the same year. Until 2006, the Wisconsin was maintained in the reserve fleet and then finally canceled. In 2009 the battleship was handed over to the city of Norfolk in the state of Virginia and is now open to the public as a museum ship .

In the 47 years between in-service and out-of-service, the Wisconsin was in active service for less than 14 years.

technology

Wisconsin main guns

The Wisconsin belongs to the Iowa class . This class of ship had a length of around 270 meters and a maximum width of 33 meters. These dimensions were chosen according to the Panamax specification so that such battleships could fit into the locks of the Panama Canal and thus switch quickly between the Pacific and Atlantic. The water displacement of the Wisconsin corresponded only on paper to the upper limit of 45,000 ts set at the London Naval Conference  of 1936 . When fully loaded, it was actually around 58,000 ts. The Wisconsin was powered by four screws, each of which received its energy from a high-pressure and a low - pressure steam turbine . At 33 knots, the Iowa-class ships were the fastest battleships ever. This speed was bought, however, with the renunciation of further expansion of the armor compared to the previous South Dakota class , which other navies, however, preferred.

The main artillery of the battleship consisted of nine guns of the caliber 16 inches (40.6 centimeters), which were combined in two triple turrets on the foredeck and another on the stern . With a range of up to 40 kilometers, these weapons could be used against sea and land targets. In addition, the possessed Wisconsin first side of the superstructure five multi-purpose twin gun caliber 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) and numerous smaller aircraft guns of caliber 40 and 20 millimeters. Since these had already proven to be ineffective against rapidly approaching enemy aircraft due to their short range and penetration power during World War II, this secondary armament was removed over the years. During the modernization from 1986 onwards, Wisconsin received several types of modern guided missiles: 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles in eight Armored Box Launchers , 16 AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles and four Phalanx CIWS short-range defense systems were distributed around the superstructure. The installation of launch devices for modern anti-aircraft missiles , however, did not take place for structural reasons. The two aircraft on board - initially Vought OS2U Kingfisher float planes - had already been replaced by on-board helicopters after the Second World War .

story

Planning and construction

The Wisconsin in 1944 during testing

Planning for the Iowa-class ships began in 1938. The first two units of the class, USS Iowa (BB-61) and USS New Jersey (BB-62) , were commissioned on July 1, 1939, on June 12 1940 then the third and fourth ship, next to the USS Missouri (BB-63) just Wisconsin . Since ships five and six of the Iowa class and the planned Montana class were no longer completed, the Wisconsin is the last battleship of the US Navy.

The construction contract for BB-64 went to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard , which laid down the battleship on January 25, 1941. After a construction period of less than three years, the Wisconsin was launched on December 7, 1943 and was christened. Godmother was the wife of the then governor of Wisconsin Walter Samuel Goodland . After the final equipment, the Navy put the battleship into service on April 16, 1944 - as the third ship of the class, as the completion of the Missouri took a few weeks longer.

The first test and training drives took place in and in front of the Chesapeake Bay . On July 7th, the Wisconsin left the US coast for the first time and carried out its test drives from Trinidad . After a short period of lay in the shipyard where minor problems were resolved, the ship began its voyage to the Pacific and the Second World War on September 24th.

First period of service (1944–1948)

Second World War

Wisconsin with aircraft carriers in action in the Pacific

Arrived in the Pacific, the Wisconsin set course for Hawaii, where it completed training drives and then drove to the war zone. On December 9th she reached Ulithi , where she was incorporated into the 3rd Fleet under Admiral William Halsey . A few days after their arrival, the Wisconsin took part in the attack on Manila with the aircraft carriers of the Fast Carrier Task Force (TF.38) . The fleet sank 27 Japanese ships and damaged 60 more. A total of 269 aircraft were destroyed and several ground targets were bombed. The day after, the weather for Halsey's fleet worsened: Three American destroyers, USS Hull (DD-350) , USS Monaghan (DD-354) and USS Spence (DD-512) capsized in Typhoon Cobra . Wisconsin survived the storm without significant damage: one of the aircraft was washed overboard and another was irreparably damaged. The two large whale boats were damaged and anti-aircraft guns were damaged.

In early 1945, Wisconsin escorted the aircraft carriers of Task Force 38, which launched air strikes against Japanese positions in Taiwan , Luzon and Okinawa as well as in Saigon , Hong Kong . In February, the fleet, now under the command of Admiral Raymond Spruance , attacked the main Japanese islands. On February 16, the task force appeared off the coast, shot down 322 Japanese aircraft and destroyed 177 on the ground. These were the first air raids on Japan since the Doolittle Raid of 1942. Immediately afterwards, the Wisconsin also took part in the Battle of Iwojima and shelled the island to enable the subsequent landing of the US troops. By the end of February, the group then carried out air strikes on Tokyo, among other things .

In March, the Wisconsin aircraft carrier escorted the Fast Carrier Task Force in their attacks on Japanese positions on Kyushu and southern Honshu . The main goal was to make airfields more difficult for Japanese counterattacks for the planned attack on Okinawa. After the USS Franklin (CV-13) was badly damaged by a kamikaze on March 19, the group withdrew. Four days later, the American fleet took up position in front of Okinawa and began to cover the island with heavy artillery fire; these were the first shots in the Battle of Okinawa . In the following days, the Wisconsin and five other battleships present narrowly escaped a battle against the largest battleship in the world, the Yamato : The Japanese naval command had set up a formation around the Yamato against the numerically superior American warships off Okinawa ( Operation Ten -gō ). Since the Japanese could only insufficiently protect their ship from air raids, American carrier aircraft managed to sink the Yamato on April 7, 1945, before it reached the American fleet off Okinawa. Wisconsin carried out attacks and escorts in the waters south of Japan until June .

The crew began their first rest on June 13th. In the Gulf of Leyte minor repairs were carried out and stashed away. After three weeks, the Wisconsin moved back to hostile waters, in July it took part in attacks on industries in Tokyo and Hokkaidō . The Japanese military was barely able to resist, until August 13 the battleships fired at Japanese targets. Two days later, the empire capitulated.

The Wisconsin reached Tokyo Bay on September 6, three days after the official surrender of Japan , signed aboard the Missouri . In their missions, the Wisconsin crew shot down three Japanese planes.

post war period

On September 22nd, the Wisconsin took US soldiers on board from Okinawa for the purpose of carrying them back home as part of Operation Magic Carpet . After a stopover in Hawaii on October 4th, the battleship reached San Francisco on October 15th. The Wisconsin stayed there for a few weeks and then returned to the Atlantic in early 1946. On January 18, she ran at Hampton Roads , in February the first overhaul began in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard . At the end of the year, the Wisconsin made its first voyages in peace, visiting several South American ports in the Pacific as well as in the Atlantic. In 1947 the Wisconsin was used for training trips in the Caribbean, and in the summer the battleship sailed for the first time in northern European waters on midshipmen training trips.

In January 1948 the deactivation of the Wisconsin began . On July 1, she was officially decommissioned and assigned to the reserve fleet in Norfolk .

Second period of service (1951–1958)

The Korean War

Wisconsin with Buck (left) and St. Paul in 1952 before Korea

After less than three years, however , the Wisconsin was put back into service on March 3, 1951 to be used in the Korean War. In the first six months, test drives and practice drives took place, including to Scotland and Portugal. In October, the Wisconsin then began her new voyage to the Pacific. In November she replaced her sister ship New Jersey as the flagship of the 7th Fleet in Yokosuka , while Vice Admiral Harold M. Martin set his flag on the Wisconsin .

On November 26th, the ship left the base in Yokosuka for Korean waters. On December 3, the Wisconsin then fired on North Korean targets for the first time, including artillery positions and troop concentrations in Kosong . She supported the soldiers of the 1st US Marine Division and the 1st Corps of the South Korean Army. According to official estimates, 75 North Koreans were killed in this attack alone. Wisconsin continued such attacks for the next two weeks . Between December 15 and 17, the battleship returned to Sasebo for reloading , and immediately afterwards the Wisconsin again fired at targets in Kosong. She then took part in the bombardment of Wonsan . The ship stayed off the coast over Christmas to support ground troops with their guns. It then reached Yokusuka on December 31, 1952 and stayed there until January 8, 1952. On January 10, South Korean President Rhee Syng-man came on board to award Admiral Martin the Order of Military Merit .

Wisconsin shelling off the coast off Korea

From January 11th, Wisconsin began again to bombard positions and troop concentrations to support the ground forces. After being ammunitioned again in Sasebo, the Wisconsin drove to Wŏnsan at the end of the month and then again to Kosong in February to destroy infrastructure and positions there. Between February 25 and March 10, the battleship was moored in the ports of Pusan , Sasebo and Yokosuka. On March 15, Wisconsin began bombarding North Korean targets off Kimch'aek . It was the first time she was hit by enemy missiles; a 155 mm shell hit the ship, injuring three crew members. However, the ship remained at the battle station. On March 19, it returned to Japan, where it was replaced by Iowa on April 1 . On April 19 , after stops in Guam and Hawaii, the Wisconsin arrived in Long Beach , from where it continued to Norfolk.

In June, the Wisconsin began training trips in the Atlantic for midshipmen who brought them to France, among other places. In August, the battleship took part in a NATO exercise in the Atlantic. This was followed by an overhaul in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard , which lasted until February 1953, and the test drives until April. While the Wisconsin was on another midshipmen voyage along the South American Atlantic coast, the armistice was signed that ended the Korean War.

After the Korean War

After a short renewed layover time, the Wisconsin returned to the Far East in September. There she visited several ports until April 1954 and showed her presence. In May she reached Norfolk, where she was re-docked and overtaken. In the summer, the battleship took part in several exercises and training trips off the west coast and in the Caribbean. In 1955 the Wisconsin sailed again in European waters and docked in Denmark and Scotland. This was followed by a major overhaul and modernization in the New York Naval Shipyard . The test drives took place at the beginning of 1956.

Bow of the Wisconsin after the collision with Eaton

On May 6, the Wisconsin conducted an exercise off the coast of Virginia in thick fog together with USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) , USS Des Moines (CA-134) and four Fletcher-class destroyers . The ships were in close formation when the Coral Sea signaled "Man overboard". The destroyer USS Eaton (DD-510) turned hard to recover the man who had supposedly gone overboard. On the new course, the Eaton cut the Wisconsin's course from starboard, which the Eaton crew did not know because of a defective radar. The Wisconsin immediately gave the command "full speed backwards", but only six seconds after sighting hit the Wisconsin , the Eaton head at right angles before their bridge, cut through the hull, breaking the keel of Eaton . The two ships remained wedged, the Eaton lying alongside the Wisconsin on the port side . Both ships were badly damaged. The bow of the Wisconsin was pushed in below the deck to several meters, the rooms there flooded. The Wisconsin was able to drive back to Norfolk under its own power, Eaton was towed stern first after ammunition for a practice shooting had been thrown overboard from the front, damaged magazines. There were no serious injuries to the crews of either ship. It was later discovered that only one sailor's hat on the Coral Sea had been blown overboard. The commodore of the destroyer division, who, contrary to his authorization, had given the command to turn around, went unpunished, the captain of the Eaton was convicted by a court-martial for endangering the ship. The Wisconsin was docked and repaired in Norfolk on May 12th. To speed this up, the bow of the USS Kentucky (BB-66) , the never completed sixth Iowa class ship , was cut off to a length of around 20 meters and brought to Norfolk by barge from Newport News . There he replaced the damaged area of ​​the Wisconsin . The battleship was able to leave the shipyard on June 28th.

Wisconsin (left) mothballed with Iowa

In July, the battleship began a new training voyage for midshipmen, which took it to Spain. Over the turn of the year, the Wisconsin was again in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. At the beginning of 1957 she took part in exercises in the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, later another training trip took her to the Pacific, and in September a NATO exercise in British waters was due. This remained Wisconsin's last great voyage for over 30 years. On March 8, 1958, she was decommissioned in Bayonne , New Jersey . This was the first time the US Navy had had a battleship in service since 1895. Like her three sister ships, the Wisconsin was mothballed and held ready for later reactivation. Together with the Iowa , she was moored in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard .

Third period of service (1988–1991)

Reinstatement

In the early 1980s, Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman campaigned as part of the general armament of the Reagan administration for the Navy of 600 ships . Among other things, this plan provided for the comprehensive modernization and return to service of all four mothballed Iowa-class battleships . In 1986 the Wisconsin was the last of the four ships to enter the shipyard. In August 1986, work on the hull began at Avondale Shipyards , followed by modernization at Ingalls Shipbuilding in early 1987 . Two years later, on August 29, 1988, the Wisconsin undocked for the first test drive. The Wisconsin officially entered service on October 22nd .

Wisconsin at target practice

In the last months of 1988 the crew carried out target practice off Puerto Rico , followed by practice drives in the Atlantic in early 1989. In June the ship went to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for overhaul , and from September back to Ingalls. At the end of the year, the Wisconsin returned to Norfolk. After several exercises in 1990, she moved on August 7th, immediately after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal into the Persian Gulf.

Gulf War

Wisconsin fires a tomahawk at a target in Iraq

Once there, who took Wisconsin with her sister ship Missouri on Gulf War in part. From August 17-19, 1991, the Wisconsin launched a total of 24 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Iraqi targets. The entire first cruise missile attack wave of the Alliance was coordinated from aboard the battleship; the Wisconsin acted as so-called TLAM strike commander . The Wisconsin then withdrew to the central Persian Gulf, where it served as a hub for personnel, mail and freight transport. From February 6, they replaced the Missouri off the coast and began to destroy Iraqi artillery positions and infrastructure with their guns. After a ceasefire in mid-February, it carried out coastal bombardments again from the 20th in preparation for the ground war that began on February 24th. On February 28, the battleship fired the last shots.

From the end of February, Missouri and Wisconsin had repeatedly fired at Iraqi positions on Failaka . The aim was to convince the soldiers on the heavily mined island that an amphibious landing was planned. On March 1, Wisconsin's drone , an RQ-2 Pioneer , flew over the island to scout additional targets. The Iraqi soldiers then surrendered to the unmanned aircraft with improvised white flags - a novelty in warfare.

At the beginning of March, the Wisconsin then left the Persian Gulf and started the way back. Back in Norfolk at the end of March, the battleship took part in the fleet parade off New York City in June, and was subsequently decommissioned on September 30th, but reassigned to the reserve fleet for the time being.

Final decommissioning (since 1991)

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War , all four Iowa battleships were removed from the Naval Vessel Register on January 12, 1995 ; this also reduced maintenance to a minimum. The Wisconsin was moored in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. On October 15, 1996 she was moved to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard after the shipyard was closed.

Wisconsin on the Pier des Nauticus

After the decommissioning was controversial in the United States, Congress decided in the National Defense Authorization Act 1996 to reintegrate two of the ships into the reserve fleet and maintain them so that they can be used for fire support during amphibious landings in the event of war. In addition to the Iowa , the Wisconsin was also selected and finally added to the Naval Vessel Register on February 12, 1998.

In 2000 the Wisconsin was towed to the pier of the Nauticus National Maritime Center in Norfolk. The decks were then opened to visitors to the Navy's own Hampton Roads Naval Museum , which is located in the Nauticus. On March 17, 2006, both Iowa and Wisconsin were finally removed from the Naval Vessel Register. Congress responded with the provision in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2007 that ships must still be treated and maintained so that they can be used in combat in the event of a "national emergency". On December 14, 2009, the Navy finally parted with its battleship and donated it to the City of Norfolk for use as a museum ship . It has been operated by the Nauticus ever since. Radio amateurs of the "USS Wisconsin Radio Club" operate an amateur radio station with the callsign N4WIS on the ship . Since the takeover by the City of Norfolk, the interior of the ship can also be viewed.

literature

  • Malcolm Muir: The Iowa Class Battleships: Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri & Wisconsin. Blandford Press, Poole 1987, ISBN 0-7137-1732-7
  • Stefan Terzibaschitsch : Comeback of the IOWA class. The American battleships from 1941 to the present day. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1989. ISBN 3-7637-5862-3
  • Stefan Terzibaschitsch: The last giants of the seas. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1997. ISBN 3-7637-5961-1

Web links

Commons : USS Wisconsin  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c History of the Wisconsin in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
  2. ↑ Muir 1987, p. 84
  3. ^ RL Taylor: The Commodore's fatefull Command ( Memento of July 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 263 kB). In: Naval History, US Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland 2009.
  4. ↑ Facsimile of the Wisconsin Deck Log ( Memento of February 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Eng.)
  5. ↑ a b Muir 1987, p. 100.
  6. ↑ Terzibaschitsch 1997, p. 36.
  7. ↑ a b United States Navy: Thunder and Lightning: The War with Iraq (Engl.)
  8. ↑ Ship's History of the USS Wisconsin (BB-64) Association ( Memento from September 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (Eng.)
  9. ↑ Description on the website of the Smithionian National Air and Space Museum .
  10. ↑ NDAA from 1996 (English; PDF; 1.8 MB)
  11. ↑ National Defense Authorization Act of 2007 ( Memento of February 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), page 68 (Eng.)
  12. ^ Interior Battleship Tours. Retrieved August 25, 2016 .
This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on June 23, 2011 in this version .

Coordinates: 36 ° 50 ′ 54 "  N , 76 ° 17 ′ 45"  W.