being realistic about reactivation

[RAL's_pal?]

Originally Posted by Dreadnought

Hmm, I think I will see that particular Mod real soon as he has some time to kill. Ill take good care of him.

I already forgot that they were going to get the First Class tour. It's too bad you cant take them through the network of magazines forward, down the vertical trunk. (I used to take my lunch breaks in the powder magazine, sleeping in the large brass sliding trays. The space was always cool, even when the ship was in drydock).

We'd see if the guy really quit smoking, by how much air he was sucking.

We were working on an LHA long ago, lower level main machinery space. Behind the boiler was the escape trunk, about 5 levels straight up to the hangar deck level. We decided it was quicker this way so we started climbing. About half way up his asbestosis and cigar smoking kicked in and he couldn't climb any more and was hanging on. I was concerned for him, but I was more concerned since he was on the ladder above me and if he fell, he'd hit me on the way down. I managed to crawl around him.

[Dreadnought]

Originally Posted by RAL's_pal?

I already forgot that they were going to get the First Class tour. It's too bad you cant take them through the network of magazines forward, down the vertical trunk. (I used to take my lunch breaks in the powder magazine, sleeping in the large brass sliding trays. The space was always cool, even when the ship was in drydock).

We'd see if the guy really quit smoking, by how much air he was sucking.

We were working on an LHA long ago, lower level main machinery space. Behind the boiler was the escape trunk, about 5 levels straight up to the hangar deck level. We decided it was quicker this way so we started climbing. About half way up his asbestosis and cigar smoking kicked in and he couldn't climb any more and was hanging on. I was concerned for him, but I was more concerned since he was on the ladder above me and if he fell, he'd hit me on the way down. I managed to crawl around him.

Yeah, Ill take the day off and give em the 50 cent tour so long as OOD doesnt mind. I have been down those trunks quite a few times so far and I agree with the powder mags, Can you imagine the price of that long brass table/tables with todays recycling pay outs Most people have no idea of what those powder mags even look like nor the scuttles or any other place in those areas. Lots and lots of brass I often wondered how long it takes the Brass works to polish just one of them. The forward turret trunks are staright down. I have been down there a few times so far (shell decks are so slathered with grease you could literally ice skate across them in boots)

The trunk you speak of reminds me of the engineering escape trunk to broadway (no where to go or pass someone if the have a problem, and god forbid they dont fit through the scuttle hatch on Broadway.) Its a long climb back down after that.

I hope your friend made it out ok.

[RAL's_pal?]

Originally Posted by Dreadnought

Yeah, Ill take the day off and give em the 50 cent tour so long as OOD doesnt mind. I have been down those trunks quite a few times so far and I agree with the powder mags, Can you imagine the price of that long brass table/tables with todays recycling pay outs Most people have no idea of what those powder mags even look like nor the scuttles or any other place in those areas. Lots and lots of brass I often wondered how long it takes the Brass works to polish just one of them. The forward turret trunks are staright down. I have been down there a few times so far (shell decks are so slathered with grease you could literally ice skate across them in boots)

Back when they started the reactivation overhaul on the Jersey, naturally they didn't have sailors yet to do fire watch, so they hired a contractor who brought firewatches. They didn't really train these people and I don't think these people realized how dangerous a pressurized bottle was, especially when they were going up and down the trunks to follow their welders. The fire watches knew the bottles were heavy and eventually every magazine off the trunk had a CO2 bottle stashed in it. They came in handy because there were so many people working on the ship, you could rarely get a cold soda out of the machines when they had them. We'd just take the can back to the magazine and spray it with the CO2 bottle until it was nice and cold.

[fitz]

Originally Posted by maximusslade

I am just curious as to what makes we here on this forum absolute experts? Granted that there are folks here who's credentials are impecable (Rusty) and there are others here whom I am not sure what their claim to expertise is. All I am saying is, Fritz, what makes you the end all be all of facts and knowledge? I might suggest when accusing someone or something of being inaccurate you should state WHY so you don't look like as much a blind hater of BBs as some fools come on here thinking that BB's should be reactivated but not knowing why. BTW, I didn't see anything wrong with the LCDR's history, although the history sounded "glorious" I didn't see anything wrong with it.

You want examples? I guess I thought they were so obvious everyone would get them but maybe not.

1. The Iowa's were designed as a counter to the Japanese Yamato class.

This is false and I certainly hope that everyone here knows that. The USN knew next to nothing about the Yamato's even after the war started. They could not possibly have influenced the Iowa design. All of this is very well documented.

2. The Iowa's took part in every major amphibious campaign of WWII.

Given their commission dates this one should jump off the page as being flat-out wrong. The implication here too is that the Iowa's provided naval gunfire support when in fact none of the Iowa's did much bombardment work until very late in the war and it showed in the results of their gunnery. The Iowa's were tasked with carrier screening, not bombardment work. Again, this is well documented.

Now maybe nobody else here finds such glaring and obvious factual distortions/outright fabrications to be a problem.

I do.

To each their own. To my mind someone who is playing so loose with the facts right from the start with things that are so easily verified has suspect credibility.

What expertise do I have by the way? Absolutely none. But if I am wrong you are more than welcome to call me on it.

[gunnut]

Originally Posted by RAL's_pal?

cRusty mentioned that shipyard is going to have a picnic in September so I'll have to figure out if I can make my first one. I think in the first 9 annual picnics, only one person from my former shop showed up for a picnic and he is a bum.

Sir did you used to work at LBNSY with Rusty?

[RAL's_pal?]

Originally Posted by gunnut

Sir did you used to work at LBNSY with Rusty?

Ok, no "Sir" please....

I sort of worked with cRusty at LBNSY with about 5500 other people. cRusty worked out of Building 300, "Topside" as some call it. I worked out of the Insulation shop, on 'The Deck plates" or Production as it's called. The unglamorous repititious work mainly in the bowels of the ship. Nice places like firerooms and enginerooms where they cram about 50 people of all trades in a small space for 3 days straight before LOE (Light off Examination)

cRusty was a Shipfitter for his first 9 years but found a drafting table was harder to lose than a sledge hammer.

[RustyBattleship]

Originally Posted by RAL's_pal?

cRusty was a Shipfitter for his first 9 years but found a drafting table was harder to lose than a sledge hammer.

I NEVER lost a sledge hammer. BUT there are a few ball peen hammers, centerpunches and crescent wrenches either still at the bottom of the harbor (if not dredged up to fill in the dry docks) or at the bottom of some tank in an AO (USS Cacapon to be exact).

Also a good briar pipe I used to smoke.

My paycheck almost drowned as well. I had it slipped under the webbing of my hard hat. In those days, the sailors were paid in two-dollar bills and one superstitious sailor had one left to exchange for ones. So I bought it off of him and we broke for lunch.

After lunch we went back to our work area along the main deck where we were installing life lines. I THOUGHT I had the life line sister hooks secure enough where all I had to do was tighten the turnbuckle.

I didn't.

How fast you can reason out options in a couple of seconds was well demonstrated to me. There was a barge tied along side with its corner only a few feet away plus its mooring lines. As I was pitching forward I was thinking of jumping to the mooring lines but by that time my angle was getting too low -- too fast.

I remembered I had the lifeline well secured at the other end so I just hung onto it. My arms came up over my head knocking my hard hat off WITH MY PAYCHECK IN IT and knocking my glasses off as well. I swung toward the aft end of the ship on that line and raised my knees to catch my glasses (I was very near sighted and without them couldn't even drive home).

My helper and our welder came running over to the point where I fell and couldn't see me at first except for my hard hat floating upside down and heading out to sea between the ship and the barge.

Then they saw me hanging on by the after handrail stanchion and I was thinking if my hands were strong enough to climb up without losing my glasses. Just then our welder, a big guy named Bevins with very long arms, grabbed hold of the line and hoisted me up in only three pulls. I'm still dangling by his hands and asking our helper, Eddie Reyes, to grab my glasses for me.

Then Bevins made a fishhook out of a welding rod, tied it to some sisal line and fished my hard hat out of the water so I didn't lose my pay check and only the heels of my boots got wet.

But I will never buy a two-dollar bill again off of any superstitious person who thinks they bring bad luck.

[Dreadnought]

A brief summary of BB62 WWII history.

NEW JERSEY completed fitting out and trained her initial crew in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean. On 7 January 1944 she passed through the Panama Canal war bound for Funafuti, Ellice Islands. She reported there 22 January for duty with the Fifth Fleet, and three days later rendezvoused with Task Group 58.2 for the assault on the Marshall Islands. NEW JERSEY screened the carriers from enemy attack as their aircraft flew strikes against Kwajalein and Eniwetok 29 January - 2 February, softening up the latter for its invasion and supporting the troops who landed 31 January.

NEW JERSEY began her distinguished career as a flagship 4 February in Majuro Lagoon when Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the Fifth Fleet, broke his flag from her main. Her first action as a flagship was a bold two day surface and air strike by her task force against the supposedly impregnable Japanese fleet base on Truk in the Carolines. This blow was coordinated with the assault on Kwajalein, and effectively interdicted Japanese naval retaliation to the conquest of the Marshalls. On 17 and 18 February; the task force accounted for two Japanese light cruisers, four destroyers, three auxiliary cruisers, two submarine tenders, two submarine chasers, an armed trawler, a plane ferry, and 23 other auxiliaries, not including small craft. NEW JERSEY destroyed a trawler and, with other ships, sank destroyer MAIKAZE, as well as firing on an enemy plane which attacked her formation. The task force returned to the Marshalls 19 February.

Between 17 March and 10 April, NEW JERSEY first sailed with Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's flagship LEXINGTON (CV-16) for an air and surface bombardment of Mille, then rejoined Task Group 58.2 for a strike against shipping in the Palaus, and bombarded Woleai. Upon his return to Majuro, Admiral Spruance transferred his flag to INDIANAPOLIS (CA-35).

NEW JERSEY's next war cruise, 13 April - 4 May, began and ended at Majuro. She screened the carrier striking force which gave air support to the invasion of Aitape, Tanahmerah Bay and Humboldt, Bay, New Guinea, 22 April, then bombed shipping and shore installations at Truk 29-30 April. NEW JERSEY and her formation splashed two enemy torpedo bombers at Truk. Her sixteen inch salvos pounded Ponape 1 May, destroying fuel tanks, badly damaging the airfield, and demolishing a headquarters building.

After rehearsing in the Marshalls for the invasion of the Marianas, NEW JERSEY put to sea 6 June in the screening and bombardment group of Admiral Mitscher's Task Force. On the second day of pre invasion air strikes, 12 June, NEW JERSEY downed an enemy torpedo bomber, and during the next two days her heavy guns battered Saipan and Tinian, throwing steel against the beaches the marines would charge 15 June.

The Japanese response to the Marianas operation was an order to its Mobile Fleet; it must attack and annihilate the American invasion force. Shadowing American submarines tracked the Japanese fleet into the Philippine Sea as Admiral Spruance joined his task force with Admiral Mitscher's to meet the enemy. NEW JERSEY took station in the protective screen around the carriers on 19 June as American and Japanese pilots dueled in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. That day and the next were to pronounce the doom of Japanese naval aviation; in this "Marianas Turkey Shoot," the Japanese lost some 400 planes. This loss of trained pilots and aircraft was equaled in disaster by the sinking of three Japanese carriers by submarines and aircraft, and the damaging of two carriers and a battleship. The anti-aircraft fire of NEW JERSEY and the other screening ships proved virtually impenetrable. Only two American ships were damaged, and those but slightly. In this overwhelming victory but 17 American planes were lost to combat.

NEW JERSEY's final contribution to the conquest of the Marianas was in strikes on Guam and the Palaus from which she sailed for Pearl Harbor, arriving 9 August. Here she broke the flag of Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., 24 August, becoming flagship of the Third Fleet. For the eight months after she sailed from Pearl Harbor 30 August NEW JERSEY was based at Ulithi. In this climactic span of the Pacific War, fast carrier task forces ranged the waters off the Philippines, Okinawa, and Formosa, striking again and again at airfields, shipping, shore bases, invasion beaches. NEW JERSEY offered the essential protection required by these forces, always ready to repel enemy air or surface attack.

In September the targets were in the Visayas and the southern Philippines, then Manila and Cavite, Panay, Negros, Leyte, and Cebu. Early in October raids to destroy enemy air power based on Okinawa and Formosa were begun in preparation for the Leyte landings 20 October.

This invasion brought on the desperate, almost suicidal, last great sortie of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Its plan for the Battle for Leyte Gulf included a feint by a northern force of plane-less heavy attack carriers to draw away the battleships, cruisers and fast carriers with which Admiral Halsey was protecting the landings. This was to allow the Japanese Center Force to enter the gulf through San Bernadino Strait. At the opening of the battle planes from the carriers guarded by NEW JERSEY struck hard at both the Japanese Southern and Center Forces, sinking a battleship 23 October. The next day Halsey shaped his course north after the decoy force had been spotted. Planes from his carriers sank four of the Japanese carriers, as well as a destroyer and a cruiser, while NEW JERSEY steamed south at flank speed to meet the newly developed threat of the Center force. It had been turned back in a stunning defeat when she arrived.

NEW JERSEY rejoined her fast carriers near San Bernadino 27 October for strikes on central and southern Luzon. Two days later, the force was under suicide attack. In a melee of anti-aircraft fire from the ships and combat air patrol, NEW JERSEY shot down a plane whose pilot maneuvered it into INTREPID's (CV- 11) port gun galleries, while machine gun fire from INTREPID wounded three of NEW JERSEY's men. During a similar action 25 November three Japanese planes were splashed by the combined fire of the force, part of one flaming onto HANCOCK's (CV-19) flight deck. INTREPID was again attacked, shot down one would-be suicide, but was crashed by another despite hits scored on the attacker by NEW JERSEY gunners. NEW JERSEY shot down a plane diving on CABOT (CVL-28) and hit another which smashed into Cabot's port bow.

In December, NEW JERSEY sailed with the LEXINGTON task group for air attacks on Luzon 14-16 December; then found herself in the furious typhoon which sank three destroyers. Skillful seamanship brought her through undamaged. She returned to Ulithi on Christmas Eve to be met by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

NEW JERSEY ranged far and wide from 30 December to 25 January 1945 on her last cruise as Admiral Halsey's flagship. She guarded the carriers in their strikes on Formosa, Okinawa, and Luzon, on the coast of Indo-China, Hong Kong, Swatow and Amoy, and again on Formosa and Okinawa. At Ulithi 27 January Admiral Halsey lowered his flag in NEW JERSEY, but it was replaced two days later by that of Rear Admiral Oscar Badger commanding Battleship Division Seven.

In support of the assault on Iwo Jima, NEW JERSEY screened the ESSEX (CV-9) group in air attacks on the island 19-21 February, and gave the same crucial service for the first major carrier raid on Tokyo 25 February, a raid aimed specifically at aircraft production. During the next two days, Okinawa was attacked from the air by the same striking force.

NEW JERSEY was directly engaged in the conquest of Okinawa from 14 March until 16 April. As the carriers prepared for the invasion with strikes there and on Honshu, NEW JERSEY fought off air raids, used her seaplanes to rescue downed pilots, defended the carriers from suicide planes, shooting down at least three and assisting in the destruction of others. On 24 March she again carried out the vital battleship role of heavy bombardment, preparing the invasion beaches for the assault a week later.

During the final months of the war, NEW JERSEY was overhauled at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, from which she sailed 4 July for San Pedro, Pearl Harbor, and Eniwetok bound for Guam. Here on 14 August she once again became flagship of the Fifth Fleet under Admiral Spruance. Brief stays at Manila and Okinawa preceded her arrival in Tokyo Bay 17 September, where she served as flagship for the successive commanders of Naval Forces in Japanese waters until relieved 28 January 1946 by IOWA (BB-61). NEW JERSEY took aboard nearly a thousand homeward bound troops with whom she arrived at San Francisco 10 February.

[Dreadnought]

Iowa BB61 brief summary WWII.

The USS Iowa was laid down at New York Navy Yard, 27 June 1940; launched 27 August 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Henry A. Wallace, wife of Vice President Wallace, and commissioned 22 February 1943, Capt. John L. McCrea in command.

On 24 February, Iowa put to sea for shakedown In Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. She got underway, 27 August for Newfoundland to neutralize the threat of German battleship Tirpitz which was reportedly operating In Norwegian waters.

In the fall, Iowa carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Casablanca, French Morocco, on the first leg of his journey to the Teheran Conference in November. After the conference she returned the President to the United States. As flagship of Battleship Division 7, Iowa departed the United States 2 January 1944 for the Pacific Theatre and her combat debut in the campaign for the Marshalls. From 29 January to 3 February, she supported carrier air strikes made by Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman's task group against Kwajalein and Eniwetok Atolls in the Marshall Islands.

Her next assignment was to support air strikes against the Japanese Naval base at Truk, Caroline Islands. Iowa, in company with other ships was detached from the support group 16 February 1944 to conduct an anti-shipping sweep around Truk to destroy enemy naval vessels escaping to the north. On 21 February, she was underway with Fast Carrier Task Force 58 while it conducted the first strikes against Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam in the Marianas.

On 18 March, Iowa, flying the flag of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee, Commander Battleships, Pacific, joined in the bombardment of Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Although struck by two Japanese 4.7" projectiles during the action, Iowa suffered negligible damage. She then rejoined Task Force 58, 30 March, and supported air strikes which continued for several days against the Palau Islands and Woleai of the Carolines.

From 22 to 28 April 1944, Iowa supported air raids on Hollandia, Aitape, and Wake Islands to support Army forces on Aitape, Tanahmerah Bay, and Humboldt Bay in New Guinea. She then joined the Task Force's second strike on Truk, 29-30 April, and bombarded Japanese facilities on Ponape in the Carolines, 1 May.

In the opening phases of the Marianas campaign, Iowa protected the flattops during air strikes on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Rota, and Pagan, 12 June. Iowa was then detached to bombard enemy installations on Saipan and Tinian, 13-14 June. On 19 June, in an engagement known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Iowa, as part of the battle line of Fast Carrier Task Force 58, helped repel four massive air raids launched by the Japanese Middle Fleet. This resulted in the almost complete destruction of Japanese carrier-based aircraft. Iowa then joined in the pursuit of the fleeing enemy fleet, shooting down one torpedo plane and assisting in splashing another.

Throughout July, Iowa remained off the Marianas supporting air strikes on the Palaus and landings on Guam. After a month's rest, Iowa sortied from Eniwetok as part of the 3d Fleet, and helped support the landings on Peleliu, 17 September. She then protected the carriers during air strikes against the Central Philippines to neutralize enemy air power for the long awaited invasion of the Philippines. On 10 October, Iowa arrived off Okinawa for a series of air strikes on the Ryukyus and Formosa. She then supported air strikes against Luzon, 18 October and continued this vital duty during General MacArthur's landing on Leyte 20 October.

In a last ditch attempt to halt the United States campaign to recapture the Philippines, the Japanese Navy struck back with a three-pronged attack aimed at the destruction of American amphibious forces In Leyte Gulf. Iowa accompanied TF-38 during attacks against the Japanese Central Force as it steamed through the Sibuyan Sea toward San Bernardino Strait. The reported results of these attacks and the apparent retreat of the Japanese Central Force led Admiral Halsey to believe that this force had been ruined as an effective fighting group. Iowa, with Task Force 38 steamed after the Japanese Northern Force off Cape Engano, Luzon.

On 25 October 1944, when the ships of the Northern Force were almost within range of Iowa's guns, word arrived that the Japanese Central Force was attacking a group of American escort carriers off Samar. This threat to the American beachheads forced her to reverse course and steam to support the vulnerable "baby carriers." However, the valiant fight put up by the escort carriers and their screen had already caused the Japanese to retire and Iowa was denied a surface action. Following the Battle for Leyte Gulf, Iowa remained in the waters off the Philippines screening carriers during strikes against Luzon and Formosa. She sailed for the West Coast late in December 1944.

Iowa arrived San Francisco, 15 January 1945, for overhaul. She sailed 19 March 1945 for Okinawa, arriving 15 April 1945. Commencing 24 April 1945, Iowa supported carrier operations which assured American troops vital air superiority during their struggle for that bitterly contested Island. She then supported air strikes off southern Kyushu from 25 May to 13 June 1945. Iowa participated in strikes on the Japanese homeland 14-15 July and bombarded Muroran, Hokkaido, destroying steel mills and other targets. The city of Hitachi on Honshu was given the same treatment on the night of 17-18 July 1945. Iowa continued to support fast carrier strikes until the cessation of hostilities, 13 August 1945.

Iowa entered Tokyo Bay with the occupation forces, 29 August 1945. After serving as Admiral William F. Halsey's flagship for the surrender ceremony, 2 September 1945, Iowa departed Tokyo Bay 20 September 1945 for the United States.

Arriving Seattle, Wash., 15 October 1945, Iowa returned to Japanese waters in January 1946 and became flagship of the 5th Fleet. She continued this role until she sailed for the United States 25 March 1946. From that time on, until September 1948, Iowa operated from West Coast ports, on Naval Reserve and at sea training and drills and maneuvers with the Fleet. Iowa decommissioned 24 March 1949.

[Dreadnought]

BB63 Missouri brief summary WWII

The fourth MISSOURI, the last battleship completed by the United States, was laid down 6 January 1941 by New York Naval Shipyard; launched 29 January 1944; sponsored by Miss Margaret Truman, daughter of then Senator from MISSOURI Harry S Truman, later President; and commissioned 11 June 1944, Capt. William M. Callaghan in command.

After trials off New York and shakedown and battle practice in Chesapeake Bay, MISSOURI departed Norfolk 11 November 1944, transited the Panama Canal 18 November and steamed to San Francisco for final fitting out as fleet flagship. She stood out of San Francisco Bay 14 December and arrived Ulithi, West Caroline Islands, 13 January 1945. There she was temporary headquarters ship for Vice Adm. Marc A. Mitscher. The battleship put to sea 27 January to serve in the screen of the LEXINGTON carrier task group of Mitscher's TF 58, and on 16 February her flattops launched the first air strikes against Japan since the famed Doolittle raid that had been launched from carrier HORNET in April 1942.

MISSOURI then steamed with the carriers to Iwo Jima where her mighty guns provided direct and continuous support to the invasion landings begun 19 February. After TF 58 returned to Ulithi 5 March, MISSOURI was assigned to the YORKTOWN carrier task group. On 14 March MISSOURI departed Ulithi in the screen of the fast carriers and steamed to the Japanese mainland. During strikes against targets along the coast of the Inland Sea of Japan beginning 18 March, MISSOURI splashed four Japanese aircraft.

Raids against airfields and naval bases near the Inland Sea and southwestern Honshu continued. WASP, crashed by an enemy suicide plane 19 March, resumed flight operations within an hour. Two bombs penetrated the hangar deck and decks aft of carrier FRANKLIN, leaving her dead in the water within 50 miles of the Japanese mainland. The cruiser PITTSBURGH took FRANKLIN in tow until she gained speed to 14 knots. MISSOURI’s carrier task group provided cover for FRANKLIN’s retirement toward Ulithi until 22 March, then set course for pre-invasion strikes and bombardment of Okinawa.

MISSOURI joined the fast battleships of TF 58 in bombarding the southeast coast of Okinawa 24 March 1945, an action intended to draw enemy strength from the west coast beaches that would be the actual site of invasion landings. MISSOURI rejoined the screen of the carriers as Marine and Army units stormed the shores of Okinawa on the morning of 1 April. Planes from the carriers shattered a special Japanese attacking force led by battleship YAMATO 7 April. YAMATO, the world's largest battlewagon, was sunk, as were a cruiser and a destroyer. Three other enemy destroyers were heavily damaged and scuttled. Four remaining destroyers, sole survivors of the attacking fleet, were damaged and retired to Sasebo.

On 11 April MISSOURI opened fire on a low-flying suicide plane which penetrated the curtain of her shells to crash just below her main deck level. The starboard wing of the plane was thrown far forward, starting a gasoline fire at 5-inch Gun Mount No. 3. Yet the battleship suffered only superficial damage, and the fire was brought quickly under control.

About 2305 on 17 April 1945, MISSOURI detected an enemy submarine 12 miles from her formation. Her report set off a hunter-killer operation by carrier BATAAN and four destroyers which sank Japanese submarine I-56.

MISSOURI was detached from the carrier task force off Okinawa 5 May and sailed for Ulithi. During the Okinawa campaign she had shot down five enemy planes, assisted in the destruction of six others, and scored one probable kill. She helped repel 12 daylight attacks of enemy raiders and fought off four night attacks on her carrier task group. Her shore bombardment destroyed several gun emplacements and many other military, governmental, and industrial structures.

MISSOURI arrived Ulithi 9 May 1945 and thence proceeded to Apra Harbor, Guam, 18 May. That afternoon Adm. William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander 3d Fleet, broke his flag in MISSOURI. She passed out of the harbor 21 May, and by 27 May was again conducting shore bombardment against Japanese positions on Okinawa. MISSOURI now led the mighty 3d Fleet in strikes on airfields and installations on Kyushu 2 and 3 June. She rode out a fierce storm 5 and 6 June that wrenched off the bow of the cruiser PITTSBURGH. Some topside fittings were smashed, but MISSOURI suffered no major damage. Her fleet again struck Kyushu 8 June, then hit hard in a coordinated air-surface bombardment before retiring towards Leyte. She arrived San Pedro, Leyte, 13 June 1945, after almost three months of continuous operations in support of the Okinawa campaign.

Here she prepared to lead the 3d Fleet in strikes at the heart of Japan from within its home waters. The mighty fleet set a northerly course 8 July to approach the Japanese mainland. Raids took Tokyo by surprise 10 July, followed by more devastation at the juncture of Honshu and Hokkaido 13 and 14 July. For the first time, a naval gunfire force wrought destruction on a major installation within the home islands when MISSOURI closed the shore to join in a bombardment 15 July that rained destruction on the Nihon Steel Co. and the Wanishi Ironworks at Muroran, Hokkaido.

During the night of 17-18 July MISSOURI bombarded industrial targets in the Hichiti area, Honshu. Inland Sea aerial strikes continued through 25 July 1945, and MISSOURI guarded the carriers as they struck hard blows at the Japanese capital. As July ended the Japanese no longer had any home waters. MISSOURI had led her fleet to gain control of the air and sea approaches to the very shores of Japan.

Strikes on Hokkaido and northern Honshu resumed 9 August 1945, the day the second atomic bomb was dropped. Next day, at 2054, MISSOURI’s men were electrified by the unofficial news that Japan was ready to surrender, provided that the Emperor's prerogatives as a sovereign ruler were not compromised. Not until 0745, 15 August, was word received that President Truman had announced Japan's acceptance of unconditional surrender.

Adm. Sir Bruce Fraser, RN (Commander, British Pacific Fleet) boarded MISSOURI 16 August, and conferred the order Knight of the British Empire upon Admiral Halsey. MISSOURI transferred a landing party of 200 officers and men to battleship IOWA for temporary duty with the initial occupation force for Tokyo 21 August. MISSOURI herself entered Tokyo Bay early 29 August to prepare for the normal surrender ceremony.

High-ranking military officials of all the Allied Powers were received on board 2 September. Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz boarded shortly after 0800, and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (Supreme Commander for the Allies) came on board at 0843. The Japanese representatives, headed by Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, arrived at 0856. At 0902 General MacArthur stepped before a battery of microphones and the 23-minute surrender ceremony was broadcast to the waiting world. By 0930 the Japanese emissaries had departed.

The afternoon of 5 September Admiral Halsey transferred his flag to battleship SOUTH DAKOTA. Early next day MISSOURI departed Tokyo Bay to receive homeward bound passengers at Guam, thence sailed unescorted for Hawaii. She arrived Pearl Harbor 20 September and flew Admiral Nimitz' flag on the afternoon of 28 September for a reception.

The next day MISSOURI departed Pearl Harbor bound for the eastern seaboard of the United States. She reached New York City 23 October and broke the flag of Adm. Jonas Ingram, commander in chief, Atlantic Fleet. MISSOURI boomed out a 21-gun salute 27 October as President Truman boarded for Navy day ceremonies. In his address the President stated that "control of our sea approaches and of the skies above them is still the key to our freedom and to our ability to help enforce the peace of the world."

[Dreadnought]

BB64 Wisconsin brief summary WWII.

The second Wisconsin (BB-64) was laid down on 25 January 1941 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 7 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Walter S. Goodland; and commissioned on 16 April 1944, Capt. Earl E. Stone in command.

After her trials and initial training in the Chesapeake Bay, Wisconsin departed Norfolk, Va., on 7 July 1944, bound for the British West Indies. Following her shakedown, conducted out of Trinidad, the third of the Iowa-class battleships to join the Fleet returned to her builder's yard for post-shakedown repairs and alterations.

On 24 September 1944, Wisconsin sailed for the west coast, transited the Panama Canal, and reported for duty with the Pacific Fleet on 2 October. The battleship later moved to Hawaiian waters for training exercises and then headed for the Western Carolines. Upon reaching Ulithi on 9 December, she joined Admiral William F. Halsey's 3d Fleet.

The powerful new warship had arrived at a time when the reconquest of the Philippines was well underway. As a part of that movement, the planners had envisioned landings on the southwest coast of Mindoro, south of Luzon. From that point, American forces could threaten Japanese shipping lanes through the South China Sea.

The day before the amphibians assaulted Mindoro, the 3d Fleet's Fast Carrier Task Force (TF) 38-supported in art by Wisconsin-rendered Japanese facilities at Manila largely useless. Between 14 and 16 December, TF 38's naval aviators secured complete tactical surprise and quickly won complete mastery of the air and sank or destroyed 27 Japanese vessels; damaged 60 more; destroyed 269 planes; and bombed miscellaneous ground installations.

The next day the weather, however, soon turned sour for Halsey's sailors. A furious typhoon struck his fleet, catching many ships refueling and with little ballast in their nearly dry bunkers. Three destroyers-Hull (DD-350), Monaghan (DD-354), and Spence (DD-512)-capsized and sank. Wisconsin proved her seaworthiness as she escaped the storm unscathed.

As heavily contested as they were, the Mindoro operations proved only the introduction to another series of calculated blows aimed at the occupying Japanese in the Philippines. For Wisconsin, her next operation was the occupation of Luzon. Bypassing the southern beaches, American amphibians went ashore at Lingayen Gulf-the scene of the Japanese landings nearly three years before.

Wisconsin-armed with heavy antiaircraft batteries-performed escort duty for TF 38's fast carriers during air strikes against Formosa, Luzon, and the Nansei Shoto, to neutralize Japanese forces there and to cover the unfolding Lingayen Gulf operations. Those strikes, lasting from 3 to 22 January 1945, included a thrust into the South China Sea, in the hope that major units of the Japanese Navy could be drawn into battle.

Air strikes between Saigon and Camranh Bay, Indochina, on 12 January resulted in severe losses for the enemy. TF 38's warplanes sank 41 ships and damaged heavily damaged docks, storage areas, and aircraft facilities. At least 112 enemy planes would never again see operational service. Formosa, already struck on 3 and 4 January, again fell victim to the marauding American airmen, being smashed again on 9, 15, and 21 January. Soon, Hong Kong, Canton, and Hainan Island felt the brunt of TF 38's power. Besides damaging and sinking Japanese shipping, American planes from the task force set the Canton oil refineries afire and blasted the Hong Kong Naval Station. They also raided Okinawa on 22 January, considerably lessening enemy air activities that could threaten the Luzon landings.

Subsequently assigned to the 5th Fleet-when Admiral Spruance relieved Admiral Halsey as Commander of the Fleet-Wisconsin moved northward with the redesignated TF 58 as the carriers headed for the Tokyo area. On 16 February 1945, the task force approached the Japanese coast under cover of adverse weather conditions and achieved complete tactical surprise. As a result, they shot down 322 enemy planes and destroyed 177 more on the ground, Japanese shipping-both naval and merchant-suffered drastically, too, as did hangars and aircraft installations. Moreover, all this damage to the enemy had cost the American Navy only 49 planes.

The task force moved to Iwo Jima on 17 February to provide direct support for the landings slated to take place on that island on the 19th. It revisited Tokyo on the 25th and, the next day, hit the island of Hachino off the coast of Honshu. During these raids, besides causing heavy damage or ground facilities, the American planes sent five small vessels to the bottom and destroyed 158 planes.

On 1 March, reconnaissance planes flew over the island of Okinawa, taking last minute intelligence photographs to be used in planning the assault on that island. The next day, cruisers from TF 58 shelled Okino Daito Shima in training for the forthcoming operation. The force then retired to Ulithi for replenishment.

Wisconsin's task force stood out of Ulithi on 14 March, bound for Japan. The mission of that group was to eliminate airborne resistance from the Japanese homeland to American forces off Okinawa. Enemy fleet units at Kure and Kobe, on southern Honshu, reeled under the impact of the explosive blows delivered by TF 58's airmen. On 18 and 19 March, from a point 100 miles southwest of Kyushu, TF 58 hit enemy airfields on that island. However, the Japanese drew blood during that action when kamikazes crashed into FRANKLIN (CV-13) on the 19th and seriously damaged that fleet carrier.

That afternoon, the task force retired from Kyushu, screening the blazing and battered flattop. In doing so, the screen downed 48 attackers. At the conclusion of the operation, the force felt that it had achieved its mission of prohibiting any large-scale resistance from the air to the slated landings on Okinawa.

On the 24th, Wisconsin trained her 16-inch rifles on targets ashore on Okinawa. Together with the other battlewagons of the task force, she pounded Japanese positions and installations in preparation for the landings. Although fierce, Japanese resistance was doomed to fail by dwindling numbers of aircraft and trained pilots to man them. In addition, the Japanese fleet, steadily hammered by air attacks from 5th Fleet aircraft, found itself confronted by a growing, powerful, and determined enemy. On 17 April, the undaunted enemy battleship Yamato, with her 18.1-inch guns, sortied to attack the American invasion fleet off Okinawa. Met head-on by a swarm of carrier planes, Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi, and four destroyers went to the bottom, the victims of massed air power. Never again would the Japanese fleet present a major challenge to the American fleet in the war in the Pacific.

While TF 58's planes were off dispatching Yamato and her consorts to the bottom of the South China Sea, enemy aircraft struck back at American surface units. Combat air patrols (CAP) knocked down 15 enemy planes, and ships' gunfire accounted for another three, but not before one kamikaze penetrated the CAP and screen to crash on the flight deck of the fleet carrier Hancock (CV-19). On 11 April, the "Divine Wind" renewed its efforts; and only drastic maneuvers and heavy barrages of gunfire saved the task force. None of the fanatical pilots achieved any direct hits, although near-misses, close aboard, managed to cause some minor damage. Combat air patrols bagged 17 planes, and ships' gunfire accounted for an even dozen. The next day, 151 enemy aircraft committed hara-kiri into TF 58, but Wisconsin, bristling with 5-inch, 40-millimeter and 20- millimeter guns, together with other units of the screens for the vital carriers, kept the enemy at bay or destroyed him before he could reach his targets.

Over the days that ensued, American task force planes hit Japanese facilities and installations in the enemy's homeland. Kamikazes, redoubling their efforts, managed to crash into three carriers on successive days-Intrepid (CV-11), Bunker Hill (CV-17), and Enterprise (CV-6).

By 4 June, a typhoon was swirling through the Fleet. Wisconsin rode out the storm unscathed, but three cruisers, two carriers, and a destroyer suffered serious damage. Offensive operations were resumed on 8 June with a final aerial assault on Kyushu. Japanese aerial response was pitifully small; 29 planes were located and destroyed. On that day, one of Wisconsin's floatplanes landed and rescued a downed pilot from the carrier Shangri-La (CV-38).

Wisconsin ultimately put into Leyte Gulf and dropped anchor there on 18 June for repairs and replenishment. Three weeks later, on 1 July, the battleship and her consorts sailed once more for Japanese home waters for carrier air strikes on the enemy's heartland. Nine days later, carrier planes from TF 38 destroyed 72 enemy aircraft on the ground and smashed industrial sites in the Tokyo area. So little was the threat from the dwindling Japanese air arm that the Americans made no attempt whatever to conceal the location of their armada which was operating off her shores with impunity.

On the 16th, Wisconsin again unlimbered her main battery, hurling 16-inch shells shoreward at the steel mills and oil refineries at Muroran, Hokkaido. Two days later, she wrecked industrial facilities in the Hitachi Miro area, on the coast of Honshu, northeast of Tokyo itself. During that bombardment, British battleships of the Eastern Fleet contributed their heavy shellfire. By that point in the war, Allied warships were able to shell the Japanese homeland almost at will.

Task Force 38's planes subsequently blasted the Japanese naval base at Yokosuka, and put one of the two remaining Japanese battleships-the former fleet flagship Nagato out of action. On 24 and 25 July, American carrier planes visited the Inland Sea region, blasting enemy sites on Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. Kure then again came under attack. Six major fleet units were located there and badly damaged, marking the virtual end of Japanese sea power.

Over the weeks that ensued, TF 38 continue its raids on Japanese industrial facilities, airfields, and merchant and naval shipping. Admiral Halsey's airmen visited destruction upon the Japanese capital for the last time on 13 August 1945. Two days later, the Japanese capitulated. World War II was over at last.

Wisconsin, as port of the occupying force, arrived at Tokyo Bay on 6 September, three days after the formal surrender occurred on board the battleship Missouri (BB-63). During Wisconsin's brief career in World War II, she had steamed 105,831 miles since commissioning; had shot down three enemy planes; had claimed assists on four occasions; and had fueled her screening destroyers on some 250 occasions.

Shifting subsequently to Okinawa, the battleship embarked homeward-bound GI's on 22 September, as part of the "Magic Carpet" operation staged to bring soldiers, sailors, and marines home from the far-flung battlefronts of the Pacific. Departing Okinawa on 23 September, Wisconsin reached Pearl Harbor on 4 October, remaining there for five days before she pushed on for the west coast on the last leg of her state-side bound voyage. She reached San Francisco on 15 October.

[Dreadnought]

One note:
These are only battle history, Accuracy cannot be relied upon any more then someones books and or websites and we all know they make mistakes. There are only a few versions that are undisputable in any case. The rest are disputable.

Historical Records and proceedings of the USN. (The official record)
Deck log/Captains log (from the respective ship/ships) for those years.

And some of us who read articles written by the men that were there either on the ship itself during that period performing that function or ones that were in the lines of communication or action for a specific event and the fact that these people positions are traceable and reliable.


*Accuracy. They were much more accurate then anybody here gives them credt for. There are many letters written about this accuracy by the men involved however not for posting here in troll haven. Needless to say the books make no mention of these men.

[Shipwreck]

Originally Posted by Dreadnought

however not for posting here in troll haven.

WTF are you talking about.

[Gun Grape]

Originally Posted by Dreadnought

One note:
These are only battle history, Accuracy cannot be relied upon any more then someones books and or websites and we all know they make mistakes. There are only a few versions that ar