military, shipwreck, battleship, United States Navy

Laid down on November 4th, 1912 at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, MA, the USS Nevada was the lead ship of her class of Battleships, which represented a quantum leap forward in US Navy Battleship design, incorporating oil fired boilers, the first triple turrets and a specialized armoring system known as “all or nothing”. Launched in July 1914 and commissioning into US Navy service in March 1916, the Nevada and her sisterships USS Oklahoma (BB-37) were the first true Super-Dreadnaught type Battleships to serve with the US Navy.Following her shakedown cruise the Nevada joined the US Atlantic Fleet at Newport, RI in June of 1916. Making several cruises for exercises along the US East Coast and Caribbean during the next year, the crew of Nevada were a well-trained fighting unit when the United States entered the First World War in 1917. Forced to remain stateside due to fuel oil shortages in England, the Nevada and Oklahoma were finally sent to the front lines in August 1918, where they joined their coal-fired sister Battleships of the US Navy in the fight against the German Imperial Navy. Assigned to Battleship Division 6 with the Oklahoma and USS Utah (BB-31), the Nevada and her crews were tasked with escorting vital trans-Atlantic convoys between North America and England, offering the merchant ships considerable protection against surface raiders. Remaining on this duty through the end of hostilities in November 1918, the Nevada took part in escorting US President Woodrow Wilson to France and back to the United States, where she and her crew were greeted as heroes.During the interwar years the Nevada kept up a busy schedule of exercises, routine deployments and goodwill cruises while serving with the US Pacific and Atlantic Fleets. Spared the scrappers torch brought on by postwar arms limitations, the Nevada instead was heavily modernized from 1927 to 1930 at the Newport News Shipyard, receiving much of the advanced gun, propulsion and electronic technology which was to have been put in a cancelled class of BattleCruisers and the efficient turbines from the recently decommissioned USS South Dakota (BB-29). Emerging from the yard in January 1930, the Nevada crossed through the Panama Canal and began operations with the US Pacific Fleet and resumed her busy schedule of fleet exercises and deployments around the Pacific Ocean. These exercises began to take on more and more significance as world events began to turn decidedly grim at the close of the 1930’s, and tensions between the Empire of Japan and the United States grew increasingly cold.Moored at the end of "Battleship Row" on the morning of December 7th, 1941, the crew of the Nevada were stunned to see dozens of Japanese aircraft coming over the mountains of Oahu and laying waste to the unprepared US Pacific Fleet. Not being rafted with other ships gave the Nevada the chance to attempt to elude her attackers, so the order was passed to raise steam and get underway as soon as possible. Moving astern down the main channel of Pearl Harbor and putting up a furious defense against her attackers, the Nevada was nonetheless struck by a torpedo as she got underway, followed by two armor piercing bombs shortly and another torpedo, all in the port bow area. Seeing his ship was now heavily down by the bow and burning, Nevada's Captain decided to beach his vessel and not let it block the channel, should it sink. Veering out of the dredged channel the Nevada ran aground at Hospital Point and sank by the bow, burning furiously. Her crew continued to fire on their attackers until they withdrew, the Nevada suffering a further seven bomb impacts during the fight. Musters taken after the attack revealed that 60 of her crew killed and 109 more wounded.Salvage operations on the Nevada began immediately though inspections revealed that several large patches would have to be built and fitted to the ships hull to ensure watertight integrity before she could be refloated. Successfully refloated on February 12, 1942 the Nevada entered Drydock #2 at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for temporary repairs to make her seaworthy for the trip back to the US. On April 22nd, 1942 she departed Pearl Harbor for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and was overhauled and given a significant refit which lasted until December 1942. Emerging from the yard as a much different vessel than when she had entered, the Nevada now sported a consolidated superstructure and extensive anti-aircraft armament.Following refit, Nevada sailed to Alaska to provide fire support for Aleutian Islands campaign in May 1943, after which she crossed back through the Panama Canal and underwent further modifications at the Norfolk Navy Yard before joining the US Atlantic Fleet. Returning to her World War I operating area, the Nevada again served as a convoy escort during the fall and winter of 1943 and spring of 1944 before she was detached for preparation for the Allied Assault of France. On June 6th, 1944, the Nevada was one of three American Battleships that lent their ample fire support to the Allied landings at Normandy, and served as a floating artillery platform for fire support as Allied troops pushed into France during the next few weeks. After the Allied troops had outranged her guns, the Nevada sailed with Allied Battleships to Toulon where she took part in Operation Dragoon: the amphibious assault of Southern France. After sending over 5000 shells into the shore batteries around Toulon, she departed for New York for refit and re-gunning before she rejoined the US Pacific Fleet.Arriving off Iwo Jima in February 1945, she bombarded the island for over a month until it fell to US forces. Less than a month later, the Nevada was off the coast of Okinawa, softening up the islands defenses for the coming US invasion. During her three months of action off Okinawa, she was kamikazed and struck several times by shore batteries, but was able to maintain her position and vital fire support for US troops ashore. After Okinawa, the Nevada patrolled the waters off the shore of Japan until wars end and served briefly overseeing the landing of occupation forces before she returned to Pearl Harbor, having earned seven Battle Stars for her World War II service.Deemed to be in need of an overhaul in order to remain in service, the US Navy decided the Nevada was too outdated to refit and selected her to serve as a target ship for the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. Given a bright orange paint job during her last stop at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, the Nevada anchored in the center of Bikini Lagoon and served as the target for the ABLE air-dropped atomic bomb blast on July 1st, 1946. Surviving both this blast and the BAKER underwater detonation 24 days later, the Nevada remained defiantly afloat, although she suffered heavy topside and underside damage and was highly radioactive. Towed back to Pearl Harbor in mid-August, the Veteran Battleship was formally decommissioned from US Navy service on August 29th, 1946, ending her 30-year career.The Nevada remained anchored in the North Loch of Pearl Harbor for another year as experiments in decontamination and radioactivity were conducted on her hull and internal spaces. Once the Navy was satisfied that nothing further could be learned from the battered ship, she was stricken from the Naval Register and towed out of Pearl Harbor for the final time in July 1948. Brought to this location roughly 65 miles SouthWest of Pearl Harbor, the Nevada was cast adrift and used as a gunnery target for the crews of the Battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) and the Cruisers USS Pasadena (CL-65) and USS Astoria (CL-90). After absorbing full broadsides from each ship for several hours, the Nevada rolled over but refused to sink. Requiring a special sortie from NAS Barbers Point, the Nevada was finally sunk at this location by a single torpedo on July 31st, 1948. To date her wreck remains unlocated.