WRECK DIVING MAGAZINE WRECK DIVING...uncover the past Magazine In This Issue: Fokker S6 Francisco Morazan George M. Cox Jana s Wreck Mikhail Lermontov U-166/Robert E. Lee U-352 USS North Carolina AN UPCOMING NOVA/ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY The U-166 and her final victim, the Robert E Lee Issue 34 US$12.99 Issue 34 A Quarterly Publication
USS North Carolina The Showboat - The Most Highly Decorated American Battleship of WWII Text and Photographs by Barbara Buchanan The USS North Carolina in her new berth in Wilmington, NC 1961. Photograph courtesy of Battleship North Carolina The second name was Armored Cruiser 12, commissioned on May 7, 1908. She was the first to launch an aircraft by catapult while underway. Photograph courtesy of Battleship North Carolina Kwajalein Atoll lagoon is a historical underwater museum full of ships that sank during the invasion of the Marshall Islands. Having had the opportunity to dive several of these shipwrecks, I have a special memory of one wreck, the Eiko Maru, that brings me to where I live in Wilmington, North Carolina. You ask, what is the connection between the Marshall Islands and Wilmington, North Carolina? The Japanese shipwreck Eiko Maru No. 2 was sunk on January 29, 1944, off Roi-Namur Island in Kwajalein Atoll by the USS North Carolina. The sinking of this ship would prove to be invaluable. The Navy salvaged navigational charts to the sea approaches and anchorages of many Japanese-held islands in the Pacific. The charts provided accurate data needed for future coordinated actions of land, sea and air operations in the advancement towards Japan.
The USS North Carolina is the most highly decorated American battleship of WWII. She served in every major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning her 15 battle stars. The battleship was honored with eight battle ribbons and her kill board displays 33 Japanese Ensign Flags and 1 Japanese National flag.the 33 Ensign Flags represent the nine shore bombardments against Japanese-held islands, and 24 downed enemy aircraft. The Japanese National Flag signifies the sinking of the Japanese freighter, Eiko Maru No. 2. The Ensign Flag, which has a red sun with rays, flies from military ships and installations. The National Flag flies from everywhere else and has a plain, red sun. This ship was the fourth in the U.S. Navy bearing the name in honor of the State of North Carolina. Her origins go back through many years of naval history and predecessors in warship design that she followed. The first USS North Carolina, launched on September 7, 1820, was a 74-gun, three-mast, square rigger, mounting 42 and 32-pound cannons, and having an overall length of 196 feet 3 inches. She was the pride of the Navy and envy of foreign navies because of her impressive qualities and powerful armament, and, for half a century, she was master of world ships. During the Civil War, the Confederate States Navy built an ironclad named North Carolina. She was 174 feet in length, with four 8-inch guns and canted armor above the waterline. She served as a guard ship near the mouth of Cape Fear River to help keep the port of Wilmington open to confederate blockade runners. Due to structural imperfections, she developed a leak and sank in September, 1864, near Southport, North Carolina. The second one named USS North Carolina was commissioned on May 7, 1908, a 504-foot-long Armored Cruiser 12, with four 10-inch guns, sixteen 6-inch guns, twenty-two 3-inch rapid fire guns and four underwater torpedo tubes. On November 5, 1915, she became the first ship ever to launch an aircraft, the AB-2 Curtiss, by catapult from her stern, while underway, making her a pioneer of naval aviation. The third with the name was Battleship BB-52, (BB stands for battleship), laid down in 1920. Unfortunately, she was never completed and was sold for scrap in 1923 because of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1921, also known as the Five-Power Treaty. The provisions of the treaty limited naval armament, demanded scrapping of existing or conversion to aircraft carriers, and established a 10-year pause, or holiday, where no new capital ships (battleships and battle cruisers) could be built. If completed, the third North Carolina would have been a monster ship of the 1920 s era, with twelve 16-inch guns, several smaller caliber guns, two torpedo tubes and an overall length of 684 feet. After WWI, the Washington treaty was to prevent an upward movement of naval construction and ship size. The treaty was signed by the five major nations that had won the war, the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France and Italy. The Washington treaty strictly limited capital ships to 35,000 tons standard displacement (a ship fully manned and equipped ready for sea) and guns no larger than 16-inch caliber. But before the 10 year holiday limitation expired, the five nations agreed and signed the Treaty for Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament, also known as the London Naval Treaty of 1930. This regulated gun calibers of submarines and limited naval shipbuilding. On December 9, 1935, a conference was held to modify the previous London Naval Treaty, extending the conditions agreed to until 1942 and reducing the caliber to 14 inches. However, because Japan and Italy refused to sign the Second London Naval Treaty, it prevented an agreement on the ceiling of the number of warships, but did limit the maximum size of ships and caliber of guns. Because there was an escalator clause in the Washington Treaty which stated that if any of the five nations that had signed the Washington Treaty didn t adhere to the new limits, the other signatory countries could raise the caliber to 16 inches. In the early 1930 s with the Washington Naval Treaty still in effect, the U.S. Congress authorized the building of new battleships. This was a challenge for the U.S. Navy architects to meet the treaty limitations. The important requirements in battleship design were armament, armor, speed, and durability to withstand major battle. On October 27, 1937, the keel of the fourth ship named USS North Carolina, BB-55, was laid down at the New York Shipyard. She was launched on June 13, 1940, and commissioned on April 9, 1941, and became the first, fast, heavily armed U.S. Navy battleship to be built in 16 years. Her length of 729 feet was armed with nine 16-inch guns, twenty twin-mount 5-inch guns, sixteen 28-mm antiaircraft guns (later replaced by fifteen quadruple 40-mm antiaircraft guns) and forty-six single and twinmount 20-mm guns. Powered by four sets of General Motors geared turbines, her maximum speed recorded was 27.3 knots in 1941. Subsequently, the increase in weight of 40-mm guns reduced her speed to 26.8 knots. She was designed to carry three OS2U Vought-Sikorsky float planes. The letter O stands for observation, the S for scouting, the 2 for second version, and the U for the manufacturer, Vought-Sikorsky. The float planes, aka Kingfisher, were intended to be catapulted off the fantail on either side of the stern s main deck. Before her service at sea, the North Carolina
underwent an exhaustive shakedown, involving operations south into the Caribbean and as far north as Maine. A shakedown cruise is an intense schedule of months of testing all elements of the ship s array of weapons, machinery, equipment, and drills of every crew member carried out day and night. The constant drills transform the men into a team of readiness for combat, able to cope with any emergence of a coming war. On August 29, 1941, to test the ship s structural strength, all nine 16-inch guns, along with all ten 5-inch guns, were fired simultaneously in one thunderous blast in the night sky. There was no obvious damage topside and only a few shaken light bulbs below. A ship going through a shakedown repeatedly returns to harbor for modifications and improvements. The shiny, new North Carolina would return to the New York Shipyard so often that New Yorkers, including radio commentator Walter Winchell, witnessed the battlewagon entering and departing the harbor. They called her Showboat, after the popular Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway musical of the same name. Soon after, the crew of the USS Washington teased the North Carolina crew because of the not-so-flattering name. On one occasion when the North Carolina entered port in Hampton Roads, VA, the Washington crew s band greeted her sister ship with strains of Here Comes the Showboat, a popular song from the musical. From that moment on, the North Carolina crew were proud to call her by that name and so she is known to this day. A whimsical North Carolina song written by Lt. Commander John Zahm (Assistant Damage Control Officer) was printed in the ship s paper, Tarheel, Vol. 1, No. XIX, August 16, 1941. I Tarheels we--in the New North C, Will sweep the foemen from the sea, We ll chase them down- And watch them drown- In every ocean where they re found, We ll give them hell- With every shell- And drive them to perdition; We ll make them sweat, And all regret The day we were commissioned. II The New North C will rule the sea, From the river Platte to the old North Sea, From Iceland s shore To Singapore; Throughout the world our guns will roar, Our sixteen-inch, In every pinch Will so control conditions, No ship may sail the seven seas, Except with our permission. When Japan stealthily attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941, the North Carolina was in the New York Shipyard with most her crew on shore or liberty leave. After initial word of the attack, Captain Oscar C. Badger ordered all hands to return and ready the ship for war. With most of the U.S. Pacific battleship fleet sunk or severely damaged, the Showboat would now face the Imperial Japanese Navy and defend America against it. Captain Badger was so concerned with such a fiercely aggressive opponent that he demanded the Navy yard commander install more antiaircraft guns at once. Forty 20-mm guns were promptly mounted and additional men ordered aboard to man them. The Showboat and crew spent the next several months in the Atlantic practicing gunnery drills and war exercises, preparing for battle. Meanwhile, the devastation at Pearl Harbor left the U.S. Pacific Fleet with three aircraft carriers: Lexington (CV-2), Saratoga (CV-3), Enterprise (CV-6), and one, slow, operational battleship, Colorado, which was in Bremerton, Washington, undergoing an overhaul at the time of the Japanese attack. (CV stood for aircraft carrier, and the numbers following meant second, third and sixth carriers ever built by the U.S. Navy). In January, 1942, reinforcements from the Atlantic arrived: aircraft carrier Yorktown (CV-5), and three, rusty, old battleships, New Mexico, (BB-40), Mississippi (BB- 41) and Idaho (BB-42). However, the opposing Japanese forces began the war with ten aircraft carriers and twelve battleships. Within the first six months, the Japanese seized Wake Island, Guam, the Philippines, Indo-China, Borneo, Singapore, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, the Gilbert Islands, Nauru and Rabual. The U.S. Pacific Fleet struggled for survival with small task groups, usually a single aircraft carrier protected by a few, inept, old cruisers and destroyers, taking chances and delaying action with hit-and-run tactics. Sometimes the crew was kept at sea for over three months at a time, and they d return to port, exhausted men, and without a crumb of food left on board. The desolate crews desperately needed help to arrive, but this would take months. When Japan annihilated the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. was caught unprepared for war. It would become the Atlantic Theater war versus the Pacific Theater war. Even though the U.S. officials understood the demand in the Pacific, the Atlantic war against Germany was considered more urgent. The two battleships, North Carolina and Washington, were needed in the Atlantic to protect Allied convoys. The Washington was sent to operate with the British Home Fleet on the Arctic coast of the Soviet Union. The North Carolina, practicing intense war exercises, was held in the Atlantic in case the new German battleship, Tirpitz, should intercept convoys from America to Britain. In July, 1942, the USS North Carolina was ordered to make way to Pearl Harbor to join the Pacific Theater. Arriving, the new, shiny battleship towered over the harbor amongst the charred wreckage still present. The Americans, once referred to as a sleeping giant, had awakened, giving hope to all stationed there. This is the
beginning of her epic story that reads like the history of the war itself. The thing I remember most distinctly was the day we arrived at Pearl Harbor. Even with all the movies and pictures you saw, you couldn t appreciate the devastation that had taken place there. As we arrived and I looked at the oil-covered harbor and the broken rows of ships, I choked up. There were all the sailors who had seen nothing but the damage that the Japanese caused here, who had gotten a very sharp kick in the teeth at Pearl Harbor and who had, in months that followed, lost other ships in battle, And these crews, they cheered and cheered us. I couldn t help saying to myself, they re cheering us for nothing, we hadn t done anything. We had not fired a shot yet. But to them, we were the symbol of help finally arriving in force. It broke me up, I admit to being a misty-eyed 18-year old. --Larry Resen, Fire Controlman First Class Before war s end, the U.S. Armed Forces continued to leapfrog from one Japanese island territory to another, advancing towards Japan s mainland and prevailing in victory under vigorous circumstances with horrific casualties. The closer the U.S. approached the Japanese shoreline, the more there grew a high degree of apprehension towards Japan s savage Kamikaze Corps, suicidal fanatics. The U.S. planned a massive invasion on Japan with delivery of two atomic bombs. The first bomb, known as Little Boy, a gun-type fission weapon was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6 and the second bomb, known as Fat Man, an implosion-type nuclear weapon, on Nagasaki on August 9. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 after the two atomic bombs caused utter destruction. On September 2, 1945, aboard the battleship USS Missouri, the official surrender documents were duly signed. On that day the Showboat s Captain, B. Hall Hanlon, announced the war was over. I was below decks when Captain Hanlon announced the war was over, and I still to this day remember him saying Now hear this, this is the captain and then he went into telling us. Boy, you talk about a roar that went up! I think the whole ship jumped about two feet out of the water! --Robert Palomaris, Gunner s Mate First Class After the war, on September 6, 1945, she was home bound. Having departed from Okinawa on a long voyage, she arrived at Boston on October 17 to a hero s celebration with bands playing, people cheering and a message from the President of the United States, Harry S Truman: No vessel of America s World War II battleship fleet served as long in combat or with greater distinction than the USS North Carolina, from Guadalcanal to Tokyo Bay. The whole nation is proud of her. Her remaining service was short lived due to the post-war disarmament agreement. Before inactivation, Enterance Sign The USS North Carolina today in Wilmington, NC. BB-55 bow was armed with six 16-inch guns in two 3-gun turrets.
Clockwise: View on starboard side with a quadruple 40 mm and five twin mounted 5-inch guns. The USS North Carolina kill board and battle ribbons. Third & Forth Photographs: The third name was USS North Carolina launched June 13, 1940. She is the most highly decorated American battleship of WWII. Photograph courtesy of Battleship North Carolina Another view of 40mm twin mounted 5-inch guns. BB-55 carried a OS2U Vought-Sikorsky, aka Kingfisher float plane on her stern. in the summer of 1946, she carried two Naval Academy midshipmen on training cruises in the Caribbean. On June 27, 1947, she was decommissioned and placed in the Reserve Fleet at Bayonne, New Jersey. On June 1, 1960, the Navy announced the honorable ship was to be stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and scrapped, when James S. Craig and Hugh Morton from Wilmington, NC, decided to rescue her. A huge Save our Ship campaign started with endorsements from North Carolina Governor Luther Hodges and other prominent citizens. The campaign went viral, and thousands of citizens contributed money, including school children saving lunch money and spare change in efforts to save her. They raised $330,000 to purchase her from the U.S. Navy and towed her to her new berth in Wilmington, NC. On April 29, 1962, she was dedicated as a memorial to North Carolinians who served in the United States Armed Forces during WWII and in memory of thousands who lost their lives. During her three years service at sea, only 10 were killed in action and 67 wounded. In 1986, the USS North Carolina was declared a National Historic Landmark. Right: Diver Charles George exploring the two motorized barges hanging over portside railing. Opposite Page Inset: Fires burning on Roi after the BB-55 bombardment.
The Invasion of the Marshall Islands - USS North Carolina s sinking of the Eiko Maru The U.S. strategic plan in the Pacific involved the assault on the Marshall Islands (codenamed Operation Flintlock ), with the ultimate goal of advancing toward Japan. Kwajalein, the largest and strongest Japaneseoccupied atoll, was a key target. Admiral Chester Nimitz two objectives were: first, to gain control of the entrance to the deep-water lagoon near Roi-Namur Island in the northern part of the chain of atolls, and second, to seize the southern and weakest part of Kwajalein Island. Early in the morning of January 29 th, carrier-based Navy Hellcats and Avenger torpedo bombers took off in force and destroyed all the Japanese aircraft on Roi-Namur. Since this rendered the atoll helpless against close-range naval bombardment, the North Carolina moved into position to begin her assault. The Eiko Maru, anchored in the lagoon, fired on the battleship and launched antiaircraft fire on the Kingfisher spotting plane. Returning fire with her main battery, the North Carolina scored direct hits on the bow and stern of the Japanese freighter with her second salvo. The Eiko Maru exploded, burst into flames, and sank after the North Carolina let loose with her second battery. The battleship maneuvered closer and blasted the shoreline throughout the night. The next day the Above: The 3-inch gun mounted on the bow of Eiko Maru. Below: The bridge area is gutted from the fires before she sank.
barrage continued as other battleships joined her. The U.S. Marines landed on the beach, and after battling their way across the island, won a quick victory within six hours. Roi-Namur was laid waste by the two days of relentless bombardment by the American ships, but the Japanese refused to surrender. The toll was 3,472 Japanese killed and 91 prisoners captured while the Americans lost 190 Marines and 547 wounded. The battle of Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands resulted in the first piece of prewar, Japanese real estate that was captured in combat by the US during WWII. The Marshall Islands location meant the seizure of Roi-Namur was the first milepost, astride the sea lanes to Japan. Roi-Namur originally was two separate islands, but during their occupation, the Japanese built a causeway connecting them. Today Roi-Namur is an occupied U.S. territory, part of the Ronald Reagan Test Site and home to four radar tracking stations, ALCOR, ALTAIR, MMW, and TRADEX. Roi-Namur is a registered National Historic Landmark. The WWII Battlefield Tour consists of 17 stops around the island including several Japanese blockhouses, pillboxes, air raid shelters, ammunition, bomb and fuel storage, the support complex, airfield headquarters, and Japanese cemetery. Touring several of the damaged remnants gives you a sense of the merciless battle that took place. Standing on the dock of Roi-Namur Dolphin Scuba Club, I thought of the USS North Carolina back home and all her glory. That day was a very special day; diving the Eiko Maru is going back in time, connecting the past and present, bringing a piece of history back to life. It was a fairly calm day, and the boat ride out to the dive site was very short, for the wreck is in close proximity to shore and in shallow water. The Eiko Maru was a 3,535-ton cargo ship, 340 feet in length. The visibility was a good 70 feet as I reached the deck area at 60 feet and started swimming towards the stern. As I passed by the superstructure, it was very obvious the ship was on fire before she sank because the bridge is eviscerated. Only the bare, structural framing remains were standing. Reaching the stern, I saw the propeller and rudder were intact and that her keel at 118 feet rested upright on the ocean floor. In Hold 4 were stacks and stacks of rusting, 50-gallon drums, and most appeared to have been squeezed and crushed due to pressure. Heading back towards the superstructure, I saw that the bridge was gutted, and was just a few walls with port holes and collapsed, twisted framing. The decks below could be entered through the aft door; the rooms appeared empty except for the foot of silt that covered them. Since the rooms were open, you could easily swim around. This area once was the pharmacy, latrine and storage. I didn t dare to shift through the silt to find medicine bottles or serving platters, although it was tempting. Hold 1 was also filled with piles of crushed, 50-gallon drums and silt covering the bottom. On the port side of Hold 1 was a huge hole most likely from one of the North Carolina s shells. There were two motorized barges leaning against the port side hull and one across Hold 2. The barges were connected together and tied to the ship when she sank, taking them with her. A towing barge lay on the starboard side of the ship. On the bow was a 3-inch deck gun pointing out towards the bow tip. Looking over the railing, one could see the anchor chain stretched out across the sea floor in the very spot the day the battle took place. Over time, some areas of the chain have been buried from shifting sand. WWII changed naval warfare operations, replacing the battleships and their big guns with aircraft carriers and their planes. Nevertheless, the battleships tremendous firepower helped with shore bombardment and halted air attacks, protecting the carriers from damage or loss of life. The USS North Carolina and her crew proved to play a significant role during WWII, a symbol of honor, courage, and inspiration for generations to come. Even though Eiko Maru may not have been honored with 15 battle stars for her service at sea or war, I am fortunate to dive the one ship the North Carolina sank, a memorable experience that will not be forgotten. Even though the USS North Carolina battleship BB-55 was the fourth ship so named, she was actually the third commissioned into service. The fourth and current USS North Carolina is a submarine (SSN-777), commissioned on May 3, 2008, in Wilmington, NC. Special thanks to the folks who helped make it happen: Dan Farnham, Bob Greene, John Cassidy Jr., Bridget Rankin, Roi-Namur Dolphins Scuba Club and to the employees and volunteers at Battleship North Carolina.
About the Author: Barbara Buchanan is a photographer and videographer who travels the globe. She has worked on expeditions with archeologists on Blackbeards shipwreck Queen Anne s Revenge documenting the excavation for the Dive Down project. Her most recent project is filming the wrecks of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. She is owner of Scuba Planners Dive Travel and has arranged many expeditions including the Japan trip with Wreck Diving Magazine where she filmed the expedition. You can view her photos and video work at: www.fishtalesproductions.com USS North Carolina WWII Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns: She served in every major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning her 15 battle stars. The pile of crushed drums in hold 4. Shell damage from the BB-55 16-inch guns. *Landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi August 7-9, 1942 *Capture and Defense of Guadalcanal August 16, 1942 - February 8, 1943 *Battle of Eastern Solomons August 23-24, 1942 *New Georgia Group Operations June 30 - August 31, 1943 New Guinea, Rendova, Vangunu invasion *Gilbert Islands Operations November 19 - December 8, 1943 Tarawa and Makin *Bismark Archipelago Operations December 25, 1943 Kavieng strike *Marshall Islands Operation January 29 February 8, 1944 Invasion of Kwajalein and Majuro Atoll *Task Force Strikes Truk February 16-17, 1944 Marianas February 21-22, 1944 Palau, Yap Ulithi and Woleai March 30 - April 1, 1944 Truk, Satawan and Ponape April 29 - May 1, 1944 *Western New Guinea Operations April 21-24, 1944 Hollandia *Marianas Operation Invasion of Saipan June 11-24, 1944 Battle of Philippine Sea June 19-20, 1944 *Leyte Operation Nov. 13-14, 19-25 & Dec. 14-16, 1944 Attacks on Luzon *Luzon Operation Luzon January 6-7, 1945 Formosa January 3-4, 9, 15 and 21, 1945 China coast January 12 and 16, 1945 Nansei Shoto January 22, 1945 *Iwo Jima Operation February 15 - March 1, 1945 Invasion, assault and occupation of Iwo Jima Raids against Honshu and Nansei Shoto in support *Okinawa Operation March 17 - April 27, 1945 Invasion, assault and occupation of Okinawa Capture of the Kerama Islands Raids against Kyushu and Inland Sea targets *Third Fleet Operations July 10 - August 15, 1945 Bombardment of and air strikes on Japanese Home Islands