USS Washington

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The USS Washington (BB-56) was the second and last North Carolina-class battleship the US Navy built. The Philadelphia Navy Yard was where the Navy built her. Like her sister ship, she mounted nine 16-inch guns in three 3-gun turrets. Her secondary armament included 20 5-inch guns as well as 1.1-inch and 0.5-inch AA guns. Fifteen 40-mm quad-mounts (60 40-mm guns), eight twin-mounted, one quad-mounted, and 63 single-mounted 20-mm guns replaced the 1.1-inch and .50-caliber guns late in the war. Driven by eight boilers and four steam turbines, four propellers gave her a top-rated speed of 27 knots. She also could carry a crew of 1,880 men.

Commissioned in May 1941, she was in the Atlantic during the time the US Navy helped the British escort convoys between the United States and Iceland. After Pearl Harbor, the ship served with the Royal Navy until July 1942. She returned to the United States for an overhaul and joined the Pacific Fleet in September to take part in the Guadalcanal campaign. With Radm. Willis Lee flying his flag on her, she made her place in US naval history on November 14-15 at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal when she sank the Japanese battleship Kirishima in the first battle between battleships in the Pacific war.

The Washington continued serving in the South and Central Pacific by participating in the invasions of the Gilbert Islands in November 1943 and the Marshalls in early 1944. On February 1, 1944, she collided with the battleship USS Indiana (BB-58) that smashed the Washington’s bow. After undergoing repairs, she returned to the fleet to assist the capture the Marianas and faced the Japanese at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Later, the Washington played a part in the capture of the Palaus, Leyte, Luzon, and Iwo Jima. When the American fast carriers attacked Japanese targets in the western Pacific, her guns provided an effective AA defense.

In the last two months of the war, she returned to the US for an overhaul. After Japan surrendered, the battleship passed through the Panama Canal to the Atlantic. She escorted transports bringing troops home from Europe. The Navy decommissioned her in June 1947 and placed her in “mothballs” until May 1961 when she was sold for scrap.