North Carolina class battleship - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The North Carolina class was a group
Ship class
A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. This is distinct from a ship-type, which might reflect a similarity of tonnage or intended use. For example, the is a nuclear aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class....

of two fast battleship
Fast battleship
Historically, a fast battleship was a battleship which emphasized speed without - in concept - undo compromise of either armor or armament. The term is especially appropriate when applied to a design which was not only faster than the preceding battleship class, but faster than subsequent classes...

s, North Carolina
USS North Carolina (BB-55)
USS North Carolina 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...

and Washington

USS Washington (BB-56)

USS Washington , the second of two battleships in the North Carolina class, was the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 42nd state. Her keel was laid down on 14 June 1938 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Launched on 1 June 1940, Washington went through fitting-out before...

, built for the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The navy was originally uncertain whether the ships should be fast enough to counter the Japanese , which was believed by the United States to be capable of 26 knots (30 mph; 48 km/h), or should sacrifice speed for additional firepower and armor. The Second London Naval Treaty

Second London Naval Treaty

The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in London, the United Kingdom, on 9 December 1935. It resulted in the Second London Naval Treaty which was signed on 25 March 1936.- Description :...

's requirement that all capital ship

Capital ship

The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they generally possess the heaviest firepower and armor and are traditionally much larger than other naval vessels...

s have a standard displacement of under 35,000 long ton

Long ton

Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...

s (35,560 metric tons

Tonne

The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...

) meant that the desired objectives could not be fully realized within the treaty limits, and the navy considered over fifty designs before one was chosen.

Towards the end of this lengthy design period, the General Board of the United States Navy

General Board of the United States Navy

The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, effectively a naval general staff. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by John Davis Long. The order was officially recognized by Congress in 1916...

declared that it was in favor of design "XVI-C", which called for a speed of 30 kn (36.5 mph; 58.8 km/h) and a main battery

Main battery

Generally used only in the terms of naval warfare, the main battery is the primary weapon around which a ship was designed. "Battery" is in itself a common term in the military science of artillery. For example, the United States Navy battleship USS Washington had a main battery of nine guns...

of nine 14 inches (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark B guns

14"/50 caliber gun

The 14"/50 caliber gun was a naval gun mounted on and s. These ships also featured the first "three-gun" turrets, meaning that each gun in each turret could be "individually sleeved" to elevate separately...

. The board believed that such ships could fulfill a multitude of roles, as they would have enough protection to be put into a battle line while also having enough speed to escort aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

s or engage in commerce raiding. However, the acting Secretary of the Navy authorized a modified version of a different design, "XVI", which in its original form had been rejected by the General Board. This called for a 27 kn (32.9 mph; 52.9 km/h) ship with twelve 14-inch rifles in quadruple turrets and protection against guns of the same caliber. In a major departure from traditional American design practices, "XVI" accepted lower speed and protection in exchange for maximum firepower. After construction had begun, the United States became concerned over Japan's refusal to commit to the caliber limit of the Second London Naval Treaty, so they invoked the "escalator clause" of that pact and increased the class' main armament to nine 16 inches (406 mm)/45 Mark 6 caliber guns

16"/45 caliber Mark 6 gun

The 16"/45 caliber Mark 6 gun was a naval gun designed in 1936 by the United States Navy for their Treaty battleships. It was first introduced in 1941 aboard their North Carolina-class battleships, replacing the originally intended 14"/50 caliber Mark B guns and was also used for the followup South...

from the original twelve 14-inch guns.

Both North Carolina and Washington saw extensive service during World War II in a variety of roles, primarily in the Pacific theater. North Carolina frequently acted as an escort for the fast carrier task forces, and also conducted shore bombardments. In 1942, during the naval battle of Guadalcanal
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, sometimes referred to as the Third and Fourth Battles of Savo Island, the Battle of the Solomons, The Battle of Friday the 13th, or, in Japanese sources, as the , took place from 12–15 November 1942, and was the decisive engagement in a series of naval battles...

, Washington heavily damaged the Japanese battleship in a chaotic night engagement; Kirishima had to be scuttled
Scuttling
Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...

the next day. She also served as a carrier escort. In February 1943, she collided with the battleship and suffered severe damage to her bow. Following repairs, Washington rejoined her sister
Sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...

for the Battle of the Philippine Sea
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...

. After the end of the war, both ships took part in Operation Magic Carpet, the withdrawal of American military personnel from overseas deployments. The vessels were laid up in the reserve fleet until the early 1960s, when North Carolina was sold to her home state
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

as a museum ship
Museum ship
A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...

, and Washington was broken up
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...

for scrap.

Background
After the end of the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, many navies continued and expanded construction programs that had begun during the conflict. The United States' 1916 program called for six battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

s and five South Dakota-class battleships

South Dakota class battleship (1920)

The first South Dakota class was a class of six battleships, laid down in 1920 but never completed. These battleships would have been the last dreadnoughts to be commissioned, if the Washington Naval Treaty not caused their cancellation one-third of the way through their construction, they would...

; in December 1918, it was proposed by the government of President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

that ten battleships and six battlecruisers be built in addition to this. 1919–1920 General Board

General Board of the United States Navy

proposals planned for smaller, but still significant, acquisitions beyond the 1916 plan: two battleships and a battlecruiser for the fiscal year 1921 and three battleships, a battlecruiser, four aircraft carriers and thirty destroyers between the fiscal years 1922 and 1924. The United Kingdom was in the final stages of ordering eight capital ships (the G3 battlecruiser

G3 battlecruiser

The G3 battlecruisers were a class of battlecruisers planned by the Royal Navy after the end of World War I in response to naval expansion programs by the United States and Japan. The four ships of this class would have been larger, faster and more heavily-armed than any existing battleship...

s, the first's keel laying in 1921, and N3 battleships

N3 class battleship

The N3 class was a dreadnought battleship class designed for the Royal Navy after World War I, incorporating all the lessons learned from that conflict. They were very similar in design to the s, but had larger guns and thicker armour...

, to be laid down beginning in 1922). Imperial Japan

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

was, by 1920, attempting to build up to an 8-8 standard

Eight-eight fleet

The was a Japanese naval strategy formulated for the development of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the first quarter of the 20th century, which laid down that the Japanese navy should include eight first-class battleships and eight armoured cruisers or battlecruisers.-History and development:The...

with the , , , and classes. Two ships from these designs would be laid down per year until 1928.

With the enormous costs associated with such programs, pressure mounted to begin a disarmament conference. On 8 July 1921, the United States' Secretary of State

United States Secretary of State

The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

Charles Evans Hughes

Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...

did just that when he invited delegations from the major maritime powers—France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom—to come together in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

to discuss, and hopefully end, the naval arms race. The subsequent Washington Naval Conference

Washington Naval Conference

The Washington Naval Conference also called the Washington Arms Conference, was a military conference called by President Warren G. Harding and held in Washington from 12 November 1921 to 6 February 1922. Conducted outside the auspices of the League of Nations, it was attended by nine nations...

resulted in the Washington Naval Treaty

Washington Naval Treaty

The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...

. Along with many other provisions, it limited all future battleships to a standard displacement of 35000 LT (35,561.8 t; 39,200.1 ST) and a maximum gun caliber of 16 inches (406 mm). It also decreed that the five countries could not construct another capital ship for ten years and could not replace any ship that survived the treaty until it was at least twenty years old.

The Second London Naval Treaty

Second London Naval Treaty

, while superseding the 1922 agreement, nonetheless kept many of the same requirements, though it restricted gun size on new warships to 14 inches (356 mm). These treaties heavily influenced the design of the North Carolina class, as can be attested to in the long quest to find a ship that incorporated everything considered to be necessary while remaining under 35,000 long tons.

"A"–"M"

The General Board began preparations for a new class

Ship class

A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. This is distinct from a ship-type, which might reflect a similarity of tonnage or intended use. For example, the is a nuclear aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class....

of battleships in May–July 1935. Three design studies were submitted to them: "A" would be 32150 LT (32,666 t) armed with nine 14 inches (356 mm) guns in triple turrets

Gun turret

A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...

—all forward of the bridge—capable of 30 kn (36.5 mph; 58.8 km/h), and armored against 14-inch shells; "B" and "C" would both be over 36000 LT (36,577.8 t), able to reach 30.5 kn (37.1 mph; 59.8 km/h) and armored against 14-inch shells—the major difference between the two was the planned main battery

Main battery

, as "B" had twelve 14-inch guns in triple turrets, while "C" had eight 16 inches (406 mm)/45-caliber guns

16"/45 caliber Mark 6 gun

in dual turrets. "A" was the only one to remain within the 35000 LT (35,561.8 t) displacement

Displacement (ship)

A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...

limit set in the Washington Naval Treaty and reaffirmed in the Second London Naval Treaty. When the Bureau of Ordnance

Bureau of Ordnance

The Bureau of Ordnance was the U.S. Navy's organization responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval ordnance, between the years 1862 and 1959.-History:...

introduced a "super-heavy" 16-inch shell, the ships were redesigned ("A1", "B1" and "C1") in an attempt to provide protection against it, but this introduced severe weight problems: "A1" was only 500 LT (508 t) below the 35,000-ton limit, while the other two were close to 40000 LT (40,642 t).

Although these original three studies were all fast battleship

Fast battleship

Historically, a fast battleship was a battleship which emphasized speed without - in concept - undo compromise of either armor or armament. The term is especially appropriate when applied to a design which was not only faster than the preceding battleship class, but faster than subsequent classes...

s, the General Board was not definitively committed to the higher maximum speeds. It posed questions to the Naval War College

Naval War College

The Naval War College is an education and research institution of the United States Navy that specializes in developing ideas for naval warfare and passing them along to officers of the Navy. The college is located on the grounds of Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island...

, asking for their opinion as to whether the new class should be a "conventional" 23 kn (28 mph; 45.1 km/h) ship with an eight-nine, 16-inch main battery, or rather one akin to "A", "B" or "C".

Five more design studies were produced in late September, "D" through "H"; they had characteristics of 23–30.5 knots, eight or nine 14- or 16-inch guns, and a standard displacement between 31500 LT (32,005.6 t) and 40500 LT (41,150 t). "D" and "E" were attempts at fast battleships with 16-inch guns and protections against the same, but their displacement was greater than the Washington Naval Treaty allowed. "F" was a radical attempt at a hybrid battleship-carrier, with three catapults mounted fore

Bow (ship)

The bow is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow...

and eight 14-inch guns aft

Aft

Aft, in naval terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning, towards the stern of the ship, when the frame of reference is within the ship. Example: "Able Seaman Smith; lay aft!". Or; "What's happening aft?"...

. Reportedly it was favored by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

, but as aircraft launched from catapults were necessarily inferior to most carrier- or land-based aircraft because of their floats

Floats (nautical)

Floats are airtight hollow structures, similar to pressure vessels, whose air-filled interior makes them buoyant in water. They are most often used to make up the multipart hulls of trimarans, small open catamarans, and floatplanes . Their main purpose is to supply buoyancy, not storage space...

, nothing came of the design. "G" and "H" were slower 23-knot ships with nine 14-inch guns; in particular, "H" was thought to be a very well balanced design by the Preliminary Design section of the Bureau of Construction and Repair

Bureau of Construction and Repair

The Bureau of Construction and Repair was the part of the United States Navy which from 1862 to 1940 was responsible for supervising the design, construction, conversion, procurement, maintenance, and repair of ships and other craft for the Navy...

. However, the General Board now desired "fast, multipurpose ships", which "G" and "H" were not.
These studies demonstrated the difficulty the designers faced. With a displacement of 35,000 tons, there were two basic choices: a ship similar to "A1" which was faster (30 knots) but more lightly armed and armored than contemporary battleships or one which was slower but armed with heavier guns—although fitting in protection against 16-inch guns would be extremely difficult. Preliminary Design drew up five more studies in October, "J", "J1", "K", "L" and "M", based upon either "A" with additional armor or a scaled-down "B"; all utilized 14-inch guns and called for 30 or 30.5 knots. The first two would use four turrets, but it was felt that an arrangement with these were too heavy and would necessitate a lower and unacceptable amount of armor. "K" was the aforementioned development of "A1", having a 15 inches (381 mm) belt

Belt armor

Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....

and 5.25 inches (133.4 mm) deck and a 19000 – immune zone against the United States' super-heavy 14-inch shell. While "K" was liked within the Navy, its designed standard displacement of 35,000 tons left little room for error or any modifications and improvements to the design. Both "L" and "M" would use quadruple turrets to save weight (similar to the French ) while still mounting 12 guns; the only difference was that "M" saved 200 LT (203.2 t) by having one turret aft rather than all three fore. This design change increased the deck armor to 4.75 inches (120.7 mm), rather than the 4.5 inches (114.3 mm) in "L". Cuts to various parts of the armor were accepted to ensure that the design was under the treaty limit; even so, both were close, and "L" was 45 LT (45.7 t) over.

Many officers in the United States Navy supported the construction of three or four battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

-type ships for carrier escorts and to counter Japan's . These included the acting Secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations

Chief of Naval Operations

The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...

Admiral William Standley

William Harrison Standley

William Harrison Standley was a U.S. admiral. He served as the Chief of Naval Operations between 1933 and 1937. He also served as the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1941 until 1943.-Biography:...

, the president of the Naval War College Admiral William S. Pye

William S. Pye

Vice Admiral William Satterlee Pye, United States Navy, was an Admiral in the U.S. Navy who served in World Wars I and II. His last active-duty appointment was as President of the Naval War College, 1942-1945...

, a small majority (9–7) of senior officers at sea, and five of six line officers engaged in strategic planning as part of the War Plans Division, although at least one officer believed that an aerial attack would also be capable of sinking the Kongos. With the above recommendations, the General Board selected "K" to undergo further development.

At least 35 different designs were proposed. All numbered with Roman numerals, the first five ("I"–"V", variations upon "K") were completed on 15 November 1935. They were the first to employ "paper" weight reductions: not counting certain weights in the ship's 35,000 long ton limit that were not specifically part of the definition of standard displacement. In this case, even though there was designed storage room for 100 shells per main battery gun and an extra 100 rounds, the weight of the rounds did not figure toward the treaty-mandated limit.

"I"–"XVI-D"

"I" through "XVI-D" varied greatly in everything but their standard displacements and speeds. "II" called for 35743 LT (36,316.7 t), every other design called for 35,000 long tons, and only five planned for a top speed of under 27 kn (32.9 mph; 52.9 km/h); of those, only one was lower than 26.5 kn (32.3 mph; 51.9 km/h): "VII", with 22 kn (26.8 mph; 43.1 km/h). "VII" returned to a lower speed to obtain more firepower (twelve 14-inch guns in triple turrets) and protection; as such, the design called for only 50,000 shaft horsepower (shp) and a length of only 640 ft (195.1 m). Most other plans called for 710 ft (216.4 m) or 725 ft (221 m), although six had lengths between 660 ft (201.2 m) and 690 ft (210.3 m). The first eight designs ("I"–"IV-C") carried nine 14-inch guns, but many other combinations were tried, including eight 14-inch in two quadruple turrets (one design, "V", even planned for two quadruple 16-inch), eight 14-inch guns in four dual turrets ("VIA" and "VIB"), and ten, eleven or twelve 14-inch guns.
The "XVI" version of 20 August 1936 was a 27-knot, 714 ft (217.6 m)-long ship that the Bureau of Ordnance found many problems in. Model tests showed at high speeds, waves generated by the design of the hull would leave some lower parts of the ship uncovered—including the magazines. To complicate the issue, the Bureau found low or underwater shell hits could be a serious problem when fighting at ranges between 20,000 yd (10 nmi (11.5 mi; 18.5 km)) and 30,000 yd (15 nmi (17.3 mi; 27.8 km)). Other problems included a fear defense against aircraft-dropped bombs was inadequate because, in the Bureau's view, the formula used to calculate its effectiveness was not realistic, and a tapering of a fore bulkhead below the waterline was a bad idea because of the underwater shell hit problems; the mostly unarmored bow could easily be penetrated by these. The solutions for these issues were all impractical; added patches of armor around the magazines could neutralize the torpedo-defense system's effectiveness, and deepening the belt near the bow and stern would put the ships over the 35,000 long ton limit. The General Board detested this design, saying it was "not ... a true battleship" due to its speed and armor problems.

To address these problems, a final set of designs, "XVI-B"–"XVI-D", was presented by Preliminary Design in October 1936. They were modifications of the "XVI" plan for a ship that was 714 ft. long, had twelve 14 in (356 mm) guns in three quadruple turrets, a belt of 11.2 inches (284.5 mm) sloped at , and a deck 5.1 inches (129.5 mm) to 5.6 inches (142.2 mm) thick. In the final set, length was fixed at 725 ft (221 m) for greater speed, but this meant only eleven 14-inch guns could be mounted with a thin 10.1 inches (256.5 mm) belt. Alternatively, one gun could be traded for a 13.5 inches (342.9 mm) belt, and another could be swapped for a 30-knot speed and one more tenth of an inch of belt armor; this became design "XVI-C". The General Board liked "XVI-C" very much, seeing in it a ship that had enough protection to fight—and survive—in a battle line formed with the older battleships while also having enough speed to operate in a detached wing with, for example, aircraft carrier or cruiser commerce raiding groups.

However, one member of the Board, Admiral Joseph Reeves

Joseph M. Reeves

Joseph Mason "Bull" Reeves was an admiral in the United States Navy, who was an early and important supporter of U.S. Naval Aviation...

—who had previously been one of the principal developers of the United States' aircraft carrier strategy—disliked "XVI-C" because he believed that it was not fast enough to work with the 33 kn (40.2 mph; 64.7 km/h) fast carriers, and it was not powerful enough to justify its cost. Instead, he advocated a development of the previously-rejected "XVI", adding additional underwater protection and patches of armor within the ship to make the magazines immune to above- and below-water shell hits from 19,000 yd (9.5 nmi (10.9 mi; 17.6 km) and beyond. The immune zone's outer limit was increased from 28,200 yd (14 nmi (16.1 mi; 25.9 km))) to 30,000 yd (15 nmi (17.3 mi; 27.8 km)). After further revisions, Reeves went to Admiral William Standley

William Harrison Standley

, the Chief of Naval Operations, who approved "XVI" in its newly modified form over the hopes of the General Board, who still thought that "XVI-C" should be built. Standley's only addition to the characteristics was provision for a switch from quadruple 14-inch to triple 16 in (406 mm) turrets if the "escalator clause" in the Second London Naval Treaty

Second London Naval Treaty

was invoked.

The "escalator clause"

Although the Second London Naval Treaty had stipulated that 14-inches was the largest a gun could be on any warship, a so-called "escalator clause" was included at the urging of American negotiators in case all of the countries that had signed the Washington Naval Treaty

Washington Naval Treaty

refused to adhere to this new limit. This provision allowed the signatory countries of the Second London Treaty—France, the United Kingdom and the United States—to raise the limit from 14-inch guns to 16-inch if Japan or Italy still refused to sign after 1 April 1937. When figuring potential configurations for the North Carolinas, designers focused most of their planning on 14-inch weaponry; Standley's requirement meant that a switch from 14- to 16-inch, even after the ships' keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

s had been laid, was possible. Japan formally rejected the 14-inch limit on 27 March 1937, meaning that the "escalator clause" could be invoked. There were hurdles that still needed to be overcome, though: Roosevelt was under heavy political pressure and, as a result, was reluctant to allow the 16-inch gun.
Admiral Reeves also came out strongly in favor of the larger weapon. In a two-page letter to Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson

Claude A. Swanson

Claude Augustus Swanson was an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Virginia.He served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1893 until 1906, was the 45th Governor of Virginia from 1906 until 1910, and represented Virginia as a United States Senator from 1910 until...

and indirectly to Roosevelt, Reeves argued that the 16-inch gun's significantly greater armor penetration was of paramount importance, drawing examples from the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

's Battle of Jutland

Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...

, where some battleships were able to survive ten or twenty hits from large guns, but other battlecruisers were blown up in three to seven hits because the shells were able to cut through the armor protecting magazines and turrets. Reeves also argued that the larger gun would favor the "indirect method" of shooting then being developed, where airplanes would be used to relay targeting information to allied battleships so that they could bombard targets that were out of their sight or over the horizon, because new battleships being built by foreign powers would have more armor. Reeves believed that if the 14-inch gun was adopted, it would not be able to penetrate this larger amount of protection, whereas the 16-inch would be able to break through.

In a final vain attempt, Roosevelt's Secretary of State

United States Secretary of State

Cordell Hull

Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...

sent a telegram on 4 June to the Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew

Joseph Grew

Joseph Clark Grew was a United States diplomat and career foreign service officer. He was the chargé d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Vienna when Austria-Hungary severed diplomatic relations with the United States on April 9, 1917. Later he was the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark 1920–1921 and U.S....

instructing him that the United States would still accept a cap of 14-inch guns if he could get Japan to as well. The Japanese replied that they could not accept this unless the number of battleships was also limited; they wanted the United States and the United Kingdom to agree to having an equal number of battleships with Japan, but this was a condition that the two countries refused to accept. On 24 June, the two North Carolinas were ordered with the 14-inch weapons, but on 10 July, Roosevelt directed that they be armed with triple 16-inch instead.

Specifications

Armament
The two North Carolinas were principally armed with nine 16 inches (406 mm)/45

16"/45 caliber Mark 6 gun

caliber (cal) Mark 6 and twenty 5 inches (127 mm)/38 cal Mark 28 Mod 0 guns. Their lighter armament consisted of varying numbers of 1.1 inches (27.9 mm), .50 caliber machine guns, Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...

Main battery

Mounted on both the North Carolina class and the follow-up South Dakota class

South Dakota class battleship (1939)

The South Dakota-class was a group of four fast battleships built by the United States Navy. They were the second class of battleships to be named after the 40th State; the first class was designed in the 1920s and canceled under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. The class comprised four...

, the nine 16 in/45 were improved versions of the guns mounted on the s, hence the designation of "Mark 6". A major alteration from the older guns was the Mark 6's ability to fire a new 2700 pounds (1,224.7 kg) armor piercing (AP) shell

Armor-piercing shot and shell

An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions...

developed by the Bureau of Ordnance. At full charge with a brand-new gun, the heavy shell would be expelled at a muzzle velocity

Muzzle velocity

Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...

of 2,300 feet per second (701 m/s); at a reduced charge, the same shell would be fired at 1,800 f/s (549 m/s). Barrel life—the approximate number of rounds a gun could fire before needing to be relined or replaced—was 395 shells when using AP, although if only practice shots were used this figure was significantly higher: 2,860. Turning at 4 degrees a second, each turret could train to 150 degrees on either side of the ship. The guns could be elevated to a maximum inclination of 45 degrees; turrets one and three could depress to −2 degrees, but due to its superfiring

Superfire

The idea of superfire is to locate two turrets in a row, one behind the other, but with the second turret located above the one in front so that the second turret could fire over the first...

position, the guns on turret two could only depress to 0 degrees.

Each gun was 736 inches (18,694.4 mm) long overall; its bore

Gauge (bore diameter)

The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the diameter of the barrel. Gauge is determined from the weight of a solid sphere of lead that will fit the bore of the firearm, and is expressed as the multiplicative inverse of the sphere's weight as a fraction of a pound . Thus...

and rifling

Rifling

Rifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...

length were 720 inches (18,288 mm) and 616.9 inches (15,669.3 mm), respectively. Maximum range with the heavy AP shell was obtained at an inclination of 45 degrees: 36900 yd (21 mi; 33.7 km). At the same elevation a lighter 1900 pounds (861.8 kg) high capacity (HC) shell would travel 40180 yd (22.8 mi; 36.7 km). The guns weighed 192,310 lb (87,230 kg; 86 long tons) not including the breech; the turrets weighed slightly over 3,100,000 lb (1,410,000 kg; 1400 long tons).

When firing the same shell, the 16 in/45 Mark 6 had a slight advantage over the 16 in/50 Mark 7 when hitting deck armor—a shell from a 45 cal gun would be slower, meaning that it would have a steeper trajectory as it descended. At 35000 yd (19.9 mi; 32 km), a shell from a 45 cal would strike a ship at an angle of 45.2 degrees, as opposed to 36 degrees with the 50 cal.

Secondary battery

The North Carolinas carried ten twin enclosed base ring mounts supporting 5 in/38 caliber Mark 28 Mod 0 guns. Originally designed to be mounted upon destroyers built in the 1930s, these guns were so successful that they were added to a myriad of American ships during the Second World War, including every major ship type and many smaller warships constructed between 1934 and 1945. They were considered to be "highly reliable, robust and accurate" by the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance

Bureau of Ordnance

The Bureau of Ordnance was the U.S. Navy's organization responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval ordnance, between the years 1862 and 1959.-History:...

.

The 5 in/38 functioned as a dual purpose gun

Dual purpose gun

A dual purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets.-Description:Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and cruisers ; a secondary battery for use against enemy...

; that is, it was able to fire at both surface and air targets with reasonable degrees of success. However, this did not mean that it possessed inferior anti-air abilities; as established during 1941 gunnery tests conducted on board North Carolina, the gun possessed the ability to consistently shoot down aircraft flying at 12000 –, which was twice as far as the effective range of the earlier single purpose 5 in/25 anti-air gun.

Each 5 in/38 weighed almost 4000 pounds (1,814.4 kg) without the breech; the entire mount weighed 156295 pounds (70,894.2 kg). It was 223.8 inches (5,684.5 mm) long overall, had a bore length of 190 inches (4,826 mm), and had a rifling length of 157.2 inches (3,992.9 mm). The gun could fire shells at about 2,500–2,600 ft/s (762–792 m/s); about 4,600 could be fired before the barrel needed to be replaced. Minimum and maximum elevations were −15 and 85 degrees, respectively. The guns' elevation could be raised or lowered at about 15 degrees per second. The mounts closest to the bow and stern could aim from −150 to 150 degrees; the others were restricted to −80 to 80 degrees. They could be turned at about 25 degrees per second.

Smaller weaponry

The remaining weaponry on board the two North Carolinas was composed of differing numbers of 1.1 inches (27.9 mm), .50 caliber machine guns, Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...

guns. Although the ships were originally designed to carry only four quadruple 1.1 in and twelve .50 caliber, this was greatly increased and upgraded during the war.

On both ships, two more quadruple sets of 1.1 in guns were added in place of two searchlights amidships. After she was torpedoed in 1942, North Carolina had these removed and ten quadruple sets of 40 mm guns added. Fourteen were present by June 1943, while a fifteenth mount was added on top of the third main turret that November. Washington retained her six 1.1 in quads until the middle of 1943, when ten quad 40 mm guns replaced them. By August, she had fifteen. The two ships carried these through to the close of the war.

The .50 caliber machine guns did not have the range or power needed to combat modern aircraft and were scheduled for replacement by equal numbers of 20 mm guns, but nothing immediately came of the proposal. In fact, both North Carolina and Washington carried 20 mm and .50 caliber guns for most of 1942. In April, North Carolina had, respectively, forty and twelve, while Washington had twenty and twelve. Two months later, the number of 20 mm guns remained the same, but twelve .50 caliber guns had been added. By September, Washington had twenty more 20 mm guns added, for a total of forty, but five were removed—along with all of the .50 caliber guns—shortly thereafter when two quadruple sets of 1.1 in guns were added. In her refit after being torpedoed, North Carolina had an additional six 20 mm guns added and all of her .50 caliber weapons removed. Washington had sixty-four 20 mm weapons by April 1943, prior to one single mount being replaced by a quadruple mount, and North Carolina had fifty-three by March 1944. In April 1945, North Carolina was assigned to have fifty-six 20 mm, while Washington was assigned seventy-five. In August 1945, the ships both had eight twin 20 mm mounts; North Carolina also carried twenty single, while Washington carried one quad and sixty-three single.

Electronics
Both North Carolina and Washington, designed prior to radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

, were originally fitted with many fire-control

Fire-control system

A fire-control system is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a weapon system in hitting its target. It performs the same task as a human gunner firing a weapon, but attempts to do so faster and more...

and navigational optical range-finders. The former lasted until 1944, when it was replaced by a Mark 27 microwave radar—though it was supplemented by a Mark 3 main armament fire control radar. The range-finders were removed in favor of additional 20 mm guns sometime between the end of 1941 and mid-1942. In addition, the ships were commissioned with two Mark 38 directors and were originally fitted with a CXAM

CXAM radar

The CXAM radar system was the first production radar system deployed on United States Navy ships. It followed several earlier prototype systems, such as the NRL radar installed in April 1937 on the destroyer ; its successor, the XAF, installed in December 1938 on the battleship ; and the first...

air search, two Mark 3s and three Mark 4 secondary armament.

By November 1942, North Carolina had an additional Mark 4 and a SG surface search radar added. The normal battleship configuration was present aboard North Carolina in April 1944, with SK and SG radars (air and surface search, respectively), a backup SG, and Mark 8s to direct her main battery. All of the Mark 4s remained for the secondary battery, and one of the older Mark 3s was still present, possibly as a backup for the Mark 8s. An SK-2 dish replaced the older SK radar and Mark 12s and 22s superseded the Mark 4s in September of that year. Aside from never receiving an SK-2, Washington was the recipient of similar upgrades.

Both ships underwent extensive refits near the end or after the war; North Carolina received a secondary air search set (SR) and a SCR-720 zenith search radar on the forward funnel. At the end of the war, she had an SP surface-search, a SK-2 air-search, a Mark 38 main battery fire control system with Mark 13 and 27 radars, a Mark 37 secondary battery fire control system with Mark 12, 22 and 32 radars, and a Mark 57 smaller weaponry fire control system, with a Mark 34 radar. In March 1946, Washington had a SK fore and a SR aft, a SG both fore and aft, and a TDY jammer (which could scramble radar on other ships).

Propulsion
The ships in the North Carolina class were equipped with four General Electric geared turbines
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....

and eight Babcock & Wilcox three-drum express type boilers. The ships' powerplant incorporated several recent developments in turbine equipment, including double helical reduction gears and high-pressure steam technology. North Carolinas boilers supplied steam at 575 pounds per square inch

Pounds per square inch

The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units...

and as hot as 850 °F (454.4 °C). To meet the design requirement of 27 knots, the engine system was originally designed to supply 115,000 shaft horsepower (shp), but the new technologies increased this output to 121,000 shp. Despite this increase, the maximum speed for the ships did not change, since the modifications to the powerplant were incorporated later in the design process. The turbines that had already been installed could not fully take advantage of the higher pressure and temperature steam, and so the level of efficiency was not as high as it should have been. When going astern, the engines provided 32,000 shp.
The engine system was divided into four engine rooms, all on the centerline. Each room contained a turbine and two boilers, without any division between the boilers and turbines. This was done to limit the risk of capsizing should the ship sustain heavy flooding in the engine rooms. The engine rooms alternated in their layout: the first and third engine rooms were arranged with the turbine on the starboard side and its corresponding boilers on the port, this was reversed in the second and fourth rooms. The forward-most engine room powered the starboard outer shaft, the second turbine drove the outer screw on the port side, the third engine supplied power to the inner starboard propeller, and the fourth turbine drove the port-side inner screw. All four screws had four blades; the two outer propellers were 15 ft 4 in (4.674 m) in diameter and the inner pair were 16 ft 7.5 in (5.067 m) wide. Steering was controlled by a pair of rudders.

At the time of their commissioning, the ships had a top speed of 28 kn (34.1 mph; 54.9 km/h), though by 1945, with the addition of other equipment, such as anti-aircraft weaponry, their maximum speed was reduced to 26.8 kn (32.6 mph; 52.5 km/h). The increases in weight also reduced the ships' cruising range. In 1941, the ships could steam for 17450 nautical miles (32,317.4 km) at a cruising speed of 15 kn (18.3 mph; 29.4 km/h); by 1945, the range at that speed was reduced to 16320 nmi (30,224.6 km). At 25 kn (30.4 mph; 49 km/h), the range was considerably lower, at 5740 nmi (10,630.5 km).

Electrical power was supplied by eight generators. Four were turbo-generators designed for naval use; these provided 1,250 kilowatts each. The other four were diesel generators that supplied 850 kilowatts each. Two smaller diesel generators—each provided 200 kilowatts—supplied emergency power should the main system be damaged. Total electrical output was 8,400 kilowatts, not including the emergency generators, at 450 volt

Volt

The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...

s on an alternating current

Alternating current

In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....

Armor

North Carolina and Washington incorporated "all or nothing" armor which weighed 41% of the total displacement; it consisted of an "armored raft" that extended from just forward of the first gun turret to just aft of the rear gun turret. They had a main armored belt that was 12 inches (304.8 mm) thick amidships, inclined at 15°, and backed by 0.75 inches (19.1 mm) Special Treatment Steel (STS). This tapered down to 6 inches (152.4 mm) on the lower edge of the belt. The ships had three armored decks; the main deck was 1.45 inches (36.8 mm) thick, the second, thickest deck was 5 inches (127 mm), and the third and thinnest deck was 0.62 inches (15.7 mm) thick. The first deck was designed to cause delay-fuzed projectiles to detonate, while the thicker second belt would protect the ships' internals. The third deck was intended to protect against shell splinters that might have penetrated the second deck; it also acted as the upper support for the torpedo bulkhead

Torpedo bulkhead

A torpedo bulkhead is a type of armor common on the more heavily armored warships, especially battleships and battlecruisers of the early 20th century. It is designed to keep the ship afloat even if the hull was struck underneath the belt armor by a shell or by a torpedo...

s. The conning tower

Conning tower

A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....

was connected to the armored citadel by a 14 inches (355.6 mm) thick communications tube. Armor thickness for the conning tower itself ranged from 16 inches (406.4 mm) on both sides to 14.7 inches (373.4 mm) on the front and rear. The roof was 7 inches (177.8 mm) thick and the bottom was 3.9 inches (99.1 mm) thick.

The main battery turrets were heavily armored: the turret faces were 16 inches (406.4 mm) thick, the sides were 9 inches (228.6 mm) thick, the rear sides were 11.8 inches (299.7 mm) thick, and the roofs were 7 inches (177.8 mm) thick. 16 inches (406.4 mm) armor was the maximum width factories were able to produce at the time of the ships' design; by 1939, however, it was possible to create 18 in-thick plates. These were not installed because it was estimated that the conversion would delay completion of the ships by 6 to 8 months. The barbette

Barbette

A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...

s that held the turrets were also strongly protected. The front portion was 14.7 inches (373.4 mm), the sides increased to 16 inches (406.4 mm), and the rear portion reduced to 11.5 inches (292.1 mm). The 5-inch gun turrets, along with their ammunition magazines, were armored with 1.95 inches (49.5 mm) STS plates.

The side protection system incorporated five compartments divided by torpedo bulkhead

Torpedo bulkhead

s and a large anti-torpedo bulge

Anti-torpedo bulge

The anti-torpedo bulge is a form of passive defence against naval torpedoes that featured in warship construction in the period between the First and Second World Wars.-Theory and form:...

that ran the length of the "armored raft". The outer two compartments, the innermost compartment and the bulge would remain empty, while the third and fourth compartments would be filled with liquid. The system was reduced in depth at either end by the forward and rear gun turrets. In these areas, the fifth compartment was deleted; instead, there was an outer empty compartment and two liquid-filled spaces, backed by another empty compartment. To compensate for the reduced underwater protection system, these sections received additional armor plating, up to 3.75 inches (95.3 mm) in thickness. The complete system was designed to withstand warheads of up to 700 lb (317.5 kg) of TNT. Underwater protection was rounded out by a triple bottom that was 5.75 ft (1.8 m) deep. The bottom layer was 3 ft (0.9144 m) thick and was kept filled with fluid, while the upper 2.75 inches (69.9 mm) thick layer was kept empty. The triple bottom was also heavily subdivided to prevent catastrophic flooding should the upper layer be penetrated.

Service

Construction

Two ships, each to cost about $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

50 million, were authorized in January 1937. Five shipyards submitted bids to build one of the two planned ships. Three were privately-run corporations: Bethlehem Shipbuilding

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation

Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when Bethlehem Steel Corporation acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works in 1905...

, New York Shipbuilding

New York Shipbuilding

The New York Shipbuilding Corporation was founded in 1899 and opened its first shipyard in 1900. Located in Camden, New Jersey on the east shore of the Delaware River, New York Ship built more than 500 vessels for the U.S...

and Newport News Shipbuilding. The other two, the New York Naval Shipyard

Brooklyn Navy Yard

The United States Navy Yard, New York–better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard –was an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan...

and Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

The Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...

, were run by the government. When bids were reviewed, the privately run shipyards' submissions ranged from $46 to 50 million, while their government counterparts came in at $37 million. Newport News was unique among these in refusing any fixed monetary value in favor of a "cost-plus %" price, but this led to the rejection of their bid out of hand.

The bids from private companies were heavily influenced by the legislation of the New Deal

New Deal

The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...

. The Vincent-Trammell Act limited profit from a ship's construction to 10 percent, while the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act

Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act

The Walsh-Healey Act or Walsh–Healey Public Contracts Act, passed in 1936 as part of the New Deal, is a United States federal law that applies to U.S. government contracts exceeding $10,000 for the manufacture or furnishing of goods...

specified a minimum wage

Minimum wage in the United States

, the federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour. Some states and municipalities have set minimum wages higher than the federal level , with the highest state minimum wage being $8.67 in Washington. Some U.S. territories are exempt...

and required working conditions for workers. The latter act greatly affected the ability of the navy to acquire steel, as the text of the law caused friction between executives in the industry, who greatly disliked the forty-hour work week and minimum wage requirements, and their workers—who themselves were embroiled in a separate dispute pitting the union of the skilled workers, the American Federation of Labor

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...

, against the union of the unskilled, the Congress of Industrial Organizations

Congress of Industrial Organizations

The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...

. Amid the unrest, the navy ran into difficulties trying to acquire 18 million pounds of steel to build six destroyers and three submarines; many more pounds than this would be needed for the new battleships.

These problems, combined with design modifications and labor issues in the shipyards—like a strike at the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company

Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company

The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1949. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Operated by a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, the shipyard was located at...

, which was building two destroyers for the navy at the time—increased the price of the battleships to $60 million each. Despite the steep rise in cost, the Bureau of Steam Engineering

Bureau of Steam Engineering

Bureau of Steam Engineering was set up by act of 5 July 1862, receiving some of the duties of the former Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repair. It became, by the Naval Appropriation Act of 4 June 1920, the Bureau of Engineering...

and Bureau of Construction and Repair

Bureau of Construction and Repair

recommended to their superiors that the tenders from the two navy yards be accepted. This was confirmed, as the private shipyards' bids were seen as grossly inflated. The contracts for North Carolina and Washington—names had been officially chosen on 3 May 1937—were sent to the New York and Philadelphia yards, respectively, on 24 June 1937. Shortly after this announcement, Roosevelt was bombarded with heavy lobbying from citizens and politicians from Camden

Camden, New Jersey

The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...

and the state of New Jersey, in an ultimately futile attempt to have the construction of North Carolina shifted to Camden's New York Shipbuilding; such a contract would keep many men employed in that area. Roosevelt refused, saying that the disparity in price was too great. Instead, the company was awarded two destroyer tender

Destroyer tender

A destroyer tender is a ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of the 20th century as the roles of small combatants have evolved .Due to the increased size and automation of...

s in December 1937, and .

Construction of the North Carolina class was slowed by the aforementioned material issues, the changes made to the basic design after this date—namely the substitution of 16-inch for 14-inch guns—and the need to add both length and strength to the slipway

Slipway

A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...

s already present in the navy yards. Increased use of welding was proposed as a possible way to reduce weight and bolster the structural design, as it could have reduced the ships' structural weight by 10%, but it was only utilized in about 30% of the ship. The costs associated with welding and an increase in the time of construction made it impractical.

North Carolina

was laid down on 27 October 1937, the first battleship begun by the United States since the of the late 1910s and early 1920s. Although North Carolina was launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

on 13 June 1940 and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

on 9 April 1941, she did not go on active duty because of acute longitudinal vibrations from her propeller shafts. A problem shared with her sister Washington and some other ships like , it was only cured after different propellers were tested aboard North Carolina, including four-bladed and cut-down versions of the original three-bladed. This testing required her to be at sea, and the many resulting trips out of New York Harbor

New York Harbor

New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...

to the Atlantic Ocean caused her to be nickname

Nickname

A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

d "The Showboat

Showboat

A showboat, or show boat, was a form of theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers . A showboat was basically a barge that resembled a long, flat-roofed house, and in order to move down the river, it was pushed by a small tugboat...

".

After a shakedown cruise

Shakedown cruise

Shakedown cruise is a nautical term in which the performance of a ship is tested. Shakedown cruises are also used to familiarize the ship's crew with operation of the craft....

in the Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

and participation in war exercises, North Carolina transited the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

en route to the Pacific War

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

. Joining Task Force (TF) 16, the battleship escorted the aircraft carrier during the invasions of Guadacanal

Guadalcanal campaign

The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II...

and Tulagi on 7 August 1942, and continued to accompany the carrier when she moved to be southeast of the Solomons. The Battle of the Eastern Solomons

Battle of the Eastern Solomons

The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons (also known as the Battle of the Stewart Islands and, in Japanese sources, as the , took place on 24–25 August 1942, and was the third carrier battle of the Pacific campaign...

began when Japanese carriers were spotted on 24 August; although American planes were able to strike first by sinking the light carrier , a strike group from a different force, formed around the fleet carriers and , attacked TF 16. In an intense eight-minute battle, North Carolina shot down 7–14 aircraft and was relatively undamaged, though there were seven near-misses and one crewman was killed by strafing

Strafing

Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the...

. Enterprise took three bomb hits.

North Carolina then joined the carrier s screen, and protected her while support was rendered to American troops fighting on Guadalcanal. Although she dodged one torpedo on 6 September, she was not able to avoid another on the 15th. Out of a six-torpedo salvo from a Japanese submarine, three hit the carrier , one hit , one missed, and one struck North Carolina. A 660 lb (299.4 kg) warhead

Warhead

The term warhead refers to the explosive material and detonator that is delivered by a missile, rocket, or torpedo.- Etymology :During the early development of naval torpedoes, they could be equipped with an inert payload that was intended for use during training, test firing and exercises. This...

hit on the port side 20 ft (6.1 m) below the waterline

Waterline

The term "waterline" generally refers to the line where the hull of a ship meets the water surface. It is also the name of a special marking, also known as the national Load Line or Plimsoll Line, to be positioned amidships, that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship...

at a point that was just behind the number one turret. It created a 32 x 18 (9.8 x 5.5 m) hole, allowed about 970 LT (985.6 t) of water into the ship—which had to be offset with counter-flooding, meaning that another 480 LT (487.7 t) entered—killed five men, and wounded twenty. Although North Carolina could steam at 24 kn (29.2 mph; 47 km/h) soon after the explosion, she was later forced to slow to 18 kn (21.9 mph; 35.3 km/h) to ensure that temporary shoring

Shoring

Shoring is a general term used in construction to describe the process of supporting a structure in order to prevent collapse so that construction can proceed. The phrase can also be used as a noun to refer to the materials used in the process....

did not fail. Structural damage beneath the first turret rendered it unable to fire unless in absolute need, and the main search radar

Radar

failed. As this was the first torpedo to strike a modern American battleship, it elicited a large amount of interest from various officers and bureaus within the navy. It was seen as a vindication by some who believed that too much had been sacrificed in the design of the ships—the torpedo defense system had come close to breaking near one of the most important areas of the ship (a magazine), after all—and the General Board called for the fifth and sixth s, and , to have a torpedo bulge added outside of magazines. However, the new Bureau of Ships

Bureau of Ships

The United States Navy's Bureau of Ships was established by Congress on June 20, 1940, by a law which consolidated the functions of the Bureau of Construction and Repair and the Bureau of Engineering. The new Bureau was to be headed by a Chief and Deputy-Chief, one selected from the engineering...

opposed this on the basis that the system performed how it was supposed to; in any case, no modifications were made.

Repaired and refitted at the facilities in Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, North Carolina operated as a carrier escort for Enterprise and Saratoga for the remainder of 1942 and the majority of 1943 while they provided cover for supply and troop movements in the Solomons. In between, she received advanced fire control

Fire-control system

and radar gear in March, April and September 1943 at Pearl Harbor. In November, North Carolina escorted Enterprise while the carrier launched strikes upon Makin, Tarawa and Abemama

Abemama

Abemama is an atoll in the central part of the Kiribati Group located 152 kilometres southeast of Tarawa and just north of the Equator.- Geography :...

. On 1–8 December she bombarded Nauru

Nauru

Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...

before returning to carrier screening; she accompanied while that carrier launched attacks on Kavieng

Kavieng

Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2000, it had a population of 10,600....

and New Ireland

New Ireland (island)

New Ireland is a large island in Papua New Guinea, approximately 7,404 km² in area. It is the largest island of the New Ireland Province, lying northeast of the island of New Britain. Both islands are part of the Bismarck Archipelago, named after Otto von Bismarck, and they are separated by...

.

Joining Task Force 58

Fast Carrier Task Force

The Fast Carrier Task Force was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II.The Fast Carrier Task Force was known under two designations. The Navy made use of two sets of upper command structures for planning the upcoming operations...

in January 1944, North Carolina escorted aircraft carriers as the flagship

Flagship

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

of Admiral Willis A. Lee

Willis A. Lee

Willis Augustus "Ching" Lee, Jr. was a Vice Admiral of the United States Navy during World War II. Lee commanded the American ships during the second night of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and turned back a Japanese invasion force headed for the island...

for much of the year, providing support for airborne strikes on Kwajalein

Kwajalein

Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...

, Namur

Roi-Namur

Roi-Namur is an island in the northern part of the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands.Occupied by Japanese forces prior to World War II, it was the target of the U.S. 4th Marine Division in the Battle of Kwajalein, in February 1944....

, Truk (twice), Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

, Tinian

Tinian

Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....

, Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

, Palau

Palau

Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...

, Woleai

Woleai

Woleai is a coral atoll of twenty-two islands in the eastern Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia and is located approximately west-northwest of Ifalik and northeast of Eauripik...

, and Hollandia

Jayapura

Jayapura City is the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay . Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,000....

in January–April. Also in April, North Carolina destroyed defensive installations on Ponape

Pohnpei

Not to be confused with Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79.Pohnpei "upon a stone altar " is the name of one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia , situated among the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group...

before setting course for Pearl Harbor for repairs to a damaged rudder. With repairs completed, the battleship joined with Enterprise on 6 June for assaults within the Marianas; as part of these, North Carolina used her main battery to bombard Saipan and Tanapag

Tanapag

Tanapag is a settlement on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is located close to Tanapag Beach on the northwest coast, just to the north of Capital Hill, the island group's centre of government...

.

In late June, North Carolina was one of the American ships which took part in the so-called "Marianas Turkey Shoot

Battle of the Philippine Sea

The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...

", where a majority of attacking Japanese aircraft were shot down out of the air at little cost to the American defenders. Problems with her propeller shafts then caused the battleship to sail to the Puget Sound Navy Yard to receive an overhaul. She returned to active duty in November and to her carrier escort tasks in time to be hit by a typhoon. North Carolina protected carriers while they provided air cover for invasion fleets and launched attacks on Leyte

Leyte

Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...

, Luzon

Luzon

Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...

, and the Visayas

Visayas

The Visayas or Visayan Islands and locally known as Kabisay-an gid, is one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Mindanao and Luzon. It consists of several islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea, although the Visayas are considered the northeast...

. Surviving another typhoon, one which sank three destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s, North Carolina continued escort duty when naval aircraft struck Formosa

Formosa

Formosa or Ilha Formosa is a Portuguese historical name for Taiwan , literally meaning, "Beautiful Island". The term may also refer to:-Places:* Formosa Strait, another name for the Taiwan Strait...

, Indo-China, China, the Ryukyus and Honshu

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

in January and February 1945. During the invasion of Iwo Jima, the battleship provided bombardment support for troops ashore.

During the assault on Okinawa, North Carolina screened carriers and bombarded targets ashore. Although she was able to shoot down three kamikaze

Kamikaze

The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....

s on 6 April, she also was struck by a 5 inches (127 mm) shell during that time in a friendly fire

Friendly fire

Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...

incident; three were killed and forty-four injured. The battleship shot down a plane on the 7th and two on the 17th. After receiving another overhaul from 9 May to 28 June, this one in the naval yard at Pearl Harbor, North Carolina operated as both a carrier escort and shore bombardier for the remainder of the war. Of note was a 17 July bombardment

Allied naval bombardments of Japan during World War II

During the last weeks of World War II, warships of the United States Navy, Britain's Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy bombarded several cities and industrial facilities in Japan. These bombardments caused heavy damage to several of the factories targeted, as well as nearby civilian areas...

of the industrial area in Hitachi, Ibaraki

Hitachi, Ibaraki

is a city located on the Pacific Ocean in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Its name could be directly translated as "sunrise", but probably more appropriately adapted to "prosperous wealth" .-Demographics:...

in company with fellow battleships , , and , along with smaller warships.

In August, members of North Carolinas crew and Marine contingent were sent ashore to assist in occupying Japan. After the official surrender

Surrender of Japan

The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...

, these men were brought back aboard and the battleship sailed to Okinawa. As part of Operation "Magic Carpet", soldiers were embarked to be returned to the United States. Passing through the locks of Panama Canal on 8 October, she weighed anchor in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

on the 17th. After an overhaul in the New York Naval Yard, she participated in exercises off New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

before beginning a midshipman

Midshipman

A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...

training cruise in the Caribbean.

North Carolina was decommissioned

Ship decommissioning

To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

in Bayonne, New Jersey

Bayonne, New Jersey

Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...

on 27 June 1947; she remained in the reserve fleet

Reserve fleet

A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....

in until 1 June 1960, when she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

. Instead of the scrapping that faced most of the United States' battleships, North Carolina was sold to the state of North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

for $250,000 on 8 August 1961 to be a museum ship

Museum ship

A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...

. She was dedicated in Wilmington

Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...

on 29 April 1962 as a memorial

Memorial

A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....

to the citizens of the state that died in the Second World War. Listed on the United States' National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

and designated as a National Historic Landmark

National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

on 1 January 1986, she remains there today, maintained by the USS North Carolina Battleship Commission.

Washington

was laid down on 14 June 1938, launched on 1 June 1940 and commissioned on 15 May 1941 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

. Although commissioned, her engine had not been run at full power—like her sister, Washington had major problems with longitudinal vibrations, which were only tempered after many tests conducted aboard North Carolina. The fixes made it possible to run builder's trials, which Washington did on 3 August 1941; loaded at about 44400 LT (45,112.6 t), the propulsion plant was run up to 123,850 shp, and repeated the performance again in February 1942, achieving 127,100 and 121,000 shp.

The battleship was finally able to assume an active role in the war which had just engulfed the United States. Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox

John W. Wilcox, Jr.

Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, Jr. was a native of Georgia and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy class of 1905. As commander of Battleships, Atlantic Fleet, he was lost at sea on March 27, 1942, washed from the decks of his flagship, the USS Washington , in the North Atlantic off Sable...

chose Washington as the flagship of Task Force 39. On 26 March 1942, Washington, along with , , and various smaller ships, sailed to bolster the British Home Fleet. During the voyage, Wilcox fell into the ocean; he was seen soon after by the destroyer , face down in the water, but due to rough seas was unable to retrieve the body. It is not known what exactly happened; he could have simply been caught by a wave and washed overboard, but there has been speculation that he suffered a heart attack. The force reached the main anchorage of the Home Fleet, Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow

right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...

, on 4 April.

Washington and the other ships of TF 39 participated in exercises with the Home Fleet until late April. Along with certain British units, the task force departed the British Isles as TF 99. They escorted some of the Arctic convoys which were carrying vital cargo to the Soviet Union. While carrying out this duty, an accompanying British battleship, , accidentally rammed a destroyer, cutting it in two. Directly behind King George V, Washington passed through the same stretch of sea and received damage from exploding depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

s. Though damage to the hull was minimal—limited to only one leaking fuel tank—many devices on board the ship were damaged, including main battery range finders, circuit breakers, three fire-control and the search radars. The American ships then put in at an Icelandic port, Hvalfjörður

Hvalfjörður

Hvalfjörður is situated in the west of Iceland between Mosfellsbær and Akranes. The fjord is approximately 30 km long and 5 km wide....

, until 15 May; they returned to Scapa Flow on 3 June. On 4 June, Washington hosted the commander of naval forces in Europe, Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark

Harold Rainsford Stark

Harold Rainsford Stark served as an officer in the United States Navy during World War I and World War II. Stark was the US Navy's 8th Chief of Naval Operations, from August 1, 1939 to 26 March 1942....

, who set up a temporary headquarters on the ship for the next few days. On 7 June, King George VI of the United Kingdom inspected the battleship.

Washington left the North Sea bound for the United States on 14 July with an escort of four destroyers; upon arrival at the New York Naval Yard on the 23rd, she was given a full overhaul which took a month to be completed. She set sail for the Panama Canal and the Pacific Ocean on 23 August and reached her destination, Tonga Island, on 14 September, where she became the flagship of Admiral Willis "Ching" Lee. Over the coming months, Washington would be focused upon the safe arrival of supply convoys to the men fighting on Guadalcanal. On 13 November, three formations of Japanese ships were discovered on course for Guadalcanal, one of them aiming to bombard Henderson Field while night gave them protection from aircraft. The first Japanese bombardment force was driven back by an American cruiser-destroyer force. On 14 November, the Japanese organized another sortie to neutralize the airfield. Washington, , and four destroyers were sent to intercept the Japanese force that night. The Japanese, composed of the fast battleship

Fast battleship

, two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and nine destroyers, initially sank three US destroyers and inflicted significant topside damage to South Dakota. However, Washington remained undetected and her radar-directed fire sunk a destroyer and pounded Kirishima. Washington fired seventy-five 16-inch and one hundred and seven 5-inch rounds during the melee; nine 16-inch shells hit Kirishima, doing her irreparable damage and leading to her scuttling the next morning. Soon after the battle, the Japanese began evacuating Guadalcanal.

Until April 1943, Washington stayed near her base in New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, providing protection for convoys and battle groups that were supporting the Solomons campaign. Returning to Pearl Harbor, she practiced for battle and underwent an overhaul before returning to the combat zone in late July. From August to the end of October, Washington operated out of Efate

Éfaté

Efate is an island in the Agean Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in The Republic of Maliki. It is also known as Île Vate. It is the most populous island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third largest island. Most inhabitants of Efate live in Port Vila, the national...

. She then joined with four battleships and six destroyers as Task Group (TG) 53.2 for exercises; Enterprise, and also participated. TG 52.2 then voyaged to the Gilbert Islands

Gilbert Islands

The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...

to add additional firepower to the strikes currently hitting them. Departing in late November, Washington steamed to first Makin

Makin (islands)

Makin is the name of a chain of islands located in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati, specifically in the Gilbert Islands.-Geography:...

to provide protection for ships there, then Ocean Island

Banaba Island

Banaba Island , an island in the Pacific Ocean, is a solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island chain and 300 km east of Nauru. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. It has an area of 6.5 km², and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81...

to prepare to bombard Nauru

Nauru

with her sister North Carolina, all four South Dakota-class battleships

South Dakota class battleship (1939)

, and the carriers and . All of the capital ships struck before dawn on 8 December; the aircraft carriers struck again soon after. The ships then sailed back to Efate, arriving on 12 December. On Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

, Washington, North Carolina, and four destroyers left Efate for gunnery practice. By late January, she was made part of TG 50.1 to escort the fast carriers in that group as they launched strikes on Taroa

Taroa

Taroa, also known as Tarawa, is an island in the east of Maloelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands. During World War II, it was the site of a major Japanese airfield...

and Kwajalein

Kwajalein

Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...

. She also moved in to hit Kwajalein with her guns on 30 January.
Before dawn

Dawn

Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of weak sunlight, while the sun itself is still below the horizon...

on 1 February, with the sky still shrouded in darkness, Washington collided with when the latter left formation to fuel four destroyers. Indiana had radioed that she was going to make a turn to port out of the formation, but soon after starting the turn, her captain ordered a reversal, back to starboard. About seven minutes later, she came into view of lookouts aboard Washington at a range of 1000 yd (3,000 ft; 914.4 m). Although crews on both ships frantically tried to avoid the other, it was to no avail; Washington gave Indiana a glancing blow, scraping down a large aft portion of the ship's starboard side. Washingtons fore end was severely damaged, with about 60 ft (18.3 m) of her bow hanging down and into the water. Ten men, six from Washington, were killed or listed as missing. After temporary reinforcements to the damaged section, she was forced to sail to Pearl Harbor to be fitted with a false bow to make possible a voyage to Puget Sound. Once there, she received a full overhaul, along with a new bow; this work lasted from March until April. Washington did not enter the war zone again until late May.

Washington next participated in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign

Mariana and Palau Islands campaign

The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Operation Forager, was an offensive launched by United States forces against Imperial Japanese forces in the Mariana Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean between June and November, 1944 during the Pacific War...

, serving again as a carrier escort ship, though she was detached on the 13th to fire on Japanese positions on Saipan

Saipan

and Tinian

Tinian

. With the sortie of a majority of the remaining ships in the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

spotted by American submarines, Washington, along with six other battleships, four heavy cruisers and fourteen destroyers covered the aircraft carriers of TF 58; on the 19th, with the attack of many aircraft, the Battle of the Philippine Sea

Battle of the Philippine Sea

began. Able to beat off the attacks, Washington refueled and continued escorting carriers until she, with three battleships and escorts, formed a new task group. After a lengthy stop at Enewetak Atoll, she supported troops assaulting Peleliu

Peleliu

Peleliu is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu forms, along with two small islands to its northeast, one of the sixteen states of Palau. It is located northeast of Angaur and southwest of Koror....

and Angaur

Angaur

Angaur or Ngeaur is an island in the island nation of Palau. The island, which forms its own state, has an area of 8 km² . Its population is 188 . State capital is the village of Ngeremasch on the western side...

before returning to screening duties. This duty lasted from 10 October to 17 February 1945.

The battleship bombarded Iwo Jima from 19–22 February in support of the invasion there before escorting carriers which sent aircraft raids against Tokyo and targets on the island of Kyūshū

Kyushu

is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....

. On 24 March and 19 April, Washington bombarded Okinawa; she then departed for Puget Sound to receive a refit, having been in action for the majority of the time since her refit in March–April 1944. This lasted through V-J Day and the subsequent formal ceremony aboard , so Washington received orders to voyage to Philadelphia, where she arrived on 17 October. Here she was modified to have an additional 145 bunks, so that she could participate in Operation Magic Carpet. Sailing to Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

with a reduced crew of 84 officers and 835 crew, she brought 185 army officers and 1,479 enlisted men back to the United States; this was the only voyage she would make in support of the operation. The battleship was placed into reserve at Bayonne, New Jersey on 27 June 1947, after only a little more than six years of service. Washington was never reactivated. Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 June 1960—exactly 21 years to the day since her launch—she was sold on 24 May 1961 to be scrapped

Ship breaking

Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...

Post-war alterations and proposals

After the war, North Carolina and Washington remained in active duty for a short period of time, possibly because they were more comfortable and less cramped than the four South Dakotas. The ships received alterations during this period; the Ship Characteristics Board (SCB) directed in June 1946 that four of the quadruple-mounted 40 mm guns be removed, though only two were actually taken off each ship. The 20 mm weapons were also reduced at some point so that both ships were decommissioned with sixteen twin mounts. North Carolina and Washington were decommissioned on 27 June 1947 and subsequently moved to the reserve fleet

Reserve fleet

.

In May 1954, SCB created a class improvement plan for the North Carolinas which included twenty-four 3 in/50 guns directed by six Mark 56s. A month later, the SCB chairman voiced his belief that the North Carolinas and South Dakotas would be excellent additions to task forces—if they could be faster. The Bureau of Ships then considered and discarded designs that would move these ships at 31 kn (37.8 mph; 60.8 km/h), four knots faster than their current attainable speed. In order for a North Carolina to obtain 31 knots, 240,000 shaft horsepower (shp) would be required. This, in turn, would necessitate the installation of an extremely large power plant, one which would not fit into the ship even if the third turret was removed. If the outer external belt armor

Belt armor

were removed, 216,000 shp would still be required. However, no matter if the belt was taken off or not, all of the hull form aft would have to be greatly modified to accept larger propellers. The last strike against the project was the high estimated cost of $40 million—which did not include the cost of activating battleships that had been out of commission for ten years.

Later calculations proved that the North Carolinas could be lightened from 44,377 to around 40541 LT (41,191.7 t), at which 210,000 shp would suffice. At the trial displacement figure of 38400 LT (39,016.3 t), even 186,000 shp would be enough; the 210,000 figure was derived from a 12.5% overestimation to account for a fouled bottom

Foul (nautical)

Foul is a nautical term meaning to entangle or entwine, and more generally that something is wrong or difficult. The term dates back to usage with wind-driven sailing ships.-Fouled anchor:...

or bad weather. A similar power plant to the one used in the Iowa class (generating 212,000 shaft horsepower) would be enough, and if the third turret was removed there would be no problems with weight, but there was not enough space within the North Carolinas. When compared, the current power plant measured 176 × 70 × 24, but the Iowas was 256 × 72 × 26. Lastly, there would be an issue with the propellers; the Iowa class' were 19 ft (5.8 m) wide, while the North Carolinas were 17 ft (5.2 m). In the end, no conversions were undertaken.

Designs for helicopter carrier

Helicopter carrier

Helicopter carrier is a term for an aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters. The term is sometimes used for both ASW carriers and amphibious assault ships....

s also contained a plan for a conversion of the North Carolinas. At a cost of $30,790,000, the ships would have been able to embark 28 helicopters, 1,880 troops, 530 LT (538.5 t) of cargo and 200000 US gal (757,082.4 l) of oil. All of the 16-inch and 5-inch guns would have been removed, though the number one turret would have remained so that weights added on the stern half of the ship could be balanced. In place, the ships would have received sixteen 3 in guns in twin mounts. Displacement would be lowered slightly to a fully loaded weight of about 41930 LT (42,603 t), while speed would not have changed. It was estimated that the ships could serve for about fifteen to twenty years at a cost of about $440,000 a year for maintenance. However, it was found that a purpose-built helicopter carrier would be more economical, so the plans were shelved.

Web

DiGiulian, Tony. "United States of America 16"/45 (40.6 cm) Mark 6." NavWeaps. Accessed 15 November 2009.
DiGiulian, Tony. "United States of America 5"/38 (12.7 cm) Mark 12." NavWeaps. Accessed 15 November 2009.
Haworth, R.B. "Single Ship Report for "6112175" (North Carolina)." (subscription required). Miramar Ship Index. Accessed 15 November 2009.
Haworth, R.B. "Single Ship Report for "6112726" (Washington)." (subscription required). Miramar Ship Index. Accessed 15 November 2009.
"Marshall Islands Campaign, Jan.–Feb. 1944 – USS Washington and USS Indiana Collide, 1 February 1944." Online Library of Selected Images, Naval History & Heritage Command. Accessed 15 November 2009.
"North Carolina (BB-55); battleship." Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

, Department of the Navy
United States Department of the Navy
The Department of the Navy of the United States of America was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, to provide a government organizational structure to the United States Navy and, from 1834 onwards, for the United States Marine Corps, and when directed by the President, of the...

. Accessed on 15 November 2009.
"Washington (BB-56); battleship." Naval Vessel Register, Department of the Navy. Accessed 15 November 2009.

Primary

"Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armament [Second London Naval Treaty
Second London Naval Treaty
The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in London, the United Kingdom, on 9 December 1935. It resulted in the Second London Naval Treaty which was signed on 25 March 1936.- Description :...

]". London: Third London Naval Conference
London Naval Conference
There were three major international naval conferences in London, the first in 1908-09, the second in 1930 and the third in 1935. The latter two, together with the Washington Naval Conference in 1921-22 and the Geneva Conferences , resulted in agreements between the major powers on navy vessel...

, 25 March 1936.

External links

Mohl, Michael. "Post-Dreadnought Battleships". NavSource History. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
"Top Ten Fighting Ships; North Carolina class battleship". Military Channel. Retrieved 15 November 2009.

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