July 1945, a column of fast battleships opens fire on the Japanese mainland. Target of this daylight bombardment was the Kamaishi Iron Works. On the night of 17 July 1945, the NORTH CAROLINA and six other battleships, including HMS KING GEORGE V, carried out a similar bombardment on the Hitachi Industrial Complex, 80 miles northeast of Tokyo.

The current Battleship North Carolina (BB-55) is the third U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. Her commissioned service lasted a little over six years, and only eleven years lapsed between the time the ship was authorized and she was decommissioned. During that short time however, she had quite a record, and is now preserved in her original World War II colors as a memorial to all those who gave their lives for freedom.

The first North Carolina was a ship of the line, built in Philadelphia Navy Yard. The keel was laid in 1818, and the ship was launched in 1820. She was just over 193 feet in length, with a 53-foot beam, and was rated at 2,633 tons. She carried 74 guns - 32 pounders and 42 pounders. She was active until 1839, when she was converted to a receiving ship. She was sold for scrap on October 1, 1867 for $30,000. The original figurehead of the ship, a bust of Sir Walter Raleigh was given to the state of North Carolina in 1909.

During the Civil War the Confederate States Navy had an iron-clad sloop named North Carolina.

She was 150 feet long, with a 32-foot beam, and carried four guns. She was built in Wilmington, North Carolina, and because she was structurally weak, never crossed the bar out of the Cape Fear River. The ship was active from late 1863 until September 27, 1864 when she developed leaks and sank.

The second U.S. Navy ship to bear the name was an armored cruiser, number 12, built by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry-dock Company in Newport News, Virginia. The keel was laid March, 21, 1905, she was launched on October 5, 1906, and was commissioned on May 7, 1908.

She was 504 feet 6 inches in length, with a 72 foot 11 inch beam. She displaced 14,500 tons, and had a top speedd of 22 knots.

On November 5, 1915 she was the first ship in the world to launch an airplane with a catapult while underway.

On June 7, 1920, her name was changed to Charlotte to make way for the new super battleship, number 52. As Charlotte she was decommissioned on February 18, 1921. Her name was struck from the Navy list on July 15, 1930, and she was sold for scrap on September 29, 1930.

Laid down in 1919, battleship number 52 was to have been called the North Carolina. This ship was to have been a monster for that era, with a displacement of 43,200 tons, a length of 624 feet, a beam of 105 feet, and a speed of 23 knots. Mounting 12 16-inch guns, the North Carolina and her five planned sister ships, had they been completed, would have been the largest and most heavily armed capital ships of the world at that time.

Three years after construction was begun, however, the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922 imposed a ten year limit, and new size restrictions on warships of the era. All work was stopped, and the hull was sold for scrap.

Authorized by an act of Congress on June 3, 1936, the keel of BB-55 was laid down at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Navy Day, October 27, 1937. This was the first time the United States had started construction of a battleship in 16 years. A few new cruisers and destroyers had been built, but in general, the fleet was old if not obsolete at the time.

Ships are not built in a day. As they say, when you need ships it's too late to build them. Four years of design work, and three years and eight months went into her construction.

While building the North Carolina, war broke out in Europe, and only four days before her launch Hitler's divisions occupied Paris. In the Far East, Japan had invaded China, and was threatening further aggressive moves in Southeast Asia.

On June 13, 1940, Governor Clyde R. Hoey of North Carolina's daughter, Isabel, to the strains of "Anchors Aweigh", smashed the traditional bottle of champagne against the bow and launched the ship. Then, on April 9, 1941, after completing her fitting-out, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox commissioned the ship. After all work was done, the ship cost the taxpayers $76,885,750. Today, the sum would be vastly greater.

After commissioning, the North Carolina had an unusually extensive shakedown, lasting several months. During this long "shakedown" period, the North Carolina returned often to her building yard for adjustments and modifications. During this time, New Yorkers, and in particular radio commentator Walter Minchell often witnessed the great new "battlewagon" entering and departing the harbor, and began to call her "The Showboat", after the colorful river steamer in a popular Broadway musical. The name has stuck ever since.

On September 5, 1945 the North Carolina finally anchored in Tokyo Bay to pick up a group of about 100 men who had been transferred from her August 20th, to help with the initial occupation at the Yokosuka Naval Base, near Tokyo.

On September 6, the ship headed for home via Okinawa (to take on passengers), Hawaii and the Panama Canal. On October 17, the ship arrived in Boston harbor for a hero's welcome.

Due to post-war disarmament, the battleship's remaining active service was short. In the summer of 1946 she twice visited the Naval Academy at Annapolis to embark midshipmen for training cruises in the Caribbean. In October of that year she returned to the place of her birth, the New York Navy Yard for inactivation. She was decommissioned June 27, 1947, and placed in the "mothballed" Reserve Fleet at Bayonne, New Jersey, where she remained in obscurity for the next 14 years.

In 1960 the Navy announced its intention to scrap the famous battleship, and two famous natives of North Carolina, Hugh Morton and James S Craig, Jr., with the endorsement of then Governor Luther Hodges began a campaign to bring the ship to North Carolina and preserve her as a war memorial.

Thousands of citizens, and countless school children contributed money, and $330,000 was raised to acquire the ship from the Navy and prepare a suitable berth. In September 1961 she was towed from New Jersey, and on October 2 she was moored in her present berth across the river from downtown Wilmington. On April 29, 1962 she was dedicated as a memorial to all the North Carolina men and women who served in the war, and in particular, to the more than 10,000 North Carolinians who gave their lives in the war.

Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997 Battleship North Carolina, Future Directions, Inc.

Comments can be directed to Future Directions, Inc..

Editor's Note - See more history about the Battleship North Carolina, visit her web site. The address is:

http://www.city-info.com/battleship/history.html

For More Information, contact: BATTLESHIP NORTH CAROLINA, PO BOX 480, WILMINGTON, NC 28402 or call 1-910-251-5797. FAX 1-910-251-5807