USS North Carolina (BB-55)

USS North Carolina (BB-55) off the coast of New York City
USS North Carolina (BB-55) at sea, 3 June 1946
Career (US)
Name: USS North Carolina (BB-55)
Namesake: North Carolina
Ordered: 1 August 1937
Builder: New York Naval Shipyard
Cost: $76,885,750
Laid down: 27 October 1937
Launched: 13 June 1940
Sponsored by: Isabel Hoey
Commissioned: 9 April 1941
Decommissioned: 27 June 1947
Struck: 1 June 1960
Nickname: Showboat
Honors and
awards:

Silver-service-star-3d.pngBronze-service-star-3d.png15 Battle Stars

  • American Defense Service ribbon.svg American Defense Service Medal
  • American Campaign Medal ribbon.svg American Campaign Medal
  • Asiatic-Pacific Campaign ribbon.svg Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
  • Philippine Independence Medal Ribbon.JPG Philippine Independence Medal
  • Phliber rib.png Philippine Liberation Medal
  • Presidential Unit Citation (Philippines).svg Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
  • World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg World War II Victory Medal
  • Army of Occupation ribbon.svg Navy Occupation Medal
Fate: Museum ship
General characteristics
Class and type: North-Carolina-class battleship
Displacement: 37,484 long tons (38,086 t) standard,
44,377 long tons (45,089 t) loaded
Length: 728.8 ft (222.1 m)
Beam: 108.3 ft (33.0 m)
Draft: 33.0 ft (10.1 m)
Propulsion: General Electric turbines, four shafts, eight boilers; 121,000 hp (90 MW)
Speed: 26 kn (30 mph; 48 km/h)
Range: 17,450 nmi (20,080 mi; 32,320 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Complement: 2,339 (144 officers and 2,195 enlisted)
Sensors and
processing systems:		 CXAM-1 RADAR from 1940 on[1]
Armament: 9 × 16 in (410 mm)/45 caliber Mark 6 guns,
20 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 caliber dual-purpose guns,
16 × 1.1 in (28 mm) anti-aircraft autocannons; replaced by 20 mm and 40 mm guns
Armor: Maximum: 16 in (410 mm)
Aircraft carried: 3 × Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes
Aviation facilities: 2 × trainable catapults on the fantail

USS North Carolina (BB-55) (Showboat) was the lead ship of her class of battleship and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named in honor of this U.S. state. She was the first new-construction U.S. battleship to enter service during World War II, participating in every major naval offensive in the Pacific theater to become the most decorated United States battleship of the war with 15 battle stars.[2] She currently rests as a museum ship at the port of Wilmington, North Carolina.

Contents

Construction and shakedown

Fitting-out stage, 17 April 1941

She was laid down on 27 October 1937 at the New York Naval Shipyard and launched on 13 June 1940, sponsored by the young daughter of Clyde R. Hoey, Governor of North Carolina. The ship was commissioned in New York City on 9 April 1941 with Captain Olaf M. Hustvedt first in command. The first commissioned of the navy's fast, heavily-armed battleships with 16-inch guns, North Carolina received so much attention during her fitting-out and trials that she won the enduring nickname "Showboat".[3]

As the first newly designed American battleship constructed in 20 years, North Carolina was built using the latest in shipbuilding technology. Constrained to 35,000 long tons (36,000 t) standard displacement by both the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Treaty, to a beam of less than 110 feet (34 m) by the locks of the Panama Canal, and to a draft of 38 feet (12 m) to enable the ship to use as many anchorages and navy yards as possible, she was a challenge to design.[4]

To save weight, North Carolina was built using the new technique of welded construction. Her machinery arrangement is unusual in that there are four main spaces, each with two boilers and one steam turbine connected to one of the four propeller shafts. This arrangement served to reduce the number of openings in watertight bulkheads and conserve space to be protected by armor. The long sweeping flush deck of North Carolina and her streamlined structure made her far more graceful than earlier battleships. Her large tower forward, tall uncluttered stacks, and clean superstructure and hull were a sharp break from the elaborate bridgework, heavy tripod masts, and casemated secondary batteries which characterized her predecessors.[4] North Carolina was one of fourteen ships to receive the early RCA CXAM-1 RADAR.

Service in World War II

North Carolina operating near the Gilbert Islands, November, 1943

North Carolina completed her shakedown in the Caribbean prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Early in 1942, North Carolina was scheduled to head to Pearl Harbor. However, she remained in the Atlantic a few more months so she would be available to take on the German battleship Tirpitz, in the event that ship began to attack Atlantic convoys carrying goods from America to England. North Carolina was ordered to the Pacific in the summer of 1942.[5]

After intensive war exercises, North Carolina departed for the Pacific theater. She was the first new battleship to arrive in the Pacific since the beginning of the war, clearing the Panama Canal on 10 June, four days after the end of the Battle of Midway.[6] She sailed to San Pedro and San Francisco before arriving in Pearl Harbor.[7] According to sailors there, North Carolina was "the most beautiful thing they had ever seen", and her arrival in Hawaii greatly increased the morale of the Pacific Fleet.[8] North Carolina departed Pearl Harbor on 15 July with the carrier Enterprise, heavy cruiser Portland, light cruiser Atlanta and eight screening destroyers, bound for operations in the South Pacific.[9]

North Carolina joined the long island-hopping campaign against the Japanese by landing Marines on Guadalcanal and Tulagi 7 August 1942, beginning the Guadalcanal campaign.[10] She was the only battleship in this naval contingent, accompanied by the carriers Saratoga, Enterprise, and Wasp, along with their cruisers and other escorts.[11] After screening Enterprise in the Air Support Force for the invasion, North Carolina guarded the carrier during operations protecting supply and communication lines southeast of the Solomons. Enemy carriers were located on 24 August, and that engagement became known as the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.[10] The Americans struck first, sinking carrier Ryūjō; Japanese retaliation came as dive and torpedo bombers, covered by fighters, roared in on Enterprise and North Carolina.[12] In an eight-minute action, North Carolina shot down between seven and fourteen enemy aircraft, her gunners remaining at their guns despite the jarring detonations of seven near misses. One man was killed by a strafer, but the ship was undamaged. Her sheer volume of anti-aircraft fire was such as to lead Enterprise to query, "Are you afire?"[4] The protection North Carolina could offer Enterprise was limited as the speedier carrier drew ahead of her. Enterprise took three direct hits while her aircraft severely damaged seaplane carrier Chitose and hit other Japanese ships. Since the Japanese lost about 100 aircraft in this action, the United States won control of the air and averted a threatened Japanese reinforcement of Guadalcanal.[4]

USS North Carolina during Marshall Islands Campaign, 25 January 1944
USS North Carolina firing her main battery
North Carolina in heavy seas, December 1944

North Carolina now gave her strength to protect Saratoga. Twice during the following weeks of support to Marines ashore on Guadalcanal, North Carolina was attacked by Japanese submarines. On 6 September, she maneuvered successfully, dodging a torpedo which passed 300 yd (270 m) off the port beam.[13] Nine days later, on 15 September, sailing with Wasp and Hornet, North Carolina took a torpedo portside, 20 ft (6.1 m) below her waterline, and six of her men were killed. This torpedo originated from I-19, and other torpedoes in the same salvo sank Wasp.[14] Skillful damage control by the crew of North Carolina and the excellence of her construction prevented disaster; a 5.6° list was righted in as many minutes, and she maintained her station in a formation at 26 kn (30 mph; 48 km/h).[15]

After temporary repairs in New Caledonia, the ship proceeded to Pearl Harbor to be dry docked for a month for repairs to her hull and to receive more antiaircraft armament.[16] Following repairs, she returned to action, screening Enterprise and Saratoga and covering supply and troop movements in the Solomons for much of the next year. She was at Pearl Harbor in March and April 1943 to receive advanced fire control and radar gear, and again in September, to prepare for the Gilbert Islands operation.[17]

With Enterprise, in the Northern Covering Group, North Carolina sortied from Pearl Harbor on 10 November for the assault on Makin, Tarawa, and Abemama. Air strikes began on 19 November, and for ten days mighty air blows were struck to aid marines ashore engaged in some of the bloodiest fighting of the Pacific War. Supporting the Gilberts campaign and preparing the assault on the Marshalls, North Carolina's highly accurate big guns bombarded Nauru on 8 December, destroying air facilities, beach defense revetments, and radio installations.[18] Later that month, she protected Bunker Hill in strikes against shipping and airfields at Kavieng, New Ireland and in January 1944 joined the Task Force 58 (TF 58), Rear Admiral Marc Mitscher in command, at Funafuti, Ellice Islands.[15]

During the assault and capture of the Marshall Islands, North Carolina illustrated the classic battleship functions of World War II. She screened carriers from air attack in pre-invasion strikes as well as during close air support of troops ashore, beginning with the initial strikes on Kwajalein 29 January. She fired on targets at Namur and Roi, where she sank a cargo ship in the lagoon.[19]

The battlewagon then protected carriers in the massive air strike on Truk, the Japanese fleet base in the Carolines, where 39 large ships were left sunk, burning, or uselessly beached, and 211 planes were destroyed, another 104 severely damaged.[20] Next she fought off an air attack against the flattops near the Marianas 21 February splashing an enemy plane, and the next day again guarded the carriers in air strikes on Saipan, Tinian, and Guam.

During much of this period she was flagship for Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Willis A. Lee, Jr., Commander Battleships Pacific.[21]

With Majuro as her base, North Carolina joined in the attacks on Palau and Woleai on 31 March–1 April, shooting down another enemy plane during the approach phase. On Woleai, 150 enemy aircraft were destroyed along with ground installations. Support for the capture of the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea followed (13–24 April); then another major raid on Truk (29–30 April), during which North Carolina splashed yet another enemy aircraft. At Truk, North Carolina's planes were catapulted to rescue an American aviator downed off the reef.[22] After one plane had turned over on landing and the other, having rescued all the airmen, had been unable to take off with so much weight, Tang saved all involved. The next day, North Carolina destroyed coastal defense guns, antiaircraft batteries, and airfields at Ponape. The battleship then sailed to repair her rudder at Pearl Harbor.[15]

Returning to Majuro, North Carolina sortied with the Enterprise's carrier group on 6 June (D-Day in Europe) for the Marianas. During the assault on Saipan, North Carolina not only gave her usual protection to the carriers, but starred in bombardments on the west coast of Saipan covering minesweeping operations, and blasted the harbor at Tanapag, sinking several small craft and destroying enemy ammunition, fuel, and supply dumps. At dusk on invasion day, 15 June, the battleship downed one of the only two Japanese aircraft able to penetrate the combat air patrol.[15]

On 18 June, North Carolina cleared the islands with the carriers to confront the Japanese 1st Mobile Fleet, tracked by submarines and aircraft for the previous four days.[23] Next day began the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and she took station in the battle line that fanned out from the carriers. American aircraft succeeded in downing most of the Japanese raiders before they reached the American ships, and North Carolina shot down two of the few which got through.[15]

On that day and the next American, air and submarine attacks, with the fierce antiaircraft fire of such ships as North Carolina, virtually ended any future threat from Japanese naval aviation: three carriers were sunk, two tankers damaged so badly they were scuttled, and all but 36 of the 430 planes with which the Japanese had begun the battle were destroyed.[24] The loss of trained aviators was irreparable, as was the loss of skilled aviation maintenance men in the carriers. Not one American ship was lost, and only a handful of American planes failed to return to their carriers.[15]

After supporting air operations in the Marianas for another two weeks, North Carolina sailed for overhaul at Puget Sound Navy Yard. She rejoined the carriers off Ulithi on 7 November as a furious typhoon, Typhoon Cobra, struck the group.[25] The ships fought through the storm and carried out air strikes against western Leyte, Luzon, and the Visayas to support the struggle for Leyte. During similar strikes later in the month, North Carolina fought off her first kamikaze attack.[15]

As the pace of operations in the Philippines intensified, North Carolina guarded carriers while their planes kept the Japanese aircraft on Luzon airfields from interfering with the invasion convoys which assaulted Mindoro on 15 December.[26] Three days later the task force again sailed through a violent typhoon, which capsized several destroyers. With Ulithi now her base, North Carolina screened wide-ranging carrier strikes on Formosa, the coast of Indo-China and China, and the Ryūkyūs in January, and similarly supported strikes on Honshū the next month.[27] Hundreds of enemy aircraft were destroyed which might otherwise have resisted the assault on Iwo Jima, where North Carolina bombarded and provided call fire for the assaulting Marines through 22 February.[15]

Strikes on targets in the Japanese home islands laid the ground-work for the Okinawa assault, in which North Carolina played her dual role, of bombardment and carrier screening. Here, on 6 April, she downed three kamikazes, but took a 5 in (130 mm) hit from a friendly ship during the melee of anti-aircraft fire. Three men were killed and 44 wounded.[28] Next day came the last desperate sortie of the Japanese Fleet, as Yamato, the largest battleship in the world, came south with her attendants. Yamato, as well as a cruiser and a destroyer, were sunk, three other destroyers were damaged so badly that they were scuttled, and the remaining four destroyers returned to their fleet base at Sasebo badly damaged. On the same day, North Carolina splashed an enemy plane, and she shot down two more 17 April.[15]

After overhaul at Pearl Harbor, North Carolina rejoined the carriers for a month of air strikes and naval bombardment on the Japanese home islands.[29] Along with guarding the carriers, North Carolina fired on major industrial plants near Tokyo, and her scout plane pilots performed a daring rescue of a downed carrier pilot under heavy fire in Tokyo Bay.[30]

North Carolina sent both sailors and members of her Marine Detachment ashore for preliminary occupation duty in Japan immediately at the close of the war, and patrolled off the coast until anchoring in Tokyo Bay on 5 September to re-embark her men. Carrying passengers from Okinawa, North Carolina sailed for home, reaching the Panama Canal on 8 October.[31] She anchored at Boston 17 October, and after overhaul at New York exercised in New England waters and carried United States Naval Academy midshipmen for a summer training cruise in the Caribbean.[32]

Decommissioning and battleship memorial

USS North Carolina (Battleship)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
USS North Carolina (BB-55) is located in North Carolina
Location: Wilmington, North Carolina
Coordinates:
Built/Founded: 1941
Architect: Brooklyn Navy Yard
Governing body: State
Added to NRHP: 10 November 1982[33]
Designated NHL: 14 January 1986[34]
NRHP Reference#: 82004893
North Carolina docked as a floating museum on the Cape Fear River

After inactivation, she was decommissioned at New York on 27 June 1947. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 June 1960, North Carolina was transferred to the people of North Carolina on 6 September 1961. She was purchased from the U.S. Navy for $330,000 raised by the efforts of North Carolinian school children who saved their spare change and lunch money for the "Save Our Ship" (SOS) campaign.[35] In 1961, a fleet of tugboats was used to maneuver the 728 ft (222 m) ship through an area of the river 500 ft (150 m) wide. During this move the ship struck the restaurant "Fergus' Ark", near Princess Street. The river-based restaurant was damaged severely and ceased operation.[36] On 29 April 1962, she was dedicated at Wilmington, North Carolina as a memorial to North Carolinians of all services killed in World War II and may be visited to this day.

This battleship was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.[34][37]

Visitors to the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial can tour the main deck of the ship, many interior rooms, and some of the gun turrets. Visitors can also view one of the nine surviving OS2U Kingfisher aircraft in the world, located on the stern of the ship.[38] Various events are held at the memorial including the annual Fourth of July fireworks display from the adjacent battleship park and spaces may be rented for special events. A Roll of Honor in the Wardroom lists the names of North Carolinians who gave their lives in service in all the branches of the military during World War II. The site is accessible by car or a short water taxi ride originating from downtown Wilmington and also features a gift shop, visitors center and picnic area.

The memorial is administered by North Carolina Battleship Commission which was established by statutes of the State of North Carolina in 1960. The memorial relies upon its own revenues as well as donations and does not receive any tax revenues.[39]

In 1999, a reunion was held on the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial. While standing on the signal bridge, the site of the friendly fire strike during the Okinawa assault of 6 April, former PFC Marine Gunner Richard R. Fox recalled the incident, describing to his daughters and granddaughters how he helped carry a severely injured sailor down to the sickbay. Fox had never been able to find out whether the other man had survived. During his story, Fox was approached by the fellow North Carolina veteran Richard W. Reed, who had overheard the story and interrupted it to identify himself as the injured sailor and offer his thanks. Neither man had known the other's identity for over a half-century.[40]

Recent projects undertaken to maintain the battleship include the replacement of the teak deck. Following a visit by officials from Myanmar, she received the most generous donation in her history: the gift of two tractor-trailer loads of the highest quality teak decking in the world, valued at approximately one quarter million dollars, and a very substantial discount on another eight tractor-trailer loads of the precious wood, valued at another quarter million dollars, to permit the entire re-decking of the ship's more than one acre of deck.[41]

Several near-term restoration projects are planned which will not require closure of the memorial. The next major restoration project for North Carolina is a refit of her hull. This may require the ship to leave Wilmington for several months, and she might be towed to the nearest suitable drydock in Norfolk, Virginia.[42] Towing and drydocking are expected to take place no earlier than 2012.

References

  1. ↑ Macintyre, Donald, CAPT RN (September 1967). Shipborne Radar. United States Naval Institute Proceedings. 
  2. ↑ http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/battleships/ncarolina/bb55-nc.html
  3. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/prewar.php
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/butowsky1/northcarolina.htm
  5. ↑ [1]
  6. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=1&keywords=
  7. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/index.php
  8. ↑ BB55 - Arrival at Pearl Harbor
  9. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/index.php?resultpage=2&
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=3&keywords=
  11. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/wwii/battles/guadalcanal.php
  12. ↑ http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/battlesh/bb55.htm
  13. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/index.php?resultpage=4&
  14. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=4&keywords=
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/n6/north_carolina-iii.htm
  16. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/wwii/battles/guadalcanal.php
  17. ↑ http://www.ussnclivinghistory.org/history/nav1943.html
  18. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=12&keywords=
  19. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=13&keywords=
  20. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=13&keywords=
  21. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=7&keywords=
  22. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/index.php
  23. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/index.php?resultpage=16&
  24. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=16&keywords=
  25. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/index.php?resultpage=19&
  26. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/index.php?resultpage=20&
  27. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=21&keywords=
  28. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/index.php?resultpage=23&
  29. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/index.php?resultpage=25&
  30. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/wwii/battles/hokkaido.php
  31. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/ops/results.php?resultpage=28&keywords=
  32. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/history/bb55/index.php
  33. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://www.nr.nps.gov/. 
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 "USS NORTH CAROLINA (Battleship)". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1854&ResourceType=Structure. Retrieved 2007-10-03. 
  35. ↑ http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/nchistory/jun2007/index.html
  36. ↑ http://visitnc.com/region_article.asp?r=3&articleid=186&sectiongroupid=15
  37. ↑ National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: USS North Carolina Photo set (13 photos, exterior and interior, from 1946 and 1981–1984). National Park Service. undated. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/82004893.pdf 
  38. ↑ http://www.geocities.com/usnavyindanger/seaplanefighters.htm
  39. ↑ http://www.battleshipnc.com/lucky_bag/commission.html
  40. ↑ Letters: Rescued, rescuer reunited - Press-Telegram
  41. ↑ http://www.deanwood.com/battleship.html
  42. ↑ Battleship North Carolina - Ongoing Projects

See also


External links
North Carolina · Washington
Preceded by: South Dakota class (1920) · Followed by: South Dakota class (1939)
List of battleships of the United States Navy
Historic Sites of North Carolina
Historic Sites

Alamance Battleground • Aycock Birthplace • Historic Bath • Bennett Place • Bentonville Battlefield • Biltmore Estate • Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum • CSS Neuse • Duke Homestead • Historic Edenton • Fort Anderson • Fort Dobbs • Fort Fisher • Historic Halifax • Horne Creek Farm • House in the Horseshoe • North Carolina Transportation Museum • USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial • Old Salem • President James K. Polk Historic Site • Reed Gold Mine • Roanoke Island Festival Park • Somerset Place • Historic Stagville • North Carolina State Capitol • Town Creek Indian Mound • Tryon Palace • Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace • Thomas Wolfe Memorial •
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Keeper of the Register · History of the National Register of Historic Places · Property types · Historic district · Contributing property
List of entries · National Park Service · National Historic Landmarks · National Battlefields · National Historic Sites · National Historical Parks · National Memorials · National Monuments