New York |
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| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS New York |
| Namesake: | The State of New York |
| Operator: | United States Navy |
| Awarded: | 1 May 1911 |
| Builder: | Brooklyn Navy Yard |
| Laid down: | 11 September 1911 |
| Launched: | 30 October 1912 |
| Acquired: | 26 April 1914 |
| Commissioned: | 15 April 1914 |
| Decommissioned: | 29 August 1946 |
| In service: | 1914 |
| Out of service: | 1946 |
| Nickname: | "The Old Lady of the Sea" |
| Fate: | Employed as a target ship in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. Later sunk as a target on 7/8/1948 by aircraft and naval gunfire 40 miles SW of Pearl Harbor |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | New York-class battleship |
| Displacement: | 27,000 tons (standard), 28,367 tons (loaded) |
| Length: | 573 ft (175 m) |
| Beam: | 95.2 ft (29.0 m) |
| Draft: | 28.5 ft (8.7 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,060 nmi (8,120 mi; 13,080 km) @ 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1,042 officers and men |
| Armament: | 10 × 14 in (360 mm) guns, 21 × 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal guns,[2] 4 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Armor: |
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USS New York (BB-34) was a United States Navy battleship, the lead ship of her class of two (Texas being the other). She was the fifth ship to carry her name.
New York was laid down on 11 September 1911 by Brooklyn Navy Yard of New York City. She was launched on 30 October 1912 sponsored by Elsie Calder, and commissioned on 15 April 1914, Captain Thomas S. Rodgers in command. New York saw action in both World Wars, providing gunfire support for amphibious landings at Casablanca in the European Theater, and Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific Theater. She was decommissioned in 1946 and sunk as a target after surviving two atomic bombs tests in 1946.
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Ordered south soon after commissioning, New York was flagship for Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher, commanding the fleet occupying and blockading Veracruz until resolution of the crisis with Mexico in July 1914. New York then headed north for fleet operations along the Atlantic coast as war broke out in Europe.
Upon the entry of the United States into World War I, under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach, Sr., New York sailed as flagship with Battleship Division 9 (BatDiv 9), commanded by Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman to strengthen the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea, arriving Scapa Flow on 7 December 1917. Constituting the 6th Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet, the American ships joined in blockade and escort missions and by their very presence so weighted the Allies' preponderance of naval power as to inhibit the Germans from attempting any major fleet engagements. New York twice encountered U-boats, including a surprise underwater collision that dented her underside and relieved her of two propeller blades, reducing her to one engine and twelve knots. The sub was never seen and presumed lost.
During her World War I service, New York was frequently visited by royal and other high-ranking representatives of the Allies, and she was present for one of the most dramatic moments of the war, the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in the Firth of Forth on 21 November 1918, after which the secondary battery was reduced to 16 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal guns.[2] As a last European mission, New York joined the ships escorting President Woodrow Wilson from an ocean rendezvous, to Brest, France en route to the Versailles Peace Conference.
Returning to a program which alternated individual and fleet exercises with necessary maintenance, New York trained in the Caribbean in spring 1919, and that summer joined the Pacific Fleet at San Diego, her home port for the next 16 years. She trained off Hawaii and the West Coast, occasionally returning to the Atlantic and Caribbean for brief missions or overhauls. By 1937, the anti-aircraft armament included eight 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns and eight 1.1 in (28 mm)/75 cal guns. In 1937, carrying Admiral Hugh Rodman, the President's personal representative for the coronation of King George VI, New York sailed to take part in the Grand Naval Review of 20 May 1937 as sole US Navy representative. New York was fitted with XAF RADAR in February, 1938, including the first United States duplexer so a single antenna could both send and receive.[3]
For much of the following three years, New York trained United States Naval Academy midshipmen and other prospective officers with cruises to Europe, Canada, and the Caribbean, and in mid-1941 she joined the Neutrality Patrol. She escorted troops to Iceland in July 1941, then served as station ship at Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland, protecting the new American base there. From America's entry into World War II, New York guarded Atlantic convoys to Iceland and Scotland when the U-boat menace was gravest, submarine contacts were numerous, but the convoys were brought to harbor intact. In 1942, the secondary battery was reduced to six 5 in (130 mm) guns[2] and the anti-aircraft armament was increased to 10 3 in (76 mm) guns, 24 Bofors 40 mm guns, and 42 Oerlikon 20 mm cannons.
New York brought her big guns to the invasion of North Africa, providing gunfire support at Safi, Morocco on 8 November 1942. She then stood by at Casablanca and Fedhala before returning home for convoy duty escorting men and supplies to North Africa. She then took up duty training gunners for battleships and destroyer escorts in Chesapeake Bay, rendering this service until 10 June 1944, when she began the first of three training cruises for the Naval Academy, voyaging to Trinidad on each.
New York sailed 21 November for the West Coast, arriving at San Pedro, California on 6 December for gunnery training in preparation for amphibious operations. She departed from San Pedro on 12 January 1945, called at Pearl Harbor, and was diverted to Eniwetok to survey screw damage. Nevertheless, despite impaired speed, she joined the Iwo Jima assault force in rehearsals at Saipan. She sailed well ahead of the main body to join in the pre-invasion bombardment of Iwo Jima on 16 February. During the next 3 days, she fired more rounds than any other ship present and made a spectacular direct 14 inch-hit on an enemy ammunition dump. It is estimated she fired 11000 rounds from her main and secondary armament during this time.[4]
Leaving Iwo Jima, New York at last repaired her propellers at Manus, and had speed restored for the assault on Okinawa, which she reached on 27 March to begin 76 consecutive days of action. She fired preinvasion and diversionary bombardments, covered landings, and gave days and nights of close support to troops advancing ashore. She did not go unscathed; a kamikaze grazed her on 14 April, demolishing her spotting plane on its catapult. She left Okinawa on 11 June to regun at Pearl Harbor.
During World War II New York achieved two records for US battleships: longest continuous commission (414 days) and most miles sailed during wartime (123867 nautical miles) – only surpassed by HMS Rodney. She received three battle stars for her service during the War.
New York prepared at Pearl Harbor for the planned invasion of Japan, and after war's end, made a voyage to the West Coast returning veterans and bringing out their replacements. She sailed from Pearl Harbor again on 29 September with passengers for New York, arriving on 19 October. Here she prepared to serve as target ship in Operation Crossroads, the Bikini atomic tests, sailing on 4 March 1946 for the West Coast. She left San Francisco on 1 May, and after calls in Pearl Harbor and Kwajalein, reached Bikini on 15 June. Surviving the surface blast on 1 July and the underwater explosion on 25 July, she was taken into Kwajalein and decommissioned there on 29 August. Later towed to Pearl Harbor, she was studied during the next two years, and on 8 July 1948 was towed out to sea some 40 mi (35 nmi; 64 km) and there sunk after an 8-hour pounding by ships and planes carrying out full-scale battle maneuvers with new weapons. An article in Naval Aviation News (October 1948) described the weapons exercise that USS New York was subjected to:
"The ex-BB's New York and Nevada, having survived the tests at Bikini, were towed from Pearl Harbor to a spot south of Oahu, and there were subjected to an unmerciful pounding by fleet air and surface units. Planes led by the commanding officer of Fleet All Weather Training Unit Pacific (FAWTUPAC), Captain Paul H. Ramsey, USN, were in on both kills. On 7 July 1948 the New York was the first to feel the sting of the fighters and attack aircraft. Twenty-six planes, consisting of two F7F-4Ns, six F8F-1Ns, twelve F6F-5Ns, and six TBM-3Ns dropped a total of 48 500-pound bombs, 40 100-pound bombs, 98 5-inch HVARs and expended 4,100 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition. Twenty-one direct hits were scored with the 500-pound bombs, 20 direct hits were scored with the 100-pound bombs, and 56 direct hits were scored with the 5-inch HVARs. While surface units stood by and submarines waited to close in for the kill, the tired old battlewagon rolled over and sank as the last participating FAWTUPAC planes recovered from their bombing attacks."[5]
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