USS South Dakota (BB-57)

History of USS South Dakota (BB-57)

The aircraft carrier USS South Dakota, built by the New York Shipbuilding Company at the pier in Camden, NJ, was launched on June 7, 1941, at what is now the USS New Jersey Battleship Museum Pier. Designers of such ships were instructed to build battleships that combined the firepower of the previous North Carolina class with defensive protection against 16-inch (406 mm) shells.

These requirements must be built under the Washington Naval Treaty on a hull of no more than 35,000 tons. The Washington Naval Treaty is an agreement between world powers to limit the size of warships to prevent a naval arms race and another world war. For centuries, a nation's strength has been directly measured by its available naval power.

The treaty included the signature of Imperial Japan and Germany, but they would have been major breaches of the treaty by building heavier battleships such as Japan's 73,000-ton IJN Yamato and Germany's 50,900-ton KMS Bismarck.

These requirements forced some design compromises, mainly resulting in a smaller class with cramped crew and engine space. Thicker side armor was added for better protection, and to compensate for the increased weight, the castle "castle" became smaller. Compared to the previous 728, 8-foot, 44,377-ton North Carolina class, the BB-57 is 50 feet (15 m) shorter in length.

She had the same beams as the North Carolina, making her less streamlined and reducing her seaworthiness. To maintain the required speed of 27.8 knots (the speed required to escort the then fast USN carriers), the propulsion system had to generate an additional 9,000 shaft horsepower.

To help achieve the target speed, the outermost pair of propeller shafts are further aft than the innermost pair, eliminating propeller cavitation. Belt armor around the hull is 12.2 inches (310 mm).

The bulkheads were assigned 280 mm (11.0 in), while the turrets covering the lower part of the 5" gun were assigned 11.3-17.3 in (287-440 mm) armor. The main turret has 18.0 in (457 mm) thick armor to protect the gunners inside. Each conning tower is 16.0 inches (406 mm) thick around the communications and radar stations, while the deck armor (to protect against air strikes and "heavy fire") is 5.8 to 6.0 inches (147.0 mm) thick. -152 mm). The ship's main armament (completed in 1938) was her 9 x 16 in (406 mm)/45 caliber Mark 6 battery.

Each gun is 816 inches long, fires projectiles weighing up to 2,700 lb (1,225 kg), has a maximum elevation angle of 45 degrees, a range of 38,720 m (42,345 yd), and a rate of 2 rounds per shot. Minutes per 16" rifle.

The battle is costly. U.S. Navy destroyers DD Walke and DD Preston were sunk. DD Benham had been hit by a Japanese spear torpedo, damaged and found not "seaworthy", and was eventually destroyed by her own escort, DD Gwin. The Japanese lost the battleship Kirishima, the heavy cruisers Takao and Atago, and the destroyer Ayanami.

South Dakota was hit the most in the riots because of the missing radar, while Washington suffered very little in the battle. Repair ship USS Prometheus (AR3) made repairs to BB-57, which resulted in her being declared seaworthy and returned to New York for a full overhaul and then ready for battle again. South Dakota spent 40 days at the maintenance dock and left New York in late February 1943 to operate in the North Atlantic aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) until mid-April.

For the next four months, she was tasked with cruising the North Atlantic with the British Home Fleet in Scapa Flow, England.

In late August, she was called home to join the 8th and 9th Battleship Divisions assigned to Task Force 50. 1 En route to the Strait to participate in the attack on the Marshall Islands. In December 1943, South Dakota and five other battleships carried out coastal bombardment of Roy and Namur and supported landings on Kwajalein and Majuro.

She returned to Majuro in late February to late March, when she was assigned to support the Fifth Fleet's fast carrier force. Until April 1944, the fleet's carriers carried out air raids on Palau, Yap, Wolay and Ulisi in the Western Caroline Islands. She continued to support the airline's operations on Hollandia, New Guinea and Aitape, Tanamera.

Beginning in early May, she spent a month in Port Majuro doing minor repairs and refits. She was assigned to TF58 to help support the naval landings and shelling of Saipan and Tinian.

As part of TF58, she also used her battery to pound the northwest coast of Port Tanapag on Saipan for more than six hours.

On May 15, 1944, South Dakota fired TF58s at enemy aircraft that had successfully breached a Combat Air Patrol (CAP) attack task force. One BB-57 was sprayed, and 11 other planes were shot down by other ships in the force. On June 19, the battleships again fought with fast carriers.

A larger Japanese army was known to be approaching from the west, and the American capital ships were arranged in such a way that they could continue to support the ground forces on Saipan and intercept these enemy forces if necessary. That same day, a Japanese "Judy" bomber dropped a 500-pound bomb over South Dakota, blasting a hole in the main deck with little impact on the ship's usability - but the explosion killed 24 sailors, Another 27 BB - The Japanese lost over 300 aircraft in the naval battle in the Philippine Sea, and 57 sailed with fast carriers.

After the battle, South Dakota sailed to Pearl Harbor and then to the West Coast, arriving on July 10, 1944.

The battleship was overhauled at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and sailed back to Pearl Harbor on August 26. When it arrived, South Dakota was part of Task Force 38 - Fast Carrier Task Force. Task Force conducts airstrikes on Okinawa and Formosa. In February 1945, South Dakota went on strike with Express Air on the Tokyo area and on Iwo Jima later that month.

They went on strike against Okinawa from March to early April 1945. During the re-equipment of the USS Wrangell (AE12), the No. 2 turret exploded, killing 11 sailors and injuring 24. She returned to Leyte Island on June 1, 1945, and after repairs left she boarded TG 38 1 to attack the Tokyo area - one of the first heavy warships to bomb the Japanese mainland. On August 15, 1945, the battleship South Dakota assisted the carrier in the attack north of Tokyo.

This was the BB-57's last action in the war when Japan surrendered at the end of the month. She entered Tokyo Bay victoriously on August 29 and arrived in the United States (via Pearl Harbor to San Francisco) on October 29, 1945. On January 3, 1946, she was placed in the reserve. In 1962, like other large ships in the U.S. WWII fleet, she was sold as scrapshe received a total of 13 Battle Stars while serving in her country.

Parts of the ship were brought back to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but she remains mostly a memory today.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing