USS Indiana (BB-58)

History

The USS Indiana (BB-58) was the second of four South Dakota-class fast battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1930s. The first American battleships designed under the Washington Treaty system began to fail in the mid-1930s.

They used an escalator clause that allowed the main gun to be increased to 16 inches (406 mm), but refused to authorize larger battleships to displace close to Washington's limit of 35,000 long tons (36,000 tons). The requirement to armour the guns of the same caliber they carried, coupled with displacement limitations, resulted in narrow ships, a problem exacerbated when wartime modifications greatly strengthened their anti-aircraft batteries and greatly increased their crews.

The USS Indiana was commissioned in April 1942, when the United States was involved in World War II, and the ship was immediately deployed in the Pacific War against Japan. Her first battle came in late 1942, when she supported the Marines during the Battle of Guadalcanal. For the next three years, she worked on two primary missions: providing naval support for amphibious assault in the Pacific, and providing air defense for the Fast Carrier Task Force. She shelled Japanese positions at the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943 and at Kwajalein in February 1944.

During the latter operation, she collided with the battleship Washington and had to retreat for repairs.

After returning to the fleet in April 1944, she took part in campaigns in the Marianas and Palau, bombed Saipan, and helped defend the fleet in the naval battle of the Philippine Sea. Engine problems prevented her from taking part in the Battle of Peleliu in September, but she took part in the 1945 battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In the latter move, she took down a series of kamikazes.

After Japan's surrender in August, she contributed to the occupying forces before returning to the United States in September. After the last refit, she was placed in the Navy inventory and remained dormant until 1962, when she was struck from the Navy Ship Register and sold for scrap the following year.

Specification

Basic

Year of Service

1942

Origins

United States

Status

stop service

Destroyed, scrapped.

supplement

2,500

staff

Class information

Class

South Dakota State

Class Size

4

ships

Class

USS South Dakota (BB-57); Indiana (BB-58); Massachusetts (BB-59); USS Alabama (BB-60)

Operators

United States

Characters

Sea Bombing

Maritime bombardment/attack of surface targets/areas primarily through ship-based ballistic weapons.

Land Assault

Littoral attacks against surface targets primarily through ship-based missiles/missile weapons.

Sea Patrol

Active patrolling of critical waterways and sea areas; also serves as a local deterrent against air and maritime threats.

Airspace Denial/Deterrence

Neutralization or deterrence of flying elements by airborne missile weapon ballistics.

Fleet Support

Provide support (fire or materiel) to major surface fleets in blue water environments.

Flagship/Capital Ship

Take on the role of fleet flagship or capital ship in old battleship design/terminology.

Dimensions and Weight

Length

680.0 feet

207.26m

Ray

108. 1 ft

32.95m

Draft

29. 3 feet

8.93m

Shift

40,000 t

Power and Performance

Installed Power:

8 x Babcock & Wilcox boiler units power 4 x General Electric 130,000hp steam turbines on 4 x shafts below the stern.

Surface Velocity

section 27.5

(51.6 km/h)

Area

14,773nm

(17,000 miles | 27,359 kilometers)

Weapon

9 x 16" (410 mm) /45 caliber Mark 6 main gun. 20 x 5" (130 mm) /38 caliber dual-purpose (DP) secondary gun. 6 x 40mm Bofors Anti-Aircraft Guns (AA) mounted on quad mounts. 16 x 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun.

AIRCRAFT

3 x Vought OS2U "Kingfisher" floatplane (recoverable); 2 x Launch catapults.