Nevada class
USS NEVADA
The USS Nevada class featured changes in technology that would set the standard in design for future battleships including triple gun turrets, oil fired boilers, geared steam turbines and much more armour. Commissioned in March 1916, she soon joined the British in convoy duties during the Great War. After WWI she performed duties in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific.
In August 1925, Nevada was involved in a dual-purpose cruise to New Zealand and Australia. Although it appeared as a goodwill voyage to strengthen diplomatic relations, the actual intent of the US Government was to show the expanding empire of Japan that the American fleet had achieved the capabilities to execute world-wide military operations.
The Americans embarked in an aggressive programme to modernise all of their battleships and Nevada underwent an extensive three-year overhaul commencing in 1927 at Norfolk Navy Yard. The work package involved the addition of torpedo bulges on the hull and the installation of supplementary horizontal armour.
The renovation work also included the alteration of the bridge, removal of her torpedo tubes, addition of a new superstructure of the tripod type in lieu of a basket configuration, relocation of several 5in guns, installation of a contemporary fire control system, and an increase in the number of anti-aircraft guns.
After completion of the overhaul in 1930, she was assigned to the Pacific Battle Fleet until she was forward deployed to Pearl Harbor as a possible deterrent to the Japanese expansion in the Pacific.
On 7 December 1941, Nevada sat at her battleship row mooring off Ford Island when the Japanese made their early Sunday morning surprise attack. Due to the heroic efforts of Engineering Officer Lt. Donald K Ross (MoH), Nevada was able to get underway to avoid being sunk in-place. As she slowly steamed through the channel towards open water the ship was hit with five bombs and one torpedo. She began to sink but through the efforts of her crew, was beached on Hospital Point to avoid sinkingc completely and prevent blocking the vital waterway.
Some 50 sailors were killed and 109 wounded. Nevada was subsequently refloated on 12 February 1942 and made seaworthy enough to be towed to Puget
Sound Navy Yard for additional work and much needed modernisation.
Her overhaul was completed in October and when she left the yard, Nevada had the appearance of a modern battleship. She no longer exhibited the cumbersome masts typical of older battleships, new dual-purpose 5in guns were installed, and her anti-aircraft system defences had been greatly improved by installing several 40mm and 20mm guns.
Nevada participated in the Attu landings in May 1943 and after transfer to the Atlantic in mid-1943, she provided artillery support for the June 1944 Normandy invasion and also off southern France during August and September. Returning to the Pacific, Nevada aided with the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945. A kamikaze plane crashed on her main deck near Turret 3, but she stayed on station, until 30 June when she departed to prepare for the invasion of Japan.
USS Nevada
Class: Nevada
Displacement: 30,500 tonnes
Length: 583ft
Beam: 95ft 2.5in-108ft
Draft: 28ft 6in
Speed: 20.5 knots
Range: 9,206 miles
Crew: 2,220 men
Armament: 10 × 14in guns • 12 × 5in guns • 16 x 5in guns • 1.6in Bofors guns
Armour: Deck - 5in, Waterline belt - 8in-13.5in