Built as a battleship by the New York Naval Shipyard for the USS Navy.
01 August 1937 ordered.
27 October 1937 laid down
13 June 1940 launched under the name NORTH CAROLINA, named after the USA state with the same name, sponsored by Isabel Hoey daughter of Clyde R. Hoey, Governor of North Carolina. She was the third ship under that name by the USS Navy.
Displacement 36.900 tons standard, 44.800 tons full load, dim. 212.12 x 33 x 10.82m. (draught)
Powered by General Electric geared steam turbines, 121.000 shp, four shafts, speed 27 knots.
Range by a speed of 17 knots, 17.450 mile.
Armament 9 – 16 inch, 20 – 5 inch, 16 – 1.1 inch AA guns.
Aircraft, 3 Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes.
Crew 2.339.
09 April 1941 commissioned under command of Captain Olaf M. Hustvedt.
First commissioned of the Navy's modern battleships, NORTH CAROLINA received so much attention during her fitting out and trials that she won the enduring nickname "Show boat". NORTH CAROLINA completed her shakedown in the Caribbean prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, and after intensive war exercises, entered the Pacific 10 June 1942.
NORTH CAROLINA and the Navy began the long island-hopping campaign for victor over the Japanese by landing marines on Guadalcanal and Tulagi 7 August 1942. After screening ENTERPRISE (CV-6) in the Air Support Force for the invasion, North Carolina guarded the carrier during operations protecting supply and communication lines southeast of the Solomon’s. Enemy carriers were located 24 August, and the Battle of the Eastern Solomon’s erupted. The Americans struck first, sinking carrier RYUJO; Japanese retaliation came as bombers and torpedo planes, covered by fighters, roared in on ENTERPRISE and NORTH CAROLINA. In an 8-minute action, NORTH CAROLINA shot down between 7 and 14 enemy aircraft, her gunners standing to their guns despite the jarring detonation of 7 near-misses. One man was killed by a strafer, but the ship was undamaged. The protection NORTH CAROLINA could offer ENTERPRISE was limited as the speedy carrier drew ahead of her. ENTERPRISE took three direct hits while her aircraft severely damaged sea-plane carrier CHITOSE and hit other Japanese ships. Since the Japanese lost about 100 aircraft in this action, the United States won control of the air and averted a threatened Japanese reinforcement of Guadalcanal.
NORTH CAROLINA now gave her mighty strength to protect SARATOGA (CV-3). Twice during the following weeks of support to marines ashore on Guadalcanal, NORTH CAROLINA was attacked by Japanese submarines. On 6 September, she maneuvered successfully, dodging a torpedo which passed 300 yards off the port beam. Nine days later, sailing with HORNET (CV-8), NORTH CAROLINA took a torpedo portside, 20 feet below her waterline, and 6 of her men were killed. But skillful damage control by her crew and the excellence of her construction prevented disaster; a 5.6 degree list was righted in as many minutes, and she maintained her station in a formation at 26 knots.
After repairs at Pearl Harbor, NORTH CAROLINA screened ENTERPRISE and SAROTOGA and covered supply and troop movements in the Solomon’s for much of the next year. She was at Pearl Harbor in March and April 1943 to receive advanced fire control and radar gear, and again in September, to prepare for the Gilbert Islands operation.
With ENTERPRISE, in the Northern Covering Group, NORT CAROLINA sortied from Pearl Harbor 10 November for the assault on Makin, Tarawa, and Abemama. Air strikes began 19 November, and for 10 days mighty air blows were struck to aid marines a shore engaged in some of the bloodiest fighting of the Pacific War. Supporting the Gilberts campaign and preparing the assault on the Marshall, NORTH CAROLINA’s highly accurate big guns bombarded Nauru 8 December, destroying air facilities, beach defense revetments, and radio installations. Later that month, she protected BUNKER HILL (CV-17) in strikes against shipping and airfields at Kavieng, New Ireland and in January 1944 joined Fast Carrier Striking Force 68, Rear Admiral Marc Mitscher in command, at Funafuti, Ellice Islands.
During the assault and capture of the Marshall Islands, NORTH CAROLINA illustrated the classic battleship functions of World War II. She screened carriers from air attack in pre-invasion strikes as well as during close air support of troops ashore, beginning with the initial strikes on Kwajalein 29 January. She fired on targets at Namur and Roi, where she sank a cargo ship in the lagoon. The battlewagon then protected carriers in the massive air strike on Truk, the Japanese fleet base in the Carolines, where 39 large ships were left sunk, burning, or uselessly beached, and 211 planes were destroyed, another 104 severely damaged. Next she fought off an air attack against the flattops near the Marianas 21 February splashing an enemy plane, and the next day again guarded the carriers in air strikes on Saipan Tinian, and Guam. During much of this period she was flagship for Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Willis A. Lee, Jr., Commander Battle-ships Pacific.
With Majuro as her base, NORTH CAROLINA joined in the attacks on Palau and Woleai 31 March-1 April, shooting down another enemy plane during the approach phase. On Woleai, 150 enemy aircraft were destroyed along with ground installations. Support for the capture of the Hollandia area of New Guinea followed (13-24 April); then another major raid on Truk (29-30 April), during which splashed yet another enemy aircraft. At Truk, NORTH CAROLINA’s planes were catapulted to rescue an American aviator downed off the reef. After one plane had turned over on landing and the other, having rescued all the airmen, had been unable to take off with so much weight, TANG (SS-306) saved all involved. The next day NORTH CAROLINA destroyed coast defense guns, antiaircraft batteries, and airfields at Ponape. The battleship then sailed to repair her rudder at Pearl Harbor.
Returning to Majuro, NORTH CAROLINA sortied with the Enterprise group 6 June for the Marianas. During the assault on Saipan, NORTH CAROLINA not only gave her usual protection to the carriers, but starred in bombardments on the west coast of Saipan covering minesweeping operations, and blasted the harbor at Tanapag, sinking several small craft and destroying enemy ammunition, fuel, and supply dumps. At dusk on invasion day, 15 June, the battleship downed one of the only two Japanese aircraft able to penetrate the combat air patrol.
On 18 June, NORTH CAROLINA cleared the islands with the carriers to confront the Japanese 1st Mobile Fleet, tracked by submarines and aircraft for the previous four days. Next day began the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and she took station in the battle line that fanned out from the carriers. American aircraft succeeded in downing most of the Japanese raiders before they reached the American ships, and NORTH CAROLINA shot down two of the few which got trough.
On that day and the next American air and submarine attacks, with the fierce antiaircraft fire of such ships as NORTH CAROLINA, virtually ended any future threat from Japanese naval aviation: three carriers were sunk, two tankers damaged so badly t hey were scuttled, and all but 36 of the 430 planes with which the Japanese had begun the battle were destroyed. The loss of trained aviators was irreparable, as was the loss of skilled aviation maintenance men in the carriers. Not one American ship was lost, and only a handful of American planes failed to return to their carriers.
After supporting air operations in the Marianas for another two weeks, NORTH CAROLINA sailed for overhaul at Puget Sound Navy Yard. She rejoined the carriers off Ulithi 7 November as a furious typhoon struck the group. The ships fought through the storm and carried out air strikes against western Leyte, Luzon, and the Visayas to support the struggle for Leyte. During similar strikes later in the month, NORTH CAROLINA fought off her first kamikaze attack.
As the pace of operations in the Philippines intensified, NORTH CAROLINA guarded carriers while their planes kept the Japanese aircraft on Luzon airfields from interfering with the invasion convoys which assaulted Mindoro 15 December. Three days later the task force again sailed through a violent typhoon, which capsized several destroyers. With Ulithi now her base, NORTH CAROLINA screened wide-ranging carrier strikes on Formosa, the coast of Indo-China and China, and the Ryukyus in January, and similarly supported strikes on Honshu the next month. Hundreds of enemy aircraft were destroyed which might otherwise have resisted the assault on Iwo Jima, where NORTH CAROLINA bombarded and provided call fire for the assaulting Marines through 22 February.
Strikes on targets in the Japanese home islands laid the ground- work for the Okinawa assault, in which NORTH CAROLINA played her dual role, of bombardment and carrier screening. Here, on 6 April, she downed three kamikazes, but took a 5-inch hit from a friendly ship during the melee of antiaircraft fire. Three men were killed and 44 wounded. Next day came the last desperate sortie of the Japanese Fleet, as Yamato, the largest battleship in the world, came south with her attendants. Yamato, a cruiser, and a destroyer were sunk, three other destroyers damaged so badly that they were scuttled, and the remaining four destroyers returned to the fleet base at Sasebo badly damaged. On the same day NORTH CAROLINA splashed an enemy plane, and she shot down two more on 17 April.
After overhaul at Pearl Harbor, NORTH CAROLINA rejoined the carriers for a month of air strikes and naval bombardment on the Japanese home islands. Along with guarding the carriers, NORTH CAROLINA fired on major industrial plants near Tokyo, and her scout plane pilots performed a daring rescue of a downed carrier pilot under heavy fire in Tokyo Bay.
NORTH CAROLINA sent both sailors and members of her Marine Detachment ashore for preliminary occupation duty in Japan immediately at the close of the war, and patrolled off the coast until anchoring in Tokyo Bay 5 September to re-embark her men. Carrying passengers from Okinawa, NORTH CAROLINA sailed for home reaching the Panama Canal 8 October. She anchored at Boston 17 October, and after overhaul at New York exercised in New England waters and carried Naval Academy midshipmen for a summer training cruise in the Caribbean.
After inactivation, she decommissioned at New York 27 June 1947. Struck from the Navy List 1 June 1960, NORTH CAROLINA was transferred to the people of North Carolina 6 September 1961. On 29 April 1962 she was dedicated at Wilmington, N.C., as a memorial to North Carolinians of all services killed in World War II. Here splendidly maintained and most appropriately displayed-including a spectacular "sound and light" presentation-"Showboat" still serves mightily to strengthen and inspire the nation.
North Carolina received 12 battle stars for World War II service.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_North_Carolina_(BB-55) gives then:
After inactivation, she was decommissioned at New York on 27 June 1947. Stricken from the Naval Vessel register on 1 June 1960, North Carolina was transferred to the people of North Carolina on 6 September 1961. She was purchased from the US Navy for $330,000 raised by North Carolinian school children. In 1961, a fleet of tugboats was used to maneuver the 728 ft (222 m) ship through an area of the river 500 ft (150 m) wide. During this move the ship struck the restaurant "Fergus' Ark", near Princess Street. The river-based restaurant was damaged severely and ceased operation. On 29 April 1962, she was dedicated at Wilmington, North Carolina as a memorial to North Carolinians of all services killed in World War II and may be visited to this day.
NORTH CAROLINA docked as a floating museum on the Cape Fear River.
This battleship was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
Visitors to the USS NORTH CAROLINA Battleship Memorial can tour the main deck of the ship, many interior rooms, and some of the gun turrets. Visitors can also view one of the nine surviving OS2U Kingfisher aircraft in the world, located on the stern of the ship. Various events are held at the memorial including the annual 4th of July fireworks display from the adjacent battleship park and spaces may be rented for special events. A Roll of Honor in the Wardroom lists the names of North Carolinians who gave their lives in service in all the branches of the military during World War II. The site is accessible by car or a short water taxi ride originating from downtown Wilmington and also features a gift shop, visitors center and picnic area.
The memorial is administered by North Carolina Battleship Commission which was established by statutes of the State of North Carolina in 1960. The memorial relies upon its own revenues as well as donations and does not receive any tax revenues.
In 1999, a reunion was held on the USS NORTH CAROLINA Battleship Memorial. While standing on the signal bridge, the site of the friendly fire strike during the Okinawa assault of 6 April, former PFC Marine Gunner Richard R. Fox recalled the incident, describing to his daughters and granddaughters how he helped carry a severely injured sailor down to the sickbay. Fox had never been able to find out whether the other man had survived. During his story, Fox was approached by the fellow North Carolina veteran Richard W. Reed, who had overheard the story and interrupted it to identify himself as the injured sailor and offer his thanks. Neither man had known the other's identity for over a half-century.
Fireworks illuminate the skies over Battleship NORTH CAROLINA capping week long celebrations surrounding the commissioning of the newest Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine NORTH CAROLINA (SSN-777) on 3 May 2008.
In 2005, The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) visited NORTH CAROLINA to investigate reports that the ship was haunted. These reports were given by the ship's night watchman, Danny Bradshaw, who looks after the vessel after it closes.[
Recent projects undertaken to maintain the battleship include the replacement of the teak deck. Following a visit by officials from Myanmar, the most generous donation in the Battleship Memorial’s history was received from the Government of Myanmar: the gift of two tractor-trailer loads of the highest quality teak decking in the world, valued at approximately one quarter million dollars, and a very substantial discount on another eight tractor-trailer loads of the precious wood, valued at another quarter million dollars, to permit the entire re-decking of the ship's more than one acre of deck.
Several near-term restoration projects are planned which will not require closure of the memorial. The next major restoration project for NORTH CAROLINA is a refit of her hull. This may require the ship to leave Wilmington for several months, and she might be towed to the nearest suitable drydock in Norfolk, Virginia Towing and dry-docking are expected to take place no earlier than 2012.
Marshall Islands 1997 20c sg921, scott649ag.
Solomon Islands . 2009 $6 sg?, scott?
Tuvalu 1991 $1.50 sg 616, scott581.