Everything about Uss Nevada Bb-36 totally explained
The second
United States Navy Nevada (BB-36) was a
battleship and the
lead ship of her
class of two. Her sister was the
Oklahoma. The
Nevada class was a radical departure from former battleship designs, as previous battleships had armor of various thickness, depending on the importance of the area it was protecting. In contrast, 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, and was adopted by all major navies by the outbreak of World War II, except Germany's. Also, battleship designs traditionally mounted most of their armor weight vertically to protect against horizontal, low trajectory shells while largely neglecting protection against long range, plunging trajectory shells. The Nevada class was part of a trend toward better vertical protection, with heavier deck armor than most earlier designs.
Sevice Life
World War I
Nevada authorized
4 March 1911; laid down
4 November 1912 by the
Fore River Shipbuilding Company,
Quincy, Massachusetts; launched
11 July 1914; sponsored by Miss Eleanor Anne Seibert, niece of Governor
Tasker Oddie of
Nevada and descendant of
Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert; and commissioned
11 March 1916, Capt.
William S. Sims in command. (Later Admiral Sims of World War One fame).
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 in 1917. After training gunners out of
Norfolk, Virginia, she sailed
13 August 1918 to serve with the
British Grand Fleet, arriving
Bantry Bay,
Ireland 23 August. 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, before sailing for home
14 December.
Between the Wars
Nevada served in both Atlantic and
Pacific Fleets in the period between the wars. The secondary battery was reduced to twelve
5"/51 caliber guns in 1918.
Southern France and Iwo Jima
Between
15 August and
25 September,
Nevada fired in the invasion of Southern
France, dueling at
Toulon with shore batteries of guns taken from French battleships scuttled early in the war. Her gun barrels were relined at New York, and she sailed for the Pacific, arriving off
Iwo Jima 16 February 1945 to give Marines invading and fighting ashore her gunfire support through
7 March.
Okinawa and Japan
On
24 March,
Nevada massed off
Okinawa with the mightiest naval force ever seen in the Pacific, as pre-invasion bombardment began. She pounded Japanese airfields, shore defenses, supply dumps, and troop concentrations through the crucial operation, although 11 men were killed and a main battery turret damaged when she was struck by a
kamikaze suicide plane
27 March. Another two men were lost to fire from a shore battery
5 April. Serving off Okinawa until
30 June, from
10 July to
7 August she ranged with the
3rd Fleet which not only bombed the
Japanese home islands from the air, but came within range for
Nevada's guns during the closing days of the war.
Battle Stars
Nevada received 7
battle stars for
World War II service.
After the War
Returning to Pearl Harbor after a brief occupation duty in
Tokyo Bay,
Nevada was surveyed and assigned as a target ship for the
Bikini atomic experiments. The tough old veteran survived the atom-bomb test of July 1946, returned to Pearl Harbor to decommission
29 August, and was sunk by gunfire and aerial torpedoes off
Hawaii 31 July 1948. As of 2008 the wreck of the Nevada hasn't yet been discovered.
Commanding Officers
Related Works
USS Nevada 1916-1946
- Editor: Lt. (j.g.) William S. Wyatt, USNR
- Published by the Ship's Welfare Department of the USS Nevada
- San Francisco: The James H. Barry Company, 1946.
- Note: Lt. Cmdr. James H. Barry, USNR served as Supply Officer of the USS Nevada during World War II. He was the scion of the James H. Barry Company.
- This book provides a detailed account of the Nevada's salvage during World War II.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Uss Nevada Bb-36'.
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