USS Nevada (BB-36)
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USS ''Nevada'' (BB-36), the third
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
ship to be named after the 36th state, was the
lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...
of the two s. Launched in 1914, ''Nevada'' was a leap forward in
dreadnought The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
technology; four of her new features would be included on almost every subsequent US battleship: triple gun turrets, oil in place of coal for fuel, geared
steam turbines A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
for greater range, and the " all or nothing" armor principle. These features made ''Nevada'', alongside her sister ship , the first US Navy "standard-type" battleships. ''Nevada'' served in both World Wars. During the last few months of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, ''Nevada'' was based in Bantry Bay, Ireland, to protect supply
convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
s that were sailing to and from
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. In
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, she was one of the battleships trapped when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. ''Nevada'' was the only battleship to get underway during the attack, making the ship "the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal and depressing morning" for the United States. Still, the ship was hit by one
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
and at least six bombs while steaming away from Battleship Row, forcing the crew to
beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...
the stricken ship on a coral ledge. The ship continued to flood and eventually slid off the ledge and sank to the harbor floor. ''Nevada'' was subsequently salvaged and modernized at
Puget Sound Navy Yard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted u ...
, allowing her to serve as a convoy escort in the Atlantic and as a fire-support ship in five amphibious assaults (the invasions of Attu,
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, Southern France, Iwo Jima, and
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
). At the end of World War II, the Navy decided that, due to age, ''Nevada'' would not be retained as part of the active fleet and she was instead assigned as a
target ship A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammunit ...
for the atomic experiments at
Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Seco ...
in July 1946 (
Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...
). The ship was hit by the blast from atomic bomb Able, and was left heavily damaged and radioactive. Unfit for further service, ''Nevada'' was decommissioned on 29 August 1946 and sunk for naval gunfire practice on 31 July 1948.


Design

As the first second-generation battleship in the US Navy, ''Nevada'' has been described as "revolutionary" and "as radical as was in her day" by present-day historians. At the time of the ship's completion in 1916, ''
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'' remarked that the new warship was "the greatest attleshipafloat" because she was so much larger than other contemporary American battleships: its tonnage was nearly three times that of the obsolete 1890
pre-dreadnought Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, protec ...
, almost twice that of the 1904 battleship , and almost greater than that of one of the first American
dreadnought The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
s, —built just seven years prior to ''Nevada''. ''Nevada'' was the first battleship in the US Navy to have triple
gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...
s, a single funnel, and an oil-fired steam power plant. In particular, the use of the more-efficient oil gave the ship an advantage over earlier
coal-fired Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...
plants. ''Nevada'' was also the first US battleship with
geared turbines A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic p ...
, which also helped increase fuel economy and thus range compared to earlier direct drive turbines. The ability to steam great distances without refueling was a major concern of the General Board at that time. In 1903, the Board felt all American battleships should have a minimum steaming radius of so that the US could enforce the
Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine was a United States foreign policy position that opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile act ...
. One of the main purposes of the Great White Fleet, which sailed around the world in 1907–1908, was to prove to Japan that the US Navy could "carry any naval conflict into Japanese home waters". Possibly as a result of this, battleships after 1908 were mainly designed to "steam 8,000 miles at cruising speeds"; given the distance between San Pedro, where the fleet would be based, and
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
, where the Fleet was expected to have to fight under War Plan Orange, was , endurance was obviously a major concern for the U.S. Navy. Also, oil allowed for the boiler-room crew to be reduced—the engineer on estimated that 100
firemen A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
(stokers) and 112 coal passers could be adequately replaced by just 24 men, which would allow some crew's quarters to be eliminated; this would save weight and also reduce the amount of fresh water and provisions that the ship would have to carry. In addition to all of this, ''Nevada'' had maximum armor over critical areas, such as the magazines and engines, and none over less important places, even though previous battleships had armor of varying thickness depending on the importance of the area it was protecting. This radical change became known as the " all or nothing" principle, which most major navies later adopted for their own battleships. With this new armor scheme, the armor on the battleship was increased to 41.1% of the displacement. As a result of all of these design modifications from previous battleships, ''Nevada'' was the first of the
US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
's "Standard" type battleships. "Standards" were characterized by the use of oil fuel, the "all or nothing" armor scheme, and the arrangement of the main armament in four triple or twin turrets without any turrets located in the middle of the ship. The Navy was to create a fleet of modern battleships similar in long-range gunnery, speed, turning radius, and protection. ''Nevada'' was followed by 11 other battleships of this type, although significant improvements were made in subsequent designs as naval technology rapidly progressed. An additional seven standard type battleships ( and the six of the ) were never completed due to the
Washington Naval Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...
. The two battleships of the ''Nevada''-class were virtually identical except in their propulsion. ''Nevada'' and her sister were fitted with different engines to compare the two, putting them 'head-to-head': ''Oklahoma'' received older vertical triple expansion engines, which had proven more fuel-efficient and reliable than the direct drive turbines of some earlier battleships, while ''Nevada'' received geared Curtis
steam turbines A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
.


Construction and trials

''Nevada''s construction was authorized by an Act of Congress on 4 March 1911. The contract went to Fore River Shipbuilding Company on 22 January 1912 for a total of $5,895,000 (not including the armor and armament), and the time of construction was originally to be 36 months. A secondary contract was signed on 31 July 1912 for $50,000 to cover the additional cost of a geared cruising unit on each propeller shaft; this also extended the planned construction time by five months. Her
keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
was laid down on 4 November 1912, and by 12 August 1914, the ship was 72.4% complete. ''Nevada'' was launched on 11 July 1914; she was sponsored by Miss Eleanor Anne Seibert, niece of Governor
Tasker Oddie Tasker Lowndes Oddie (October 20, 1870 – February 17, 1950) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 12th Governor of Nevada and a United States Senator. He was a member of the Republican Party. Biography Oddie was born on O ...
of
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
and a descendant of the first
Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...
,
Benjamin Stoddert Benjamin Stoddert (1751 – 18 December 1813) was the first United States Secretary of the Navy from 1 May 1798 to 31 March 1801. Early life and education Stoddert was born in Charles County, Maryland in 1751, the son of Captain Thomas Stoddert. ...
. The launch was attended by several prominent members of the government, including Governor Oddie, Governor David I. Walsh of Massachusetts, Senator
Key Pittman Key Denson Pittman (September 19, 1872 – November 10, 1940) was a United States senator from Nevada and a member of the Democratic Party, serving eventually as president pro tempore as well as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. B ...
of Nevada,
Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...
Josephus Daniels and
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Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, who would later become the 32nd President of the United States. ''Nevada'' then had to undergo many different tests and trials prior to her commissioning to ensure that she met the terms of the original contract. These began on 4 November 1915, when the ship conducted a twelve-hour endurance run "up and down the New England coast", reaching a top speed of . Though her "acceptance trials" were interrupted on 5 November because of a gale and rough seas, they were continued on the 6th with a test of her fuel economy; this consisted of a 24-hour run where ''Nevada'' steamed at . The test results were positive: the oil consumption of the battlewagon was 6 lb per knot lower than the contract had demanded. Another test was conducted for 12 hours at , with an even better result of 10 lb per knot lower than the contract specifications. After completing all of these tests and running trials off
Rockland, Maine Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the town population was 6,936. It is the county seat of Knox County, Maine, Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination ...
, ''Nevada'' sailed to the
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and New York Navy Yards for equipment,
torpedo tubes A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed abo ...
, and ammunition hoists. When all of the preliminaries were completed, ''Nevada'' was commissioned on 11 March 1916 at the Charlestown Navy Yard, and William S. Sims was the first captain of the new ship, followed by Joseph Strauss on 30 December 1916.Nevada II (Battleship No. 36)
Naval History and Heritage Command


World War I

After fitting out in the Boston and New York Navy Yards, ''Nevada'' joined the Atlantic Fleet in
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
on 26 May 1916. Prior to the United States' entry into
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, she conducted many training cruises and underwent many exercises out of her base in Norfolk, Virginia, sailing as far south as the Caribbean on these cruises. The US entered the war in April 1917, but ''Nevada'' was not sent to the other side of the Atlantic because of a shortage of fuel oil in Britain. Instead, four
coal-fired Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...
battleships of Battleship Division 9 ( BatDiv 9) (, , , and ) departed the US to join the British Grand Fleet on 25 November 1917. They arrived on 7 December and were designated as the
6th Battle Squadron The 6th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of Battleships serving in the Grand Fleet and existed from 1913 to 1917. History First World War August 1914 In August 1914, the 6th Battle Squadron was based at Portl ...
of the Grand Fleet. joined them after damage from a grounding on Block Island was repaired; she departed on 30 January and arrived in Scotland on 11 February. It was not until 13 August 1918 that ''Nevada'', then under command of Andrew T. Long , left the US for Britain, becoming the last American ship to join the Fleet overseas. After a 10-day voyage, she arrived in
Berehaven Castletownbere () is a town in County Cork in Ireland. It is located on the Beara Peninsula by Berehaven Harbour. It is also known as Castletown Berehaven. A regionally important fishing port, the town also serves as a commercial and retail hub ...
, Ireland, on 23 August. Along with and her sister , the three were nicknamed the "
Bantry Bay Bantry Bay ( ga, Cuan Baoi / Inbhear na mBárc / Bádh Bheanntraighe) is a bay located in County Cork, Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km (1.8-to-2.5 mil ...
Squadron"; officially, they were Battleship Division Six (BatDiv 6) under the command of Rear Admiral Thomas S. Rodgers, who chose ''Utah'' as his flagship. For the rest of the war, the three ships operated from the bay, escorting the large and valuable convoys bound for the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
to ensure no German heavy surface ships could slip past the British Grand Fleet and annihilate the merchant ships and their weak escorts of older cruisers. This never came to pass, and the war ended on 11 November with ''Nevada'', then under command of William Carey Cole , not getting a chance to engage an enemy during the war. On 13 December, 10 battleships, including ''Nevada'', and 28 destroyers escorted the ocean liner , with president
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
embarked, into
Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French m ...
, during the last day of Wilson's journey to the country so he could attend the Paris Peace Conference. The
flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same clas ...
met ''George Washington'' and her escorts (''Pennsylvania'' and four destroyers) just off Brest and escorted them into the port. The 10 battleships sailed for home at 14:00 on the next day, 14 December. They took less than two weeks to cross the Atlantic, and arrived in New York on 26 December to parades and celebrations.


Interwar period

Between the two World Wars, ''Nevada'', under the successive commands of Thomas P. Magruder , followed by William Dugald MacDougall , served in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. Though she had originally been equipped with 21 five-inch (127 mm)/51 cal guns to defend against enemy destroyers, this number was reduced to 12 in 1918, due to the overly wet bow and stern positions of the other nine. ''Nevada'', then under command of
Luke McNamee Luke McNamee (April 4, 1871 – December 30, 1952) was a United States Navy Admiral, businessman, and the 10th and 12th Naval Governor of Guam. He served in the Navy for 42 years, during which time he held multiple commands. During the Spanish–A ...
, and with the battleship , represented the United States at the Peruvian Centennial Exposition in July 1921. A year later, with Douglas E. Dismukes in command, and in company with this time, ''Nevada'' returned to South America as an escort to the steamer ''Pan America'' with Secretary of State
Charles Evans Hughes Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...
embarked; they all attended the Centennial of
Brazilian Independence The Independence of Brazil comprised a series of political and military events that led to the independence of the Kingdom of Brazil from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves as the Brazilian Empire. Most of the events occurre ...
in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
, celebrated from 5 to 11 September 1922. The ''
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'' later credited the crew of ''Nevada'' for bringing
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
and that sport's unique terminology to Brazil, allowing the country to "make the Yankee game an institution of their own". At the end of 1922, John M. Luby assumed command. Three years later, then under command of David W. Todd , ''Nevada'' took part in the US Fleet's "goodwill cruise" to Australia and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, from July–September 1925. During this cruise, the ships had only limited replenishment opportunities, but they still made it to Australia and back without undue difficulty. This demonstrated to those allies and Japan that the US Navy had the ability to conduct transpacific operations and meet the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...
in their home waters, where both Japanese and American war plans expected the "decisive battle" to be fought, if it should come. After the cruise, ''Nevada'', with Clarence S. Kempff commanding, put into
Norfolk Navy Yard The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility tha ...
to be modernized between August 1927 and January 1930. Hilary H. Royall took over command during this period. Work on the ship included exchange of her "basket" masts for tripod masts and her steam turbines for those from the recently stricken battleship . These were geared turbines that had been retrofitted to ''North Dakota'' in 1917, replacing her original direct drive turbines to increase her range. Additionally, many different adaptations and additions were made: her main guns' elevation was increased to 30° (which upped the range of the guns from to ),
anti-torpedo bulge The anti-torpedo bulge (also known as an anti-torpedo blister) is a form of defence against naval torpedoes occasionally employed in warship construction in the period between the First and Second World Wars. It involved fitting (or retrofittin ...
s were added, her 12 original
Yarrow boiler Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by Yarrow & Co. (London), Shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships. The Yarrow boiler design is characteristic ...
s were replaced with 6 more efficient Bureau Express boilers in a new arrangement to accommodate those bulges, two
catapults A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of store ...
were added for three
Vought Vought was the name of several related American aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought-Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace (part of Ling-Temco-Vought), Vought Aircraft Companies, and Vought Ai ...
O2U-3 Corsair biplane spotter aircraft, eight /25 cal AA guns were added, a new superstructure was installed, and her 5-inch (127 mm) 51 cal secondary battery was relocated above the hull in an arrangement similar to that of the . ''Nevada'' then served in the Pacific Fleet for the next eleven years. During this time, she was commanded by John J. Hyland , William S. Pye , Adolphus Staton ,
Robert L. Ghormley Vice Admiral Robert Lee Ghormley (October 15, 1883 – June 21, 1958) was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as Commander, South Pacific Area during World War II. Early years Born in Portland, Oregon, Ghormley was the oldest of six ...
, Claude B. Mayo ,
Robert Alfred Theobald Robert Alfred Theobald (January 25, 1884 – May 13, 1956), nicknamed "Fuzzy", was a United States Navy officer who served in World War I and World War II, and achieved the rank of rear admiral. In retirement, he was the author of the 1954 book ...
and Francis W. Rockwell.


World War II


Attack on Pearl Harbor

On 6 December 1941, a Saturday, all of the Pacific Fleet's battleships were in port for the weekend for the first time since 4 July. Normally, they took turns spending time in port: six would be out with Vice Admiral William S. Pye's battleship Task Force One one weekend, while the next weekend would find three ranging with Vice Admiral William Halsey, Jr.'s aircraft carrier task force. However, because Halsey could not afford to take the slow battleships with his fast carriers on his dash to reinforce
Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of T ...
's Marine detachment with fighters and because it was Pye's turn to rest in port and the harbor was where it was considered safe, none of the battleships were sailing on that morning. When the sun rose over ''Nevada'' on the 7th, the ship's band was playing "Morning Colors"; but planes then appeared on the horizon and the
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...
began. Aft of ''Arizona'' during the attack, ''Nevada'' was not moored alongside another battleship off
Ford Island Ford Island ( haw, Poka Ailana) is an islet in the center of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It has been known as Rabbit Island, Marín's Island, and Little Goats Island, and its native Hawaiian name is ''Mokuumeume''. The is ...
, and therefore was able to maneuver, unlike the other seven battleships present. Commanding officer Francis W. Scanland , was ashore when the attack began. The Officer of the Deck, Ensign Joe Taussig (son of the admiral of the same name), had earlier that morning ordered a second boiler lit off, planning to switch the power load from one boiler to the other around 0800. As ''Nevada's'' gunners opened fire and her engineers started to raise steam, a single Type 91 Mod 2
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...
exploded against Frame 41 about above the keel at 0810. Seconds later, the same Kate torpedo bomber that dropped the torpedo was shot down by ''Nevada''s gunners. The torpedo bulkhead held, but leaking through joints caused flooding of port side compartments below the first platform deck between frames 30 and 43 and a
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of 4–5°. Her damage control crew corrected the list by counter-flooding and ''Nevada'' got underway at 0840, her gunners already having shot down four planes. Ensign Taussig's efficiency paid off, likely saving his ship, but he lost a leg in the attack. ''Nevada'' became a prime target for Japanese Val dive bombers during the second wave. Japanese pilots intended to sink her in the channel, ostensibly to block the harbor. Tactically target selection was wrong as 14–18 dive bombers attacking her wouldn't be able to sink a battleship with 250 kg bombs and the channel's width of 1200 feet made bottling up the harbor impossible. As she steamed past Ten-Ten Dock at about 09:50, ''Nevada'' was struck by five bombs. One exploded over the crew's galley at Frame 80. Another struck the port director platform and exploded at the base of the stack on the upper deck. Yet another hit near No. 1 turret inboard from the port waterway and blew large holes in the upper and main decks. Two struck the
forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
near Frame 15; one passed out through the side of the second deck before exploding, but the other exploded within the ship near the gasoline tank; leakage and vapors from this tank caused intense fires around the ship. The gasoline fires that flared up around Turret 1 might have caused more critical damage if the main
magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...
had not been empty. For several days prior to the attack, all of the 14-inch-gun (356 mm) battleships had been replacing their standard-weight main battery projectiles with a new heavier projectile that offered greater penetration and a larger explosive charge in exchange for a slight decrease in range. All of the older projectiles and powder charges had been removed from the magazines of ''Nevada'', and the crew had taken a break after loading the new projectiles in anticipation of loading the new powder charges on Sunday.Sabin, L. A., Vice Admiral, USN. "Comment and Discussion", ''United States Naval Institute Proceedings'', September 1973, 97. As bomb damage became evident, ''Nevada'' was ordered to proceed to the west side of Ford Island to prevent her from sinking in deeper water. Instead, she was grounded off Hospital Point at 10:30, with the help of and , though she managed to force down three more planes before she struck the shore. Gasoline fires prevented damage control parties from containing flooding forward of the main torpedo defense system. Flooding the main magazine and counterflooding to keep the ship stable lowered the bow allowing water to enter the ship at the second deck level. Lack of watertight subdivision between the second and main decks from frame 30 to frame 115 allowed water entering through bomb holes in the forecastle to flow aft through the ship's ventilation system to flood the dynamo and boiler rooms. Over the course of the morning, ''Nevada'' suffered a total of 60 killed and 109 wounded. Two more men died aboard during salvage operations on 7 February 1942 when they were overcome by hydrogen sulfide gas from decomposing paper and meat. The ship suffered a minimum of six bomb hits and one torpedo hit, but "it is possible that as many as ten bomb hits may have been received, ..as certain damaged areas ereof sufficient size to indicate that they were struck by more than one bomb."


Attu

On 12 February 1942, now with Captain Harry L. Thompson commanding, ''Nevada'' was refloated and underwent temporary repairs at
Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...
so she could get to
Puget Sound Navy Yard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted u ...
for major repairs and modernization. Then under command of Captain Howard F. Kingman , the overhaul was completed in October 1942, and it changed the old battleship's appearance so she slightly resembled a ''South Dakota'' from a distance. Her 5"/51s and 5"/25s were replaced with sixteen
5"/38 caliber gun The Mark 12 5"/38 caliber gun was a United States dual-purpose naval gun, but also installed in single-purpose mounts on a handful of ships. The 38 caliber barrel was a mid-length compromise between the previous United States standard 5"/51 low ...
s in new twin mounts. ''Nevada'', with Captain Willard A. Kitts commanding, then sailed for
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
, where she provided fire support from 11 to 18 May 1943 for the capture of Attu. ''Nevada'' then departed for
Norfolk Navy Yard The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility tha ...
in June for further modernization.


D-Day

After completion, in mid-1943 ''Nevada'' went on Atlantic
convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
duty. Old battleships such as ''Nevada'' were attached to many convoys across the Atlantic to guard against the chance that a German capital ship might head out to sea on a raiding mission. After completing more convoy runs, ''Nevada'' set sail for the United Kingdom to prepare for the Normandy Invasion, arriving in April 1944, with Captain Powell M. Rhea in command. Her float plane
artillery observer An artillery observer, artillery spotter or forward observer (FO) is responsible for directing artillery and mortar fire onto a target. It may be a ''forward air controller'' (FAC) for close air support (CAS) and spotter for naval gunfire su ...
pilots were temporarily assigned to VOS-7 flying
Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
s from
RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus) Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent (HMS ''Daedalus'') was one of the primary shore airfields of the Fleet Air Arm. First established as a seaplane base in 1917 during the First World War, it later became the main training establishment and ad ...
. She was chosen as Rear Admiral Morton Deyo's flagship for the operation. During the invasion, ''Nevada'' supported forces ashore from 6–17 June, and again on 25 June; during this time, she employed her guns against shore defenses on the Cherbourg Peninsula, " eemingto lean back as hehurled salvo after salvo at the shore batteries." Shells from her guns ranged as far as inland in attempts to break up German concentrations and counterattacks, even though she was straddled by counterbattery fire 27 times (though never hit). ''Nevada'' was later praised for her "incredibly accurate" fire in support of beleaguered troops, as some of the targets she hit were just from the front line. ''Nevada'' was the only battleship present at both Pearl Harbor and the Normandy landings.


Southern France

After D-Day, the Allies headed to Toulon for another amphibious assault, codenamed Operation Dragoon. To support this, many ships were sent from the beaches of Normandy to the Mediterranean, including five battleships (the United States' ''Nevada'', , , the British , and the
Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...
), three US heavy cruisers (, and ), and many destroyers and landing craft were transferred south. ''Nevada'' supported this operation from 15 August to 25 September 1944, "dueling" with "Big Willie": a heavily reinforced fortress with four 340 mm (13.4 in) guns in two twin turrets. These guns had been salvaged from the French battleship ''Provence'' after the
scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon The scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon was orchestrated by Vichy France on 27 November 1942 to prevent Nazi German forces from taking it over. After the Allied invasion of North Africa the Germans invaded the territory administered by Vic ...
; the guns had a range of nearly 19 nautical miles (35 km) and they commanded every approach to the port of Toulon. In addition, they were fortified with heavy armor plate embedded into the rocky sides of the island of Saint Mandrier. Due to these dangers, the fire-support ships assigned to the operation were ordered to level the fortress. Beginning on 19 August, and continuing on subsequent days, one or more heavy warships bombarded it in conjunction with low-level bomber strikes. On the 23rd, a bombardment force headed by ''Nevada'' struck the "most damaging" blow to the fort during a 6½ hour battle, which saw 354 salvos fired by ''Nevada''. Toulon fell on the 25th, but the fort, though it was "coming apart at the seams", held out for three more days. ''Nevada'' then headed to New York to have her gun barrels relined. In addition, the three 14"/45 caliber guns (356 mm) of Turret 1 were replaced with Mark 8 guns formerly on and in the relining process at the time of Pearl Harbor; these new guns were relined to Mark 12 specifications.


Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan

After re-fitting, and with Captain Homer L. Grosskopf commanding, she sailed for the Pacific, arriving off Iwo Jima on 16 February 1945 to " reparethe island for invasion with heavy bombardment"; which she did through 7 March. During the invasion, she moved to be within from shore to provide maximum firepower for the troops that were advancing. On 24 March 1945, ''Nevada'' joined Task Force 54 (TF 54), the "Fire Support Force", off
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
as bombardment began prior to the invasion of Okinawa. The ships of TF 54 then moved into position on the night of the 23rd, beginning their bombardment missions at dawn on the 24th. Along with the rest of the force, ''Nevada'' shelled Japanese airfields, shore defenses, supply dumps, and troop concentrations. However, after the fire support ships retired for the night, dawn "came up like thunder" when seven ''
kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending t ...
s'' attacked the force while it was without air cover. One plane, though hit repeatedly by antiaircraft fire from the force, crashed onto the main deck of ''Nevada'', next to turret No. 3. It killed 11 and wounded 49; it also knocked out both guns in that turret and three 20 mm anti-aircraft weapons. Another two men were lost to fire from a shore battery on 5 April. Until 30 June, she was stationed off Okinawa; she then departed to join the 3rd Fleet from 10 July to 7 August, which allowed ''Nevada'' to come within range of the
Japanese home islands The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chin ...
during the closing days of the war, though she did not bombard them.


Post-war

''Nevada'', then with her final commanding officer, Captain Cecil C. Adell , returned to Pearl Harbor after a brief stint of occupation duty in
Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous ...
. ''Nevada'' was surveyed and, at 32⅓ years old, was deemed too old to be kept in the post-war fleet. As a result, she was assigned to be a
target ship A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammunit ...
in the first Bikini atomic experiments (
Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...
) of July 1946. The experiment consisted of detonating two atomic bombs to test their effectiveness against ships. ''Nevada'' was the bombardier's target for the first test, codenamed 'Able', which used an air-dropped weapon. To help distinguish the target from surrounding vessels, ''Nevada'' was painted a reddish-orange. However, even with the high-visibility color scheme, the bomb fell about off-target, exploding above the
attack transport Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from the merchant fleet – that rely on ...
instead. Due in part to the miss, ''Nevada'' survived. The ship also remained afloat after the second test—'Baker', a detonation some below the surface of the water—but was damaged and extremely radioactive from the spray. ''Nevada'' was later towed to Pearl Harbor and decommissioned on 29 August 1946. After she was thoroughly examined, and two other vessels used ''Nevada'' as a practice gunnery target 65 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor on 31 July 1948. The ships did not sink ''Nevada'', so she was given a ''
coup de grâce A coup de grâce (; 'blow of mercy') is a death blow to end the suffering of a severely wounded person or animal. It may be a mercy killing of mortally wounded civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the sufferer's consent. ...
'' with an aerial torpedo hit amidships. File:USS Nevada (BB-36) Operation Crossroads Target Ship.jpg, Battleship USS ''Nevada'' (BB-36) painted in orange as target ship for the Operation Crossroads Able Nuclear weapons test. File:Crossroads Able Target Ship Map.png, Map showing ''Nevada'' in red, and the actual detonation point. File:Operation Crossroads - Able 001.jpg, Aerial view of mushroom cloud from atomic bomb ''Able'', Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. File:USS Nevada Post Operation Crossroads.png, USS ''Nevada'' post-Operation Crossroads visible with extensive damage. File:80-G-498257.jpg, ''Nevada'' under fire as a target ship, 31 July 1948 File:80-G-498282.jpg, ''Nevada'' sinking after serving as a target ship, 31 July 1948.


Legacy

One of the former ''Arizona'' guns mounted on ''Nevada'' is paired with a gun formerly on ''Missouri'' at the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza just east of the
Arizona State Capitol The Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, was the last home for Arizona's Territorial government, until Arizona became a state in 1912. Initially, all three branches of the new state government occupied the four floors of t ...
complex in downtown
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
. It is part of a memorial representing the start and end of the Pacific War for the United States.


Wreck

On 11 May 2020, it was announced that a joint expedition by
Ocean Infinity Ocean Infinity is a marine robotics company based in Austin, Texas, United States and Southampton, United Kingdom and was founded in 2017. The company uses robots to obtain information from the ocean and seabed. History Ocean Infinity is based i ...
, with its ship the ''Pacific Constructor'', and the operations center of SEARCH Inc., headed by Dr. James Delgado had discovered ''Nevadas wreck. ''Nevada'' is located at a depth of off the coast of Hawaii and about 65 nautical miles southwest of
Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...
. The wreck lies upside down, with the main hull carrying the scars of shell fire and torpedo hits. Nearby is a large debris field with the turrets, which fell off the ship as she capsized, and the bow and stern, both of which were torn free. Archaeologists also documented the two tripod masts, portions of the bridge, sections of deck and superstructure, and one of four tanks, an
M26 Pershing The M26 Pershing was a heavy tank/medium tank of the United States Army. It was used in the last months of World War II during the Invasion of Germany and extensively during the Korean War. The tank was named after General of the Armies John J. ...
, placed on the deck for the atomic bomb tests. The hull was still painted and the number "36" was visible on the stern.VIDEO: Research Groups Find Wreck of 'Unsinkable Battleship' USS Nevada
/ref>


See also

* Battleship Row


Notes


References


Bibliography

Print sources * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Online sources * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ''The New York Times'' * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * *


External links

* – 1912–1919
Navy photos of ''Nevada'' (BB-36)





''Nevada'' Damage Report following the Pearl Harbor Attack

Citations of articles, books, and websites about USS ''Nevada''
from ShipIndex.org


USS ''Nevada'' Collection at the Nevada State Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevada (BB-36) Naval ships of Operation Neptune Nevada-class battleships Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts 1914 ships World War I battleships of the United States World War II battleships of the United States Ships present during the attack on Pearl Harbor Maritime incidents in December 1941 Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign Ships sunk as targets Ships involved in Operation Crossroads Maritime incidents in 1946 Maritime incidents in 1948