Battleship North Carolina

USS North Carolina (BB-55) is the lead ship of the North Carolina class of fast battleships, the first vessel of the type built for the United States Navy. Built under the Washington Treaty system, North Carolina's design was restricted in displacement and armament, though the United States used a clause in the Second London Naval Treaty to increase the primary battery from the initial armament of twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns to nine 16 in (406 mm) guns. 

The ship was put down in 1937 and finished in April 1941, while the United States was still neutral throughout World War II. Throughout this period, she operated off the eastern coast of the United States.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, North Carolina mobilized for war and was at first sent to Iceland to counter a possible sortie by the German battleship Tirpitz, though this did not emerge and North Carolina was promptly transferred to the Pacific to strengthen Allied forces during the Guadalcanal campaign. 

There, she screened aircraft carriers taken part in the campaign and took part in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24-- 25 August 1942, where she shot down a number of Japanese aircraft. The next month, she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine but was not seriously damaged. After repair work, she returned to the campaign and continued to evaluate carriers throughout the campaigns across the central Pacific in 1943 and 1944, consisting of the Gilberts and Marshall Islands and the Mariana and Palau Islands, where she saw action throughout the Fight of the Philippine Sea.

The ship was going through a refit during the intrusion of the Philippines however took part in the later phases of the Philippines campaign and was present when the fleet was damaged by Tropical storm Cobra. She participated in offensive operations in support of the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945, consisting of numerous attacks on Japan. 

Following the surrender of Japan in August, she carried American personnel home throughout Operation Magic Carpet. North Carolina ran briefly off the east coast of the United States in 1946 before being decommissioned the next year and placed in reserve. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1960, the ship was saved from the breaker's yard by a campaign to maintain the vessel as a museum ship in her name state. In 1962, the North Carolina museum was opened in Wilmington, North Carolina.

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