USS Washington (BB-56)
USS Washington (BB-56), the second of two
North Carolina-class battleships, was the third ship of the
United States Navy named in honor of
the 42nd state. Her keel was laid down on
14 June 1938 at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was
launched on
1 June 1940, sponsored by Miss
Virginia Marshall of
Spokane, Washington, a direct descendant of former
Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall, and
commissioned at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard on
15 May 1941, with Captain Howard H.J. Benson in command.
The
Washington has the distinction of having served the entire
Pacific War without losing a man to hostile action, and only being hit once by enemy ordinance: a 5" shell that passed through her radar antenna without detonation. Also, as she was exiting the
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, several Japanese "
Long Lance"
torpedoes detonated in her wake. Several USS
Washington sailors died in accidents, however.
The
Washington is also one of two US
modern battleships to fight in a battleship duel, which was the
Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The only other battleship versus battleship engagement of the entire Pacific Theatre was
Leyte Gulf in 1944. USS Washington is also the only one of her contemporaries to sink an enemy battleship in warfare, the
IJN Kirishima (the
USS Massachusetts only disabled
Jean Bart).
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 sister ship the
North Carolina (BB-55) and the new
aircraft carrier Hornet (CV-8), the
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's flag as she steamed for the
British Isles that day. Slated to reinforce the
British Home Fleet, the
battleship, together with the aircraft carrier
Wasp (CV-7), and the heavy
cruisers
Wichita (CA-45) and
Tuscaloosa (CA-37), steamed for
Scapa Flow, the huge British fleet base in the
Orkney Islands,
Scotland.
While steaming through moderately heavy seas the following day,
27 March, the "man overboard" alarm sounded on board the
Washington, and a quick muster revealed that Admiral Wilcox was missing. The
Tuscaloosa, 1,000 yards astern, maneuvered and dropped life buoys, while two
destroyers headed for
Washingtons wake to search for the missing flag officer. Airplanes from the Wasp
, despite the foul weather, also took off to aid in the search.
Lookouts in the destroyer Wilson
(DD-408) spotted Wilcox's body in the water, face down, some distance away, but she could not pick it up. The circumstances surrounding Wilcox being washed overboard from his flagship have never been fully explained; some schools of thought have it that he either suffered a severe heart attack or committed suicide.
At 12:28 on 27 March, the search for Adm. Wilcox was abandoned, and command of the task force devolved upon the next senior officer, Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen, whose flag flew in the cruiser Wichita
. On 4 April, the task force reached Scapa Flow, joining the British Home Fleet under the overall command of Sir John Tovey, whose flag flew from the battleship HMS King George V
.
The Washington
engaged in maneuvers and battle practice with units of the Home Fleet, out of Scapa Flow, into late April, when TF 39 was redesignated as TF 99 with the Washington
as flagship. On 28 April, the force got underway to engage in reconnaissance for the protection of the vital convoys carrying lend-lease war supplies to Murmansk in the northern Soviet Union.
During those operations, tragedy befell the force. On 1 May 1942, King George V
collided with the "Tribal"-class destroyer, HMS Punjabi
. She was cut in two and sank quickly directly in the path of the oncoming Washington
. Compelled to pass between the halves of the sinking destroyer, the battleship proceeded ahead, Punjabis
depth charges exploding beneath her hull as she passed.
Fortunately for the
Washington, she suffered neither 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. The
King George V then proceeded back to Scapa Flow for repairs. The
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
15 May 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 on the
Washington, establishing a temporary administrative headquarters on board. The battleship played host to King
George VI at Scapa Flow on
7 June, when the King came on board to inspect the ship.
Soon after Admiral Stark left the
Washington, the battleship resumed her operations with the Home Fleet, patrolling part of the Allied shipping lanes leading to the Russian ports. On
14 July 1942, Admiral Giffen hauled down his flag in the battleship at Hvalfjordur and shifted to the
Wichita. That same day, the
Washington, with a screen of four destroyers, drew up her 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 steamed 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, in the South Pacific. On that day, Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee, Jr., broke his two-star flag on the
Washington as Commander, Battleship Division (BatDiv) 6, and Commander, Task Group 12.2.
On the next day,
15 September, the
Washington put to sea bound for a rendezvous with TF 17, the force formed around the
aircraft carrier Hornet. The
Washington then proceeded to
Nouméa,
New Caledonia, to support the ongoing
Solomon Islands campaign, providing escort services for various reinforcement convoys proceeding to and from
Guadalcanal. During those weeks, the battleship's principal bases of operation were
Nouméa and
Espiritu Santo in the
New Hebrides islands.
By mid-November, the situation in the
Solomons was far from good for the Americans, who were now down to one aircraft carrier, the
Enterprise (CV-6), after the sinking of the
Wasp in September and the
Hornet in October, and Japanese surface units were subjecting
Henderson Field on Guadalcanal to heavy bombardments with disturbing regularity. Significantly, the
Imperial Japanese Navy made its numerous naval forays at night, since Allied planes from Henderson Filed controlled the skies during the day. That meant that the Americans were free to move their replenishment and reinforcement convoys into Guadalcanal waters during the daylight hours.
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
Washington performed those vital duties into mid-November of
1942, On
9 November, naval intelligence officers learned that three groups of Japanese ships, one consisting of about 24 transports with escorts, 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
13 November, Rear Admiral
Willis A. Lee led out the
Washington, the
South Dakota (BB-57), and four destroyers, and headed for
Savo Island, the scene of the costly night combat actions of
8 August 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 (90 km) south-by-west from Guadalcanal late in the forenoon on
14 November 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 was reported by the Japanese reconnaissance planes to consist of a battleship, a cruiser, and four destroyers steaming in column formation.
Walke (DD-416) led, followed by
Benham (DD-397),
Preston (DD-379),
Gwin (DD-433), and the two battleships,
Washington and
South Dakota.
As the ships steamed through the flat calm sea beneath the scattered cirrus cumulus clouds in the night sky,
Washingtons radar picked up a contact, bearing to the east of Savo Island, at 00:01 hours on 15 November. Fifteen minutes later, at 00:16, Washington
opened fire with her 16-inch main battery. The fourth battle of Savo 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 following day, the Japanese force ran head-on into Lee's TF 64.
For the next three minutes, Washingtons 16-inchers hurled out 42 rounds, opening at 18,500 yards range, her fire aimed at the light cruiser
Sendai. Simultaneously, the battleship's five-inchdual-purpose battery was engaging another ship also being shelled by the
South Dakota.
As gun-flashes split the night and the rumble of gunfire reverberated like thunder off the islands nearby, the
Washington continued to engage the Japanese force. Between 00:25 and 00:34 hours, she engaged targets at 10,000 yards range with her five-inch battery.
Most significantly, however, the
Washington soon engaged the
Kirishima in the first head-to-head confrontation of battleships in the Pacific War. In seven minutes, tracking by radar, the
Washington fired 75 rounds of 16-inch and 107 rounds of five-inch shells at ranges from 8,400 to 12,650 yards, scoring at least nine hits with her main battery and about 40 with her five-inchers, silencing the enemy
Kirishima in short order and setting her afire. Subsequently,
Washingtons five-inch batteries went to work on other targets spotted by her radar electronics.
This naval battle off Guadalcanal, however, was not all one-sided. Japanese gunfire proved devastating to the four destroyers of TF 64, as did the powerful IJN "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.
The South Dakota
had maneuvered to avoid the burning Walke
and Preston
but soon found herself to be the target of the entire Japanese bombardment group. Skewered by searchlight beams, the South Dakota
boomed out salvoes at the IJN force, as did the Washington
which was proceeding, at that point, to deal out severe punishment upon the Kirishima
, one of South Dakotas assailants.
The
South Dakota, the recipient of numerous hits, retired as the
Washington steamed north to draw fire away from her crippled battleship comrade, and from the two crippled destroyers
Benham and
Gwin. Initially, the remaining ships of the Japanese bombardment group gave chase to
Washington but they broke off action when discouraged by the battleship's heavy guns. Accordingly, they withdrew under cover of a smokescreen.
After the
Washington evaded torpedoes fired by the IJN destroyers in the van of the enemy force, having several detonating in her wake as she retired, she joined the
South Dakota later in the morning, shaping course for Nouméa. In the battleship action, the
Washington had done well and had emerged undamaged, except for one non-exploding 5-inch shell through one of her radar antennas. The
South Dakota had not emerged unscathed, however, sustaining heavy damage to her superstructure; 38 fatalities; and 60 lying wounded. The Japanese had lost the battleship
Kirishima. Left burning and exploding, she later had to be abandoned and was scuttled by the IJN. The other enemy casualty was the destroyer
Ayanami, scuttled the next morning.
While the
South Dakota steamed all the way to New York City for major repairs, the
Washington remained in the South Pacific theater, based at New Caledonia and continuing as flagship for Rear Admiral Lee. The battleship protected aircraft 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 recently repaired
Saratoga (CV-3), which had taken a torpedo from an IJN submarine, and with TF 16, built around the
Enterprise.
Washington departed Nouméa 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
6 August,
Washington reached
Havannah Harbor at
Efate in the
New Hebrides, on
7 August. 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, the
Washington steamed as a unit of TG 53.2â€"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
6 November, when the carriers departed the formation.
Washington, with her escorts, steamed to
Viti Levu, in the
Fiji Islands, arriving on
7 November.
Four days later, however, the battleship was again underway, with Rear Admiral Leeâ€"by that point Commander, Battleships, Pacificâ€"embarked, in company with other units of BatDivs 8 and 9. On
16 November, the battlewagons and their screens joined. Rear Admiral
Charles 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 the
Battle of Midway. The combined force then proceeded toward the
Gilbert Islands to join in the daily bombings of Japanese positions in the
Gilbert Islands and
Marshall Islands, softening them up for impending assault.
On
19 November, 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
22 November, the task group sent its planes against Mili in successive waves; subsequently, the group steamed to operate north of Makin.
Washington rendezvoused with other 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
27 November and
28 November 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-55),
Massachusetts (BB-59),
Indiana (BB-58),
South Dakota, and
Alabama (BB-60) and the fleet carriers
Bunker Hill and
Monterey. Eleven destroyer 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 steamed 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 steamed 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,
Washington reached
Funafuti,
Ellice Islands, on
20 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 the overall command of Vice Admiral
Marc A. "Pete" 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
30 January. 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 the 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,
Washington embarked 500 men as passengers and steamed 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
Mariana Islands 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 on
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
14 June by two task groups under Rear Admirals
Jesse B. Oldendorf and
Walden 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
Bonin Islands. 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 on
16 June and continued tracking it as it headed for the Marianas. She again sighted Japanese Combined Fleet units on
18 June.
Admiral
Raymond Spruance, commanding the
Fifth 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 the 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 930 American carrier planes were involved in the aerial action; their losses amounted to comparatively few: 29 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 29. 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
phosphorus. Two planes dove on
Bunker Hill, one scoring a near miss and the other a hit that holed an elevator, knocking out the hangar deck gasoline system temporarily; killing three and wounding 79. 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 was torpedoed and sunk by
Albacore (SS-218);
Shokaku was sunk by
Cavalla. His flagship
Taiho sunk out from under him, Admiral Ozawa transferred his flagto
Zuikaku.
As the
Battle of the Philippine Sea proceeded to a close, the Japanese Mobile 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
Palau Islands 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
Marshall Islands 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, on northern
Luzon and
Formosa from
11 October 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 forces, supported raids on
Okinawa, in the
Ryukyu Islands;
Formosa;
Luzon;
Camranh Bay and
Saigon in
French Indochina;
Hong Kong;
Canton;
Hainan Island;
Nansei Shoto; and the heart of the enemy homeland,
Tokyo itself.
From
19 February to
22 February 1945,
Washingtons heavy rifles hurled 16-inch shells shoreward in support of the landings on Iwo Jima. In preparation for the assault Washingtons main and secondary batteries destroyed gun positions, troop concentrations, and other ground installations. From
23 February to
16 March, the fast battleship supported the unfolding
invasion of Iwo Jima, including a carrier raid upon Tokyo on
25 February. On
18 March,
19 March, and
29 March,
Washington screened the Fleet's carriers as they launched airstrikes against Japanese airfields and other installations 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, the
Washington steamed 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
28 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, Pennsylvania, the place where she had been "born". Arriving at the
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on
17 October, she participated in
Navy Day ceremonies there on
27 October.
Assigned to troop transport duty on
2 November 1945 as part of
Operation Magic Carpet,
Washington went into dockyard hands on that day, emerging on
15 November with additional bunking facilities below and a crew that now consisted of only 84 officers and 835 men. Steaming on
16 November for the
British Isles,
Washington reached
Southampton, England, on
22 November.
After embarking 185 Army officers and 1,479 enlisted men, the
Washington steamed for
New York City. 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
1950s, ultimately being struck from the
Naval Vessel Registry on
1 June 1960. The old warrior was sold on
24 May 1961, and was scrapped soon thereafter.
Washington earned 13
battle stars during
World War II in operations that had carried her from the
Arctic Circle to the western Pacific.
See
USS Washington for other ship of this name.
* Ivan Musicant,
Battleship at War*
Maritimequest.com: USS Washington photo gallery*
history.navy.mil: USS Washington*
navsource.org: USS Washington*
hazegray.org: USS Washington*
USS Washington BB56 Home Port
