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USS Nevada (BB-36)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Nevada.
The USS Nevada
USS Nevada underway off of the U.S. Atlantic coast on 17 September 1944.
History
US
Ordered4 March 1911
BuilderFore River Shipbuilding Company
Laid down4 November 1912
Launched11 July 1914
Sponsored byMiss Eleanor Anne Seibert
Commissioned11 March 1916
Decommissioned29 August 1946
Nickname(s)"Cheer Up Ship"[1]
Honors and
awards		7 battle stars, World War II[2]
FateSunk as a target 31 July 1948
General characteristics
Class and typeNevada-class battleship
Displacement27,500 t (in 1916)
Length583 ft (178 m)
Beam85.3 ft (26 m)
Draft28.5 ft (8.7 m)
Speed20.5 knots (24 mph; 38 km/h)
Complement864 officers and men
Armament10 × 14 in (356 mm) guns, 21 × 5 in (127 mm) guns,[3] 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

USS Nevada (BB-36), the second United States Navy ship to be named after the 36th state, was a World War I-era battleship and the lead ship of her class of two; her sister ship was the Oklahoma.

The Nevada served in both World Wars: in World War I, she served with the British Grand Fleet until the end of the war; in World War II, she was one of the battleships that was moored in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. She was the only battleship to get underway during the attack, "the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal and depressing morning",[4] but she was beached at Hospital Point to avoid blocking the one channel that leads out of Pearl Harbor. After being salvaged and subsequently modernized, she served as a fire-support ship for D-Day and the invasions of Southern France, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Cornelius Ryan said that at D-Day, the Nevada was "... steaming majestically with all of [her] battle flags flying, ... [even though] the Japanese had sunk and written [her] off at Pearl Harbor."[5]

When the end of World War II came about, the Nevada was too old to be kept in the post-WWII navy, so she was designated to be used in the Bikini atomic experiments of 1946. She was not sunk by the two atomic bombs that were detonated, but she was now damaged and radioactive. As a result, she was decommissioned on 29 August 1946 and sunk as a target ship on 31 July 1948.

Design and construction

Design changes

The Nevada class was "another graduated step in the rapidly evolving American battleship".[4] First, the class was the first U.S. Navy battleship to have triple gun turrets.[6][7] Secondly, the Nevada class were the first battleships in the U.S. Navy to be fired with oil instead of coal, giving them a "huge engineering advantage."[4] Lastly, previous battleships had armor of various thickness, depending on the importance of the area it was protecting, but the Nevada had maximum armor over critical areas (magazines, engines, etc.) and none over less important places; this become known as the "All or Nothing" principle, which most major navies adopted after a time.[6][7][8]

A possible design flaw in the Nevada was that she "sported heavy armor of about 18¾ thickness but was woefully lacking in deck protection"[6] due to the prevailing belief in 1911-1913 (when she was built) that the submarine was the greatest threat to a battleship.[6] By the time of World War II, however, the greatest threat had become airplanes[9]--"the results of this were later...realized at Pearl Harbor, with Nevada's experience proving that the watertight integrity of older warships was unlikely to be satisfactory."[6][7]

Construction

The Nevada's construction was authorized on 4 March 1911; she was laid down on 4 November 1912 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts.[2] Her launching on 11 July 1914 was sponsored by Miss Eleanor Anne Seibert, who was the niece of Governor Tasker Oddie of Nevada and also the descendant of the first Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Stoddert. She was commissioned on 11 March 1916 with Capt. William S. Sims in command.[2]

Service life

World War I

Nevada during her running trials in early 1916.[10]

Nevada joined the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in Newport, Rhode Island on 26 May 1916 and operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean until the entry of the United States into World War I (1917).[2] After training gunners, she sailed on 13 August 1918 to serve with the British Grand Fleet, arriving in Bantry Bay, Ireland on 23 August.[2] She made a sweep through the North Sea and escorted the transport George Washington, with President Woodrow Wilson embarked, during the last day of her passage into Brest, France.[2] After the escorting duties, she sailed for home on 14 December,[2] having not fired a shot in anger during the war.[9]

Between the Wars

Nevada in dry dock at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, circa 1935.[10]

In the time between the two world wars, Nevada served in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets.[2] Though they were originally equipped with twenty-one five-inch guns to defend against enemy destroyers,[7] they were reduced to twelve 5"/51 caliber guns in 1918,[3] due to the overly wet positions the other nine had been occupying near the bow and stern.[7]

Along with the Arizona, she represented the United States at the Peruvian Centennial Exposition in July 1921;[11] a year later, she returned to South America with the Maryland to represent the United States again, this time for the Centennial of Brazilian Independence, celebrated in September 1922.[2][11] Three years later, from July to September 1925, Nevada participated in the U.S. Fleet's goodwill cruise to Australia and New Zealand, which demonstrated to these allies and the Japanese that the US had the ability to make a self-supported cruise of a distance equal to that of what the Imperial Japanese Navy could do.[2]

This accomplishment dispelled the conventional wisdom which dictated that a force of ships from the [United States] could not operate as far from home in waters such as those near Japan. To the Japanese, the two decade old naval victory at Tsushima where the Japanese battle line had annihilated a Russian squadron was a constant reminder that an enemy fleet traveling to their waters would certainly be ripe for destruction when it arrived. The proplems of resupply, crew preparedness and equipment maintenance would be insurmountable. So it was with the Russian navy, so would it be with any other aggressor navy. The great cruise of 1925 put paid to the motion. Ships like the Nevada could and would be quite capable of destroying units of the the Imperial Japanese Navy right in their home waters. ... [It] sent a blunt message to Japan - the U.S. considered the Pacific Ocean an international body of water and not a Japanese lake.

— Bonner, 103.[12]

After the cruise, Nevada was modernized at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard between August 1927 and January 1930, with the exchanges of her "basket" masts for tripod masts[10] and her vertical triple expansion engine the steam turbine from the recently stricken North Dakota.[6] Also, eight 5"/25 caliber guns were added,[3] a new superstructure was installed,[10] and her five-inch secondary battery was relocated.[10] The Nevada then served in the Pacific Fleet for the next eleven years.[2][10]

World War II

Pearl Harbor

Nevada under attack while passing by 1010 Dock during her bid for freedom, prior to being beached.

During the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Nevada was not moored side-by-side with another battleship off Ford Island, and so she therefore had a freedom of maneuver that was denied to the other eight battleships present during the attack.[2] As her gunners opened fire and her engineers got up steam, one torpedo exploded against frame 41 about fourteen feet above the keel at 0810.[13] The innermost torpedo bulkhead held, but leaking through joints caused flooding and a list of 4 to 5 degrees.[13] Nevada corrected the list through counter-flooding and got underway at 0840,[13] her gunners already having shot down four planes.[14]

...the old battleship swung majestically out in the channel and rung up 14 knots. This was over the channel speed limit, but who cared? She glided down the channel and it seemed as if everything else stood still, and only this powerful warrior was in motion. Men wept at the sight of her tattered ensign in the wind, and when the stars on the smoke-stained flag periodically came into view, grown men choked back tears of pride. Against all odds, and against the backdrop of total devastation, a lone survivor defied what seemed to be an overwhelming enemy victory. The sight inspired thousands and was forever etched in the momory of those present.

— Bonner, 105.[15]

As she steamed past Ten-Ten Dock at about 0950, Nevada was struck by five bombs.[13] One exploded over the crew's galley at frame 80.[13] Another struck the port director platform and exploded at the base of the stack on the upper deck.[13] Another hit near number 1 turret inboard from the port waterway and blew large holes in the upper and main decks.[13] Two struck the forecastle near frame 15.[13] One of them passed out through the side of the second deck before exploding, but the other exploded within the ship near the gasoline tank.[13] Gasoline leakage and vapors caused intense fires,[13] though those gasoline fires around turret 1 might have caused more critical damage if the main battery powder magazines had not been empty.[16] For several days prior to the attack, all of the 14-inch gun 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.[16] All of the older projectiles and powder charges had been removed from the Nevada's magazines, and the crew took a break after loading the new projectiles in anticipation of loading the new powder charges Sunday.[16]

Nevada beached and burning at Hospital Point.

As bomb damage became evident, Nevada was ordered to proceed to the west side of Ford Island to prevent her from being sunk in the channel "and effectively cork the rest of the fleet in a bottle."[15] Instead, Nevada was grounded off Hospital Point at 1030.[17] However, the Nevada did manage to force three planes down before she grounded: "..."three enemy planes, probably dive bombers, were fired upon until a range of 200 yards was reached. Members of the crew observed these planes to crash, one in a cane field toward Ewa, one near the Naval Hospital and one in the channel."[14]

Over the course of the morning, the Nevada suffered a total of 50 killed and 109 wounded.[2] Two more men died aboard Nevada during salvage operations on 7 February 1942 when they were overcome by hydrogen sulfide gas from decomposing paper and meat.[18] The ship itself suffered "...at least six (6) bomb hits and one torpedo hit. It is possible that as many as ten bomb hits may have been received by the Nevada, as certain damaged areas [were] of sufficient size to indicate that they were struck by more than one bomb."[14]

The ordeal wasn't over quite yet for the Nevada's surviving uninjured crew, however:

That following Monday, the strategic location of the Nevada made it imperative that she be the first line of defense against Japanese invaders who were expected at any time. Many of the Nevada's crew practiced "repel boarders" with broomsticks, baseball bats and the few small arms that were available. ... [Later,] the [surviving] crew [found themselves] virtually homeless. Many had lost all of their personal items and pay records were in a shambles. For the next few weeks, many of the crew had to convince other ships and shore stations of their legitimacy and their need for uniforms, shelter and food. They were homeless. It was an interesting paradox.

— Bonner, 105.[15]

Attu and D-Day

A Division of Naval Intelligence file detailing the Nevada after her repair.
The Nevada supporting of the landings on "Utah" Beach, 6 June 1944.[7]

Refloated on 12 February 1942, Nevada was repaired at Pearl Harbor and Puget Sound Navy Yard.[2] Some said that the battleship now looked like a South Dakota-class battleship.[19] Repairs included replacing the 5"/51 caliber guns and 5"/25 caliber guns with sixteen 5"/38 caliber guns in new twin mounts.[3] Nevada then sailed for Alaska, where she provided fire support for the capture of Attu 11 May to 18 May 1943.[2] In June she sailed for further modernization at Norfolk Navy Yard, and in April 1944 reached British waters to prepare for the Normandy Invasion.[2] In action from 6 June to 17 June, and again 25 June, her guns pounded not only permanent shore defenses on the Cherbourg Peninsula, but the shells from her guns ranged as far as 17 miles (27 km) inland to break up German concentrations and counterattacks.[2] In Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, she was described as "seem[ing] to lean back as [she] hurled salvo after salvo at the shore batteries."[20] Shore batteries straddled her 27 times, but did not hit her.[2] VCS-7, a U.S. Navy Spotter Squadron flying Supermarine Spitfire VBs and Seafire IIIs that was embarked upon the Nevada and other ships, was one of the units which provided targeting coordinates and fire control.[21]

Southern France and Iwo Jima

The Nevada bombarding Iwo Jima, 19 February 1945.[22]

Between 15 August and 25 September 1944, Nevada supported the invasion of Southern France, "dueling"[2] at Toulon with shore batteries of 13.4-inch (340 mm) guns taken from French battleships scuttled early in the war.[2] Her gun barrels were relined at New York, and her #1 turret's guns were replaced with the guns that had been removed from turret #2 on the Arizona.[23] After that was completed she sailed for the Pacific, arriving off Iwo Jima on 16 February 1945[2] to "[prepare] the island for invasion with heavy bombardment";[24] this she did through 7 March.[2]

Okinawa and Japan

On 24 March 1945, Nevada massed off Okinawa with the "mightiest naval force ever seen in the Pacific",[2] as pre-invasion bombardment began.[2] She shelled Japanese airfields, shore defenses, supply dumps, and troop concentrations through the operation, although 11 men were killed and a main battery turret damaged when she was struck by a kamikaze suicide plane on 27 March.[2] Another two men were lost to fire from a shore battery 5 April. Until 30 June, she served off Okinawa; she then departed to join with the 3rd Fleet from 10 July to 7 August, allowing the Nevada's guns to hit the Japanese home islands during the closing days of the war.[2]

After the War

Returning to Pearl Harbor after a brief occupation duty in Tokyo Bay, Nevada was surveyed and was found to be "too old for retention in the post-war fleet."[10] As a result, she was assigned to be a target ship for the Bikini atomic experiments of July 1946,[2] where two atomic bombs were dropped to test their effectiveness against ships.[25] She was designated to be "ground zero"[26] for the first test, which was codenamed 'Able'.[27] Nevada was painted an "ugly"[27] reddish-orange for the test to "facilitate the bombers' aim".[27] When the bomb was dropped, however, the bomb was off by about 1,700 yards, with the bomb actually exploding above the light carrier Independence.[27] The "old"[2] battleship survived the bombs, but the experiments left her damaged and radioactive.[10] As a result, she was returned to Pearl Harbor to be decommissioned on 29 August 1946.[2] She was sunk by gunfire and aerial torpedoes 65 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor on 31 July 1948.[2][23] As of 2008, the wreck of the Nevada has not yet been discovered.[28]

References

  1. ^ Bonner, 100.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad "Nevada". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  3. ^ a b c d Breyer, 210
  4. ^ a b c Bonner, 101.
  5. ^ Ryan, 90.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Pike, John (2000–2008). "BB-36 Nevada class". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2008-09-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Nevada Class (BB-36 and BB-37), 1912 Building Program". Naval Historical Center. 2000. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  8. ^ "Let's say you want to "Build a Better Battleship"..." Iowa Class Preservation Association. 2000. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  9. ^ a b Bonner, 102.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h "USS Nevada (Battleship # 36, later BB-36), 1916-1948". Naval Historical Center. 2000/2007. Retrieved 2008-09-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  11. ^ a b Bonner, 102-103.
  12. ^ Bonner, 103.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wallin, 212
  14. ^ a b c Scanland, F.W. (1941). "USS Nevada, Report of Pearl Harbor Attack". Naval Historical Center. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  15. ^ a b c Bonner, 105.
  16. ^ a b c Sabin, L.A., VADM USN "Comment and Discussion" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1973 p.97
  17. ^ Wallin, 212-213
  18. ^ Wallin, 218
  19. ^ "USS Nevada (BB-36); U.S. Navy Battleship of World War II". AcePilots.com. 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-03. (Scroll down to the Division of Naval Intelligence file; it is in the upper right of the image.)
  20. ^ Ryan, 198.
  21. ^ Hill, Steven D. (May–June 1994). "Spitfires in the U.S. Navy". Naval Aviation News. Retrieved 2008-09-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  22. ^ "USS Nevada (Battleship # 36, later BB-36) -- Action and Miscellaneous Views". Naval Historical Center. 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  23. ^ a b Pocock, Michael (2005–2008). "USS Nevada (BB-36); Builder's Notes". Maritime Quest. Retrieved 2008-09-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  24. ^ "CINCPOA Communique No. 264, February 19, 1945". ibiblio. 1945. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  25. ^ "Operation Crossroads: Bikini Atoll". Naval Historical Center. 2001. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  26. ^ Bonner, 107.
  27. ^ a b c d Bonner, 108.
  28. ^ "USS Nevada BB-36". Pacificwrecks.com. Retrieved 2008-05-13.

Sources

  • Breyer, Siegfried (1973). Battleships and Battle Cruisers 1905–1970. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 0385-0-7247-0.
  • Kermit Bonner (1996). Final Voyages. Turner Publishing Company. ISBN 1563-1-1289-2.
  • Ryan, Cornelius (1959). The Longest Day; June 6, 1944. New York: Simon and Schuster. 671-20814-1.
  • Wallin, Homer N., VADM USN (1968). Pearl Harbor: Why, How, Fleet Salvage and Final Appraisal. United States Government Printing Office. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Public Domain This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

See also

  • Lt. Cmdr. James H. Barry (1946). Lt. (j.g.) William S. Wyatt, USNR (ed.). USS Nevada 1916-1946. San Francisco: The James H. Barry Company.
  • Madsen, Daniel (2003). Resurrection-Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor. U. S. Naval Institute Press.
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