![]() Despite its mammoth proportions, the Wisconsin was still dwarfed by other battleships. The crew complement was 1,921 officers and enlisted men. It had a displacement of 45,000 tons and could reach speeds in excess of 33 knots. The Wisconsin measured 887 feet and 3 inches in length and 108 feet, 3 inches at the beam. ” (Image source: WikiCommons) Big Wisky was aptly named 10, 1943, just three days after the still-incomplete Wisconsin slid down the ways, Berlin radio declared that the vessel had already been sunk - lost “in one of the biggest sea battles off Bougainville. Yet months earlier it had been the object of Adolf Hitler’s propaganda machine. When it was finally commissioned on April 16, 1944, the ship made few headlines. Nazi radio wrongly reported the loss of the Wisconsin in action before the ship had even entered service. 7, 1943, the second anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. The second Wisconsin was authorized on Jand laid down at the Philadelphia Navy Yard beginning in 1941. The original, BB-9, was decommissioned in 1920 after more than two decades of service. The USS Wisconsin was actually the second battleship named for the Badger State. (Image source: WikiCommons) It was launched exactly two years after Pearl Harbor The USS Wisconsin prepares to depart for duty in the Pacific. Here are some fascinating facts about this legendary battleship. Resurrected by the City of Norfolk and the USS Wisconsin Foundation, it has become a museum ship and navy heritage site that continues the legacy of duty, honour and country that was the calling card of Wisconsin’s crew, and to inspire future generations of Americans. Long since decommissioned, this great piece of American maritime history was not destined for the scrap yard. ![]() BB-64 could hurl shells over the horizon at enemy ships, but also at targets far inland - a duty it performed right up to Operation Desert Storm. Entering service just as the supremacy of battleships was giving way to aircraft carriers, the heavy guns of the four Iowa-class vessels were still unmatched when it came to naval firepower. Wisconsin, or “Big Wiskey” (also sometimes spelled “Whisky”) as it was affectionately nicknamed, enjoyed a service life that spanned six decades and three conflicts. Navy/Creative Commons) “Entering service just as the supremacy of battleships was giving way to aircraft carriers, the heavy guns of the four Iowa-class vessels were still unmatched.”īy Amy Waters Yarsinske Amy Waters Yarsinske is the author of ‘USS Wisconsin: The Last Battleship.’īERTHED TODAY AT Nauticus, the national maritime centre in Norfolk, Virginia, the USS Wisconsin (BB-64) was the last authorized of the four mighty Iowa-class battleships, the largest American dreadnoughts ever built. The USS Wisconsin, which served in three American wars, holds the distinction of being the last battleship in history to fire shots in anger.
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