| The eighth Washington (BB-56) was laid down on 14 June
1938 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 1 June 1940; sponsored by
Miss Virginia Marshall of Spokane, Washington, a direct descendant of former
Chief Justice Marshall; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on
15 May 1941, Capt. Howard H. J. Benson in command. |
| Her shakedown and underway training ranged along the eastern seaboard
and into the Gulf of Mexico and lasted through American entry into World
War II in December 1941. Sometimes operating in company with her sistership
North Carolina (BB-55) and the new aircraft carrier Hornet
(CV-8), Washington became the flagship for Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox,
Commander, Battleship Division (ComBatDiv) 6, and Commander, Battleships,
Atlantic Fleet. |
| Assigned duty as flagship for Task Force (TF) 39 on 26 March 1942
at Portland, Maine, Washington again flew Admiral Wilcox' flag as
she sailed for the British Isles that day. Slated to reinforce the British
Home Fleet, the battleship, together with the Carrier Wasp (CV-7)
and the heavy cruisers Wichita (CA-45) and Tuscaloosa (CA-37),
headed for Scapa Flow, the major British fleet base in the Orkney
Islands. |
| While steaming thorough moderately heavy seas the following day,
27 March, the "man overboard" alarm sounded on board Washington, and
a quick muster revealed that Admiral Wilcox was missing. Tuscaloosa,
1,000 yards astern, maneuvered and dropped life buoys while two destroyers
headed for Washington's wake to search for the missing flag officer.
Planes from Wasp, despite the foul weather, also took off to aid in
the search. |
| Lookouts in the destroyer Wilson (DD-408) spotted Wilcox'
body in the water, face down, some distance away, but could not pick it up.
The circumstances surrounding Wilcox being washed overboard from his flagship
have never been fully explained to this day; one school of thought has it
that he had suffered a heart attack. |
| At 1228 on the 27th, the search for Wilcox was abandoned, and
command of the task force developed upon the next senior officer, Rear Admiral
Robert C. Giffen, whose flag flew in the cruiser Wichita. On 4 April,
the tasks force reached Scapa Flow, joining the British Home Fleet under
the overall command of Sir John Tovey, whose flag flew in the battleship
HMS King George V. |
| Washington engaged in maneuvers and battle
practice with units of the Home Fleet, out of Scapa Flow, into lat April,
when TF 39 was redesignated as TF 99 with Washington as flagship,
On the 28th, the force got underway to engage in reconnaissance for the
protection of the vital convoys running lend-lease supplies to Murmansk in
the Soviet Union. |
| During those operations, tragedy befell the group. On 1 May 1942,
HMS King George V collided with a "Tribal" class destroyer. HMS
Punjabi was cut in two and sank quickly in the direct path of the
oncoming Washington. Compelled to pass between the halves of the sinking
destroyer, the battleship proceeded ahead and Punjabi's depth charges
exploded beneath her hull as she passed. |
| Fortunately for Washington, she suffered no major hull
damage nor developed any hull leaks from the concussion of the exploding
depth charges, she did, however, sustain damage to some of her delicate fire
control systems and radars; and a diesel oil tank suffered a small
leak. |
| Two destroyers, meanwhile, picked up Punjabi's captain,
four other officers and 182 men; HMS King George V then proceeded
back to Scapa Flow for repairs. Washington and her escorts remained
at sea until 5 May, when TF 99 put into the Icelandic port of Hvalfjordur
to provision from the supply ship Mizar (AF-12). While at Hvalfjordur,
the American and Danish ministers to Iceland called upon Admiral Giffen and
inspected his flagship on 12 May. |
| Task Force 99 Subsequently sortied on the 15th to rendezvous with
units of the Home Fleet and returned to Scapa Flow on 3 June. The next day,
Admiral Harold R. Stark, Commander, Naval Forces, Europe, came on board and
broke his flag in Washington, establishing a temporary administrative
headquarters on board. The battleship played host to His Majesty, King George
VI, at Scapa Flow on the 7th, when the King came on board to inspect the
ship. |
| Soon after Admiral Stark left Washington, the battleship
resumed her operations with the Home Fleet, patrolling part of the Allied
shipping lanes leading to Russian ports. On 14 July 1942, Admiral Giffen
hauled down his flag form the battleship at Hvalfjordur and shifted it to
Wichita. That same day, Washington, with a screen of four
destroyers, upped-anchor and put to sea, leaving Icelandic waters in her
wake. She reached Gravesend Bay, New York, on 21 July; two days later, she
shifted to the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, for a thorough
overhaul. |
| Upon completion of her refit, Washington sailed for the
Pacific on 23 August, escorted by three destroyers. Five days later, she
transited the Panama Canal and, on 14 September, reached Nukualofa Anchorage,
Tongatabu, Tonga Island. On that day, Rear Admiral Willis A. "Ching" Lee,
Jr., broke his flag in Washington as Commander, Battleship Division
(BatDiv) 6, and Commander, Task Group 12.2. |
| The next day, 15 September, Washington put to sea bound
for a rendezvous with TF 17, the force formed around the aircraft carrier
Hornet. Washington then proceeded to Noumea, New Caledonia,
and supported the ongoing Solomons campaign, providing escort services for
various reinforcement convoys proceeding to and from Guadalcanal. During
those weeks, the battleship's principal bases of operation were Noumea and
Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. |
| By mid-November, the situation in the Solomons was far from good
for the Allies, who were now down to one aircraft carrier --
Enterprise (CV-6) -- after the loss of Wasp in September and
Hornet in October, and Japanese surface units were subjecting Henderson
Field on Guadalcanal to heavy bombardments with disturbing regularity.
Significantly, however, the Japanese only made their moves at night, since
Allied planes controlled the skies during the day. That meant that the Allies
had to move their replenishment and reinforcement convoys into Guadalcanal
during the daylight hours. |
| Washington performed those vital duties into mid-November
of 1942. On 13 November, she learned that three groups of Japanese ships
-- one consisting of about 24 transports, with escort -- were steaming toward
Guadalcanal. One enemy force sighted that morning was reported as consisting
of two battleships, a light cruiser, and 11 destroyers. |
| At sunset on the 13th, Rear Admiral Lee took Washington,
South Dakota (BB-57), four destroyers and
headed for Salvo Island -- the scene of the disastrous night action of 8
and 9 August -- to be in position to intercept the Japanese convoy and its
covering force. Lee's ships, designated as TF 64, reached a point about 50
miles south-by-west from Guadalcanal late in the forenoon on the 14th and
spent much of the remainder of the day trying -- unsuccessfully -- to avoid
being spotted by Japanese reconnaissance planes. |
| Approaching on a northerly course, nine miles west of Guadalcanal,
TF 64 -- reported by the Japanese reconnaissance planes as consisting of
a battleship, a cruiser, and four destroyers -- steamed in column formation.
Walke (DD-416) led, followed by Benham (DD-397), Preston
(DD-377), Gwin (DD-433), and the two battleships, Washington
and South Dakota. |
| As the ship steamed through the flat calm sea beneath the scattered
cirrus cumulus clouds in the night sky, Washington's radar picked
up a contact, bearing to the east of Salvo Island, to 0001 on 15 November.
Fifteen minutes later, at 0016, Washington opened fire with her 16-inch
main battery. The fourth battle of Salvo Island was underway. |
| The Japanese force proved to be the battleship Kirishima,
the heavy cruisers Atago and Takao, the light cruisers
Sendai and Nagara, and a screen of nine destroyers escorting
four transports. Planning to conduct a bombardment of American positions
on Guadalcanal to cover the landing of troops, the Japanese force ran head-on
into Lee's TF 64. |
| For the next three minutes, Washington's 16-inchers hurled
out 42 rounds, opening at 18,500 yards range, her fire aimed at the light
cruiser Sendai. Simultaneously, the battleship's 5-inch battery was
engaging another ship also being engaged by South Dakota. |
| As gunflashes split the night and the rumble of gunfire reverberated
like thunder off the islands nearby, Washington continued to engage
the Japanese force. Between 0025 and 0034, the ship engaged targets at 10,000
yards range with her 5-inch battery. |
| Most significantly, however, Washington soon engaged Kirishima,
in the first head-to-head confrontation of battleships in the Pacific
war. In seven minutes, tracking by radar, Washington sent 75 rounds
of 16-inch and 107 rounds of 5-inch at ranges from 8,400 to 12,650 yards,
scoring at least nine hits with her main battery and about 40 with her 5-inchers,
silencing the enemy battleship in short order. Subsequently,
Washington's 5-inch batteries went to work on other targets spotted
by her radar "eyes." |
| The battle, however, was not all one-sided. Japanese gunfire proved
devastating to the four destroyers of TF 64, as did the dreaded and effective
"long lance" torpedoes. Walke and Preston both took numerous
hits of all calibers and sank; Benham sustained heavy damage to her
bow, and Gwin sustained shell hits aft. |
| South Dakota had maneuvered to avoid the
burning Walke and Preston but soon found herself the target
of the entire Japanese bombardment group. Skewered by searchlight beams,
South Dakota boomed out salvoes at the pugnacious enemy, as did
Washington which was proceeding, at that point, to deal out severe
punishment upon Kirishima -- on of South Dakota's
assailants. |
| South Dakota, the recipient of numerous
hits, retired as Washington steamed north to draw fire away from her
crippled sister battleship and the two crippled destroyers, Benham
and Gwin. Initially, the remaining ships of the Japanese bombardment
group gave chase to Washington but broke off action when discouraged
by the battleship's heavy guns. Accordingly, they withdrew under cover of
a smokescreen. |
| After Washington skillfully evaded torpedoes fired by the
retiring Japanese destroyers in the van of the enemy force, she joined South
Dakota later in the morning, shaping course for Noumea. In the battleship
action, Washington had done well and had emerged undamaged. South
Dakota had not emerged unscathed, however, sustaining heavy damage to
her superstructure; 38 men had died; 60 lay wounded. The Japanese had lost
the battleship Kirishima. Left burning and exploding, she later had
to be abandoned and scuttled. The other enemy casualty was the destroyer
Ayanami, scuttled the next morning. |
| Washington remained in the South Pacific
theater, basing on New Caledonia and continuing as flagship for Rear Admiral
"Ching" Lee. The battleship protected carrier groups and task forces engaged
in the ongoing Solomons campaign until late in April of 1943, operating
principally with TF 11, which included the repaired Saratoga (CV-3),
and with TF 16, built around Enterprise. |
| Washington departed Noumea on 30 April 1943,
bound for the Hawaiian Islands. While en route, TF 16 joined up; and, together,
the ships reached Pearl Harbor on 8 May. Washington, as a unit of,
and as flagship for, TF 60, carried out battle practice in Hawaiian waters
until 28 May 1943, after which time she put into the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard
for overhaul. |
| Washington resumed battle practice in the
Hawaiian operating area upon conclusion of those repairs and alterations
and joined a convoy on 27 July to form Task Group (TG) 56.14, bound for the
South Pacific. Detached on 5 August, Washington reached Havannah Harbor,
at Efate, in the New Hebrides, on the 7th. She then operated out of Efate
until late in October, principally engaged in battle practice and tactics
with fast carrier task forces. |
| Departing Havannah Harbor on the last day of October,
Washington sailed as a unit of TG 53.2 -- four battleships and six
destroyers. The next day, the carriers Enterprise, Essex (CV-9),
and Independence (CVL-22), as well as the other screening units of
TG 53.3, joined TG 53.2 and came under Rear Admiral Lee. The ships held combined
maneuvers until 5 November, when the carriers departed the formation.
Washington, with her escorts, steamed to Viti Levu, in the Fiji Islands,
arriving on the 7th. |
| Four days later, however, the battleship was again underway, with
Rear Admiral Lee -- by that point Commander, Battleships, Pacific -- embarked,
in company with other units of BatDivs 8 and 9. On the 15th, the battlewagons
and their screens joined Rear Admiral C. A. "Baldy" Pownall's TG 50.1, Rear
Admiral Pownall flying his two-starred flag in Yorktown (CV-10), the
namesake of the carrier lost at Midway. The combined force then proceeded
toward the Gilbert Islands to join in the daily bombings of Japanese positions
in the Gilberts and Marshalls -- softening them up for impending
assault. |
| On the 19th, the planes from TG 50.1 attacked Mili and Jaluit
in the Marshalls, continuing those strikes through 20 November, the day upon
which Navy, Marine, and Army forces landed on Tarawa and Makin in the Gilberts.
On the 22d, the task group sent its planes against Mili in successive waves;
subsequently, the group steamed to operate north of Makin. |
| Washington rendezvoused with the carrier groups that composed
TF 50 on 25 November and, during the reorganization that followed, was assigned
to TG 50.4, the fast carrier task group under the command of Rear Admiral
Frederick C. "Ted" Sherman. The carriers comprising the core of the group
were Bunker Hill (CV-17) and Monterey (CVL-26); the battleships
screening them were Alabama (BB-60) and South Dakota. Eight
destroyers rounded out the screen. |
| The group operated north of Makin, providing air, surface, and
antisubmarine protection for the unfolding unloading operations at Makin,
effective on 26 November. Enemy planes attacked the group on the 27th and
28th but were driven off without inflicting any damage on the fast carrier
task forces. |
| As the Gilbert Islands campaign drew to a close, TG 50.8 was formed
on 6 December, under Rear Admiral Lee, in Washington. Other ships
of that group included sistership North Carolina (BB-5),
Massachusetts (BB-59), Indiana (BB-58), South Dakota,
Alabama as well as the Fleet carriers Bunker Hill and
Monterey. Eleven destroyers screened the heavy ships. |
| The group first steamed south and west of Ocean Island to take
position for the scheduled air and surface bombardment of the island of Nauru.
Before dawn on 8 December, the carriers launched their strike groups while
the bombardment force formed in column; 135 rounds of 16-inch fire from the
six battleships fell on the enemy installations on Nauru; and, upon completion
of the shelling, the battleships secondary batteries took their turn; two
planes from each battleship spotted the fall of shot. |
| After a further period of air strikes had been flown off against
Nauru, the task group sailed for Efate, where they arrived on 12 December.
On that day, due to a change in the highest command echelons, TF 57 became
TF 37. |
| Washington tarried at Efate for less than
two weeks. Underway on Christmas Day, flying Rear Admiral Lee's flag, the
battleship sailed in company with her sistership North Carolina
and a screen of four destroyers to conduct gunnery practice, returning to
the New Hebrides on 7 January 1944. |
| Eleven days later, the battleship departed Efate for the Ellice
Islands. Joining TG 37.2 -- carriers Monterey and Bunker Hill
and four destroyers -- en route, Washington reached Funafuti, Ellice
Islands, on January. Three days later, the battleship, along with the rest
of the task group, put to sea to make rendezvous with elements of TF 58,
the fast carrier task force under Mitscher. Becoming part of TG 58.1,
Washington screened the fast carriers in her group as they launched
air strikes on Taroa and Kwajalein in the waning days of January 1944.
Washington, together with Massachusetts and Indiana,
left the formation with four destroyers as screen and shelled Kwajalein Atoll
on the 30th. Further air strikes followed the next day. |
| On 1 February, however, misfortune reared her head;
Washington, while maneuvering in the inky darkness, rammed
Indiana as she cut across Washington's bow while dropping out
of formation to fuel escorting destroyers. Both battleships retired for repairs;
Washington having sustained 60 feet of crumpled bow plating. Both
ships put into the lagoon at Majuro the next morning. Subsequently, after
reinforcing the damaged bow, Washington departed Majuro on 11 February
bound for Hawaiian Islands. |
| With a temporary bow fitted at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard,
Washington continued on for the west coast of the United States. Reaching
the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, the battleship received
a new bow over the weeks that followed her arrival. Joining BatDiv 4 at Port
Townsend, Washington, the battleship embarked 500 men as passengers and sailed
for Pearl Harbor, reaching her destination on 13 June and disembarking her
passengers. |
| Arriving back at Majuro on 30 May, Washington again flew
Admiral Lee's flag as he shifted on board the battleship soon after her arrival.
Lee, now a vice admiral, rode in the battleship as she headed out to sea
again, departing Majuro on 7 June and joining Mitscher's fast carrier TF
58. |
| Washington supported the air strikes pummeling
enemy defenses in the Marianas on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Rota,
and Pagan. Task Force 58's fliers also attacked twice and damaged a Japanese
convoy in the vicinity of 12 June. The following day, Vice Admiral Lee's
battleship - destroyer task group was detached from the main body of the
force and conducted shore bombardment against enemy installations on
Saipan and Tinian. Relieved on the 14th by two task groups under Rear
Admirals J. B. Oldendorf and W. L. Ainsworth, Vice Admiral Lee's group retired
momentarily. |
| On 15 June, Admiral Mitscher's TF 58 planes bombed Japanese
installations on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands and Chichi Jima and Haha
Jima in the Bonins. Meanwhile, marines landed on Saipan under cover of intensive
naval gunfire and carrier - based planes. |
| That same day, Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, commanding the main body
of the Japanese Fleet, was ordered to attack and destroy the invasion force
in the Marianas. The departure of his carrier group, however, came under
the scrutiny of the submarine Redfin (SS-272), as it left Tawi Tawi,
the westernmost island in the Sulu Archipelago. |
| Flying Fish (SS-229) also sighted Ozawa's force as it entered
the Philippine Sea. Cavalla (SS-244) radioed a contact report on an
enemy refueling group in the Marianas. She again sighted Japanese Combined
Fleet units on 18 June. |
| Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the 6th Fleet, had meanwhile
learned of the Japanese movement and accordingly issued his battle plan.
Vice Admiral Lee's force formed a protective screen around the vital fleet
carriers. Washington, six other battleships, four heavy cruisers,
and 14 destroyers deployed to cover the flattops; on 19 June, the ships came
under attack from Japanese carrier - based and land - based planes as the
Battle of teh Philippine Sea commenced. |
| The tremendous firepower of the screen, however, together with
the aggressive combat air patrols flown from the American carriers, proved
too much for even the aggressive Japanese. The heavy loss of Japanese aircraft,
sometimes referred to as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," caused serious losses
in the Japanese naval air arm. During four massive raids, the enemy launched
373 planes -- only 130 returned. |
| In addition, 50 land - based bombers from Guam fell in flames.
Over 300 American carrier planes were involved in the aerial action; their
losses amounted to comparatively few: 23 shot down and six lost operationally
without the loss of a single ship in Mitscher's task force. |
| Only a few of the enemy planes managed to get through the barrage
of flak and fighters, one scoring a direct hit on South Dakota --
killing 27 and wounding 23. A Bomb burst over the flight deck of the carrier
Wasp (CV-18), killing one man, wounding 12, and covering her
flight deck with bits of phosphorous. Two planes dove on Bunker Hill,
one scoring a near miss and the other a hit that holed an elevator, knocking
out the hanger deck gasoline system temporarily; killing three and wounding
73. Several fires started were promptly quenched. In addition,
Minneapolis (CA-36) and Indiana also received slight
damage. |
| Not only did the Japanese lose heavily in planes; two of their
carriers were soon on their way to the bottom -- Taiho, torpedoed
and sunk by Albacore (SS-218); and Shokaku, sunk by
Cavalla. Admiral Ozawa, his flagship, Taiho, shot out from
under him, transferred his flag to Zuikaku. |
| As the battle of the Philippine Sea proceeded to a close, the
Japanese Mobil Fleet steamed back to its bases, defeated. Admiral Mitscher's
task force meanwhile retired to cover the invasion operations proceeding
in the Marianas. Washington fueled east of that chain of islands and
then continued her screening duties with TG 58.4 to the south and west of
Saipan, supporting the continuing air strikes on islands in the Marianas,
the strikes concentrated on Guam by that point. |
| On 25 July, aircraft of TG 58.4 conducted air strikes on the Palaus
and on enemy shipping in the vicinity, continuing their schedule of strikes
through 6 August. On that day, Washington, with Iowa (BB-61),
Indiana, Alabama, the light cruiser Birmingham (CL-62),
and a destroyer screen, was detached from the screen of TG 58.4, forming
TG 58.7, under Vice Admiral Lee. |
| That group arrived at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls to refuel
and replenish on 11 August and remained there for almost the balance of the
month. On 30 August, that group departed, headed for, first, the Admiralty
Islands, and ultimately, the Palaus. |
| Washington's heavy guns supported the taking of Peleliu
and Angaur in the Palaus and supported the carrier strikes on Okinawa on
10 October, as well as Luzon and Formosa from 11 to 14 October, as well as
the Visayan air strikes on 21 October, From 5 November 1944 to 17 February
1945. Washington, as a vital unit of the fast carrier striking force,
supported raids on Okinawa, in the Ryukyus; Formosa; Luzon; Camranh Bay,
French Indochina; Saigon, French Indochina; Hong Kong; Canton; Hainan Island;
Nansei Shoto; and the heart of the enemy homeland -- Tokyo itself. |
| From 19 to 22 February 1945, Washington's heavy rifles
hurled 16-inch shells shoreward in support of the landings on Iwo Jima. In
preparation for the assault, Washington's main and secondary batteries
destroyed gun positions, troop concentrations, and other ground installations.
From 23 February to 16 March, the fast battleship support the unfolding invasion
of Iwo Jima, including a carrier raid upon Tokyo on 25 February. On 18, 19
and 29 March, Washington screened the Fleet's carriers as they launched
airstrikes against Japanese airfields and other installation on the island
of Kyushu. On 24 March, and again on 19 April, Washington lent her
support to the shellings of Japanese positions on the island of
Okinawa. |
| Anchoring at San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on 1 June 1945 after an almost
ceaseless slate of operations, Washington sailed for the west coast
of the United States on 6 June, making stops at Guam and Pearl Harbor before
reaching the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 23 June. |
| As it turned out, Washington would not participate in active
combat in the Pacific theater again. Her final wartime refit carried on through
V-J Day in mid-August of 1945 and the formal Japanese surrender in Tokyo
Bay on 2 September. She completed her post repair trials and conducted underway
training out of San Pedro, California, before she headed for the Panama Canal,
returning to the Atlantic Ocean. Joining TG 11.6 on 6 October, with Vice
Admiral Frederick C. Sherman in overall command, she soon transited the Panama
Canal and headed for Philadelphia, the place where she had been "born." Arriving
at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 17 October, she participated in Navy
Day ceremonies there on the 27th. |
| Assigned to troop transport duty on 2 November 1945 -- as part
of the "Magic Carpet" operations -- Washington went into dockyard
hands on that day, emerging on the 15th with additional bunking facilities
below and a crew that now consisted of only 84 officers and 835 men. Sailing
on 15 November for the British Isles, Washington reached Southampton, England,
on 22 November. |
| After embarking 185 army officers and 1,479 enlisted men,
Washington sailed for New York. She completed that voyage and, after
that brief stint as a transport, was placed out of commission, in reserve,
on 27 June 1947. Assigned to the New York group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet,
Washington remained inactive through the late 1950's, ultimately being
struck from the navy list on 1 June 1960. The old warrior was sold on 24
May 1961 to the Lipsett Division, Luria Bros., of New York City, and was
scrapped soon thereafter. |
| A major display that included her bell, wheel and other relics
is exhibited in the State Capitol, Olympia, It is an outstanding monumant,
beautifully executed, to the memory of a great fighting ship and all who
sailed in her. |
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