World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseLaunched in Jun 1940, the USS North Carolina was the first battleship of her class. She was sponsored by Isabel Hoey, daughter of Governor Clyde Hoey of North Carolina. As the first of the Navy's modern battleship program, she received a great deal of attention from the press and earned the nickname "Showboat". She was the first new battleship for the US Navy for nearly 20 years.

ww2dbaseDuring WW2, North Carolina provided naval gun support for the Marine landings as well as escorted carriers during the Solomons campaign. During the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, North Carolina shot down between 7 and 14 Japanese aircrafts during the 8-minute battle. On 15 Sep, she suffered damage from a torpedo attack either launched by Japanese submarine I-19 or I-15; records were not clear whether the torpedo was a stray from the same salvo from I-19 that sank the carrier Wasp or from I-15 that was also present in the area. The explosion struck 20 feet below the surface and killed five men. The result was a hole 32 feet long by 18 feet high that flooded the number one turret handling room. However, her skilled damage control team minimized the damage; the team even corrected the resulting 5.5 degree list within minutes by counterflooding. Very soon after the torpedo strike she was sailing at a speed of 25 knots for Pearl Harbor for repairs. She returned to Pearl Harbor once again in spring 1943 for fire control and radar upgrades. Subsequent to the upgrades, she supported numerous landings during the island hopping campaign across the Pacific, performing both carrier screening as well as bombarding Japanese positions. She received 15 battle stars for World War II service.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, she saw service in Japan and the Atlantic before being inactivated in 1946. She was decommissioned in 1947 and joined the mothball fleet until 1960. She was dedicated as a memorial at Wilmington, North Carolina, United States on 29 Apr 1962.

Battleship North Carolina Interactive Map

North Carolina Operational Timeline

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