In this episode: battleship North Carolina—
the showboat of naval warfare. Naval Legends:
USS North Carolina USS North Carolina
and USS Washington were the first US battleships
commissioned after 1923. First, the Washington Naval Treaty
and then the London Naval Treaty hampered the construction of
new battleships in the United States for almost 15 years. By 1937, the engineers
of the US Navy had defined the main specifications
of a modern American battleship… The main requirement
was for those battleships to be able to pass
through the Panama Canal. So the width of the Panama Canal defined
the parameters of US battleships. …Apart from that,
the 1930s saw the extensive use of brand new
technological advances. Nevertheless, they
needed to build a battleship able to win supremacy
in a naval theater of war. Don't forget that at that time battleships were considered
the main type of warship. So, they needed to be
powerful, have good speed, and carry good
artillery armament. The design process for North
Carolina began as early as 1928 and took nine
years to complete. In the following four years, the
battleship was constructed and tested. Numerous changes
were made to its design and serious
malfunctions were eliminated. When the ship was completed,
a serious problem surfaced— her hull vibrated very
strongly at certain speeds. They installed new propellers
and launched her again. Then, a trial run, another one,
vibration again, and back to the shipyard. The ship often passed by
New York's embankments. As if she was showing off.
New-Yorkers came in crowds to watch her. That's how the ship got
the nickname "showboat." Finally, they managed
to solve the vibration issue, and on April 1941,
North Carolina was commissioned and became the main warship
of the United States of America. Main specifications of
battleship North Carolina Length: 222 meters. Beam: almost
32 meters. Draft: more than 9.5 m. Total displacement: 44,800 tons. Main power plant: four compartments
with two Babcock & Wilcox boilers each and a set of General
Electric steam turbines. Power: 121,000 hp. Cruising
range: 17,450 miles at 15 knots. Armor. Main armor belt: up to 305 mm.
Main armored deck: 140 mm. Turrets were protected with armor
from 178 mm to 406 mm thick. Conning tower:
from 178 to 406 mm. Armament.
Primary armament: Nine Mark 6 guns with a caliber of
406 mm, installed in three triple turrets. This whole ship was designed to be a stable firing platform
for these 16-inch guns. These guns could fire
every 30 seconds. So, imagine nine shells
each weighing 2,700 pounds. Think about that—it’s about
the weight of a small car— coming out of these
barrels every 30 seconds and travelling down
range 20 miles to a target. Designed to go against
another battleship and penetrate that battleship’s
armor and then explode inside. Dual-purpose artillery: ten coaxial
Mark 12 mounts, caliber 127 mm (10x2). And they could fire against surface
targets, that is shore bombardment, enemy ships, and the
most important role they had, for the North Carolina
was in the antiaircraft role. Battleship North Carolina was credited
with shooting down 24 airplanes. Those are, of course,
only the confirmed kills. Anti-aircraft artillery: four quadruple mounts, caliber 28 mm,
twelve machine guns, caliber 12.7 mm. When North Carolina was in Pearl
Harbor for repairs in September of 1942, the 1.1-inch systems were replaced
by what I’m sitting in now— the Bofors 40-mm quad mount. 50-caliber machine guns were
replaced by Oerlikon 20-mm cannon. Air group: three Vought
OS2U Kingfisher aircraft The battleships of World War II would carry these planes
for a number of missions. One of them would be
to search out the enemy, also to observe the fall
of shot from the artillery, from the naval gunfire and to adjust
fire as necessary to hit the target. They would also, of course,
search for submarines, and should they find one,
they could attack it. But they also played
a big role in World War II on the battleship North Carolina
as rescuers of downed pilots. Initially, North Carolina was designed
to be armed with 14-inch guns. The decision to increase the caliber
was made at the last moment— intelligence reports said that Japan
was building some super battleships. Moreover, it turned out that three turrets with
16-inch guns would fit perfectly instead of the 14-inch turrets
presupposed by the initial design. As a result, this decision became
a real breakthrough for US shipbuilding. 47 men inside the gun
house of that turret. It’s kind of hard to
believe because it’s small. Now this turret goes all the
way down to the keel of the ship. That armored cylinder that the
turret sits on is called a barbette. In the whole gun mount
there would be 177 men, which for three
turrets makes up… that’s almost 600 guys making
up almost a third of the crew. The battleship was also
fitted with two radars, which controlled the
primary armament's fire. This main battery director being one
of the highest points in the ship— the highest manned
points in the ship— was subject to all the
pitching and rolling of the ship. So, in weather
prediction at the time, hurricanes could not be
predicted ahead of time, so, this ship found
itself in hurricanes and there are accounts
of water breaching the ship, reaching as high as the platform
at the 010 level, one level below us. And those men
who were lookouts were subject to quite
severe weather conditions. And you can imagine if you’re
11 stories above the main deck, what momentum you’re being subjected
to, as you’re being pitched and rolled. The information from this center
was sent to the artillery calculator and the automatic firing device— an analog computing device,
a predecessor of modern-day computers. The purpose of this computer
was to put a projectile, which could weigh up to
2,500 pounds 25 miles away. It’s a dumb projectile, so it has to know
where it’s going when it leaves the ship. And these computers calculate
approximately 26 variables. Anything from barrel wear,
wind speed, Coriolis effect. Our ship might be moving in one direction,
the target ship in another direction. So, the computer is tracking
where the future target will be. The computer took seven
men to operate, each computer. There would be up to
72 men in these rooms. The rooms are air-conditioned
for the equipment, not for the men. We’re told it would be up to 90 degrees
and 90% humidity in these rooms, so it was very
difficult conditions, but these were the battle
stations for all those men. By April 1944, North Carolina was
equipped with radiolocation systems, including radars for discovering
air and surface targets. Welcome to the USS North
Carolina Combat Information Center. Its primary function during an engagement
would have been to keep track of all air and surface contacts
around the battleship during the war. There were two search radars located
in this compartment for that purpose. Behind you was the Main
Airsearch Radar called SK2. It could track aircraft depending on
the weather at about 100-110 miles. And we have the SG surface
search radar located up forward here, which could see a large warship, such as a battleship or an aircraft
carrier at about 25-30 miles. Service on the battleship
did not stop even for a minute and that required a lot
of effort from her crew. At the same time, living conditions on
North Carolina were far from comfortable. At the height of
the War in the Pacific, there were as many as
2,300 men aboard this ship. So, you might be saying,
“Where did they all sleep?” Well, they slept in berthing compartments
like this one that we’re in now. This is a quite
typical berthing area. There happened to be
80 men in this particular space. The ceilings are quite high and the
racks, as we call them in the navy, the beds, the racks are
stacked as much as five high. You have to be a real contortionist
to get into the top rack. These berthing areas
are hot, they’re crowded, they afford almost
no privacy as you can see. So, there was a constant
flow of activity in here. Constantly guys getting in and out
of their beds, using the bathroom, taking showers, getting dressed
for work, coming off of work. So, as I said, crowded,
hot in the South Pacific in 1942. Ambient temperatures
as high as 95-100 degrees. This was what life was like for a sailor
in World War II on a battleship. It was hard life. On September 3, 1941, the battleship left for her shakedown
cruise to the Caribbean Sea. After nine months of intense
exercises and artillery practice, North Carolina set sail from
Norfolk to the Pacific Ocean, where, by that time, the strategic
situation had dramatically changed. Aircraft carriers
became the main warship. As a result, North Carolina and
similar ships, her sisterships, became auxiliary ships
for aircraft carriers. And they completed their primary combat
missions as part of carrier groups. On August 7, 1942, the United States began the landing
operation on the Guadalcanal Island. The Japanese command concentrated
their forces at the Truk base, preparing a strike against the
US fleet near the Solomon Islands. On August 24, the Japanese launched
about 80 planes at the US ships. North Carolina was
escorting USS Enterprise. The ships formed a circle
around the aircraft carrier with a diameter
of about 2 miles. It was the first battle
for North Carolina— at 17:12, her dual-purpose guns opened fire on the Japanese
bombers attacking Enterprise. The fire was so powerful that
a dense umbrella of exploding shells covered Enterprise and the
Japanese aircraft had to turn away. Then the ship was attacked by torpedo
bombers from different directions. Repelling the enemy aircraft, North Carolina unleashed such a massive
barrage from her dual-purpose guns, antiaircraft cannons, and machine guns
that it astounded her allies as well. Admiral Kinkaid from Enterprise asked
the battleship's captain, "Are you afire?" They decided that the battleship
was ablaze from enemy hits. For seven minutes of the battle, which eyewitnesses called nothing
less than "seven minutes of hell," North Carolina shot down
from seven to fourteen aircraft. The dual-purpose artillery
proved itself during this engagement and in the following operations. And they had a round called the
AA CR—the antiaircraft common round. It was a round specifically
designed to do damage to aircraft. We also had a secret
weapon in World War II, we had a proximity fuse on
some of our antiaircraft rounds. They had a teeny little radar system
inside the nose cone of the shell, which would detect
proximity to an enemy aircraft and detonate without actually
having to hit the aircraft. And these were
very-very effective. Of course, it was top secret, even the
sailors loading and shooting the guns didn’t know what
they were shooting. It was a well-kept
secret until after the war. Since her arrival
in the Pacific theater of war and until the last
missions in July 1945, North Carolina never engaged enemy
battleships in a direct artillery duel. However, the battleship's
artillery was used in all major operations
of World War II in that region. Now, North Carolina in her history never got a chance to go up
against an enemy battleship, but she did fire almost 2,500
rounds against shore targets as part of an amphibious assault. She was part of nine shore bombardments
against the Japanese held islands including mainland Japan. Near the end of the war, the Japanese were suffering
defeats in one battle after another and losing ships and aircraft,
so they resorted to the kamikaze tactic. We’re standing on the signal
bridge of battleship North Carolina. It was on this very spot in 1945,
that one of the most tragic events of World War II in the history
of this battleship took place. And on that day 6 April, 1945, North Carolina was steaming in company
with a US destroyer off its port quarter. So North Carolina was vigorously
trying to defend herself from this kamikaze attack,
as was the US destroyer. The kamikaze passed over
the top of North Carolina and crashed into the
sea on her starboard side. That US destroyer
was tracking that kamikaze and unfortunately it did
not cease fire soon enough. So, one of its last rounds a 5-inch shell
actually impacted this 5-inch director. And there were
15 men inside that director. Three of them
were killed instantly; the other men in there
were severely injured. As were others,
standing around on the deck. It was a very tragic
example of friendly fire. On September 2, 1945, Japan signed
its surrender aboard USS Missouri; the next day, North Carolina
set sail back to the United States. On June 27, 1947, the battleship
was officially inactivated and put into reserve
in the state of New Jersey— the ship accomplished her task. Escorting aircraft carriers
became their primary mission. Those were battleships that bore the main weight of
attacks from the Japanese aviation, both carrier-borne and
land-based, and Japanese kamikaze. Thanks to battleships, aircraft carriers
could complete their primary mission, which was to deliver
strikes on the enemy. So this was their purpose—to escort
and defend carrier task forces. North Carolina remained
in reserve for 13 years; then her name was stricken
from the Naval Register. After that, she was purchased by her
namesake state for 250,000 US dollars. Two sea-going tugs
helped the battleship navigate to the city of
Wilmington, North Carolina, where on April 29, 1962, she
was opened as a war memorial.
Sadly, mine has remain untouched for over 3 years as a dock decoration ever since I went basically full premieum BB usage which I simply find more enjoyable, namely Musashi nowadays but before that, Tirpitz, Bismark, Hood, Scharnhorst, Missouri, Bama, Kurfurst and Mass and hell, even the Kii. I'm aware of NC's legendary main gun accuracy/sigma, but I simply have other toys that I enjoy playing with more in the big bathtub
Also, the ship is haunted.
First time I hear about these... proximity fuse AA shells...
Huh, the editing on the first part of the video looks pretty underwhelming, especially on the specification animation.