USS North Carolina

I figured I'd start this off with one my my most favorite ships, the first Museum Ship that I ever set foot on, and the ship that since grade school got me interested in maritime history: the USS North Carolina.



Stats from the official museum website here:

Hull Number:	BB 55
Keel Laid:	October 27, 1937
Launched:	June 13, 1940
Commissioned:	April 9, 1941
Decommissioned:	June 27, 1947
Length:	728 feet 5/8 inches long
Extreme Beam:	108 feet 3 7/8 inches wide
Mean Draught:	31 feet 7 inches normal, 35 feet 6 inches maximum
Displacement:	36,600 tons standard, 44,800 tons full load
Complement:	2,339 (144 officers and 2,195 enlisted)
Speed:	28 knots
Armament:	9 16-inch/45 caliber guns 20 5-inch/38 caliber guns 60 40mm/56 caliber guns 48 20mm/70 caliber guns

The USS North Carolina was the first of a two ship class of battleships, the North Carolina class, with sister ship the USS Washington (BB- 56) put into commission just over one month after the Carolina. She was the first battleship to be commissioned in the post Washington Naval Treaty period, and as such was a media spectacle throughout her fitting out and trials, earning her the nickname "Showboat". She was homeported on the East Coast during the Pearl Harbor attacks, and was transferred to the Pacific in June, 1942, where she would spend the remainder of the war.

Her primary duty during the war was screening the Attack Carriers from aircraft, and surface threats, as well as providing fire support to island landing campaigns when she was in a position to do so. On 15 September, 1942, while screening the carrier Hornet (CV - 8), the North Carolina "took a torpedo portside, 20 feet below her waterline, and 5 of her men were killed. But skillful damage control by her crew and the excellence of her construction prevented disaster; a 5.5 degree list was righted in as many minutes, and she maintained her station in a formation at 25 knots." (US Navy) This trial by fire demonstrated the resiliance of the modern battleship classes, as well as solidified their role as support screening vessels for aircraft carriers. After returning to Pearl Harbor for repairs, the North Carolina continued her role screening carriers across the Pacific until mid-spring 1943, when she returned to Pearl Harbor for a month of refitting and upgrades, specifically to her radar and fire control systems. Participating in the assaults of countless Pacific islands, including the Marshall Islands, New Guinea, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. She concluded her Pacific career with the shelling of industrial plants in Tokyo.

Returning to Boston in October, 1945, the North Carolina served as a training vessel for midshipmen before being decommissioned and placed in reserve on June 27, 1947. In 1958, the notice of her impending scrapping generated a public outpouring of support in North Carolina to get the ship docked in the state as a museum ship, and by late 1961, she was purchased and moved in-state, to her final position on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington where in April 1962 she was dedicated as a statewide memorial to the North Carolina soldiers, sailors and Marines who fought and died in the Second World War.

The museum ship is very easily accessible, and tours cover a large portion of the ship, making it a must-see for the naval history buff visiting North Carolina.



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