Warships of the US Navy: Battleships, Nevada-class: USS Nevada (BB-36), and USS Oklahoma (BB-37)

Nevada-class battleships

The Nevada class comprised two dreadnought battleships—Nevada and Oklahoma—built for the United States Navy in the 1910s. They were significant developments in battleship design, being the first in the world to adopt "all or nothing" armour, a major stepforward in armour protection because it emphasized protection optimized forlong-range engagements before the Battle of Jutland demonstrated the need forsuch a layout. They also introduced three-gun turrets and oil-fired water-tubeboilers to the US fleet. The two Nevadas were the progenitors of the standard-type battleship, a group that included the next four classes of broadly similar battleships that were intended to be tactically homogeneous.

Nevada and Oklahoma deployed to Ireland in 1918 to escort convoys during the First World War but saw no action. After the war, they were transferred to the Pacific Fleet, where they spent most of the 1920s and 1930s. During this period, they conducted extensive training operations and made several long-distance cruises, including to Australia and New Zealand in 1925 and Oklahoma's voyage to Europein 1936. Both vessels were extensively modernized between 1927 and 1930, having their armament improved, protection scheme strengthened, and new boilers installed. They were moored in Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on 7 December 1941; Oklahoma was sunk in the attack while Nevada was able to get underway before being forced to ground herself to avoid sinking in deeper water.

Only Nevada was salvageable, and she was repaired and modernized by mid-1943 when she joined the Aleutian Islands campaign. She then supported the Normandy landings in June 1944 and Operation Dragoon in August before returning to the Pacific in time for the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945, followed by the Battle of Okinawa from March to June. Worn out by the end of the war, she was allocated to Operation Crossroads in late 1945 for use in the nuclear weapon stests in mid-1946. She survived both of the Crossroads blasts and was ultimately sunk with conventional weapons off Hawaii in 1948. Oklahoma, meanwhile, was raised over the course of 1943, partially dismantled in 1944, and sold to shipbreakers in 1946. While under tow to San Francisco in May 1947, she became separated from the vessel towing her and foundered. (Wikipedia)

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The battleships USS Nevada (BB-36) and USS Oklahoma (BB-37) steaming in the Atlantic, circa the early-mid 1920s.

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USS Nevada (BB-36) underway off of the U.S. Atlantic coast on 17 September 1944.

USS Nevada (BB-36), the third United StatesNavy ship to be named after the 36th state, was the lead ship of the twoNevada-class battleships. Launched in 1914, Nevada was a leap forward indreadnought technology; four of her new features would be included on almostevery subsequent US battleship: triple gun turrets, oil in place of coal forfuel, geared steam turbines for greater range, and the "all ornothing" armor principle. These features made Nevada, alongside her sistership Oklahoma, the first US Navy "standard-type" battleships.

Nevada served in both World Wars. During the last few months of World War I,Nevada was based in Bantry Bay, Ireland, to protect supply convoys that weresailing to and from Great Britain. In World War II, she was one of thebattleships trapped when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Nevada was theonly battleship to get underway during the attack, making the ship "theonly bright spot in an otherwise dismal and depressing morning" for theUnited States. Still, the ship was hit by one torpedo and at least six bombswhile steaming away from Battleship Row, forcing the crew to beach the strickenship on a coral ledge. The ship continued to flood and eventually slid off theledge and sank to the harbor floor. Nevada was subsequently salvaged andmodernized at Puget Sound Navy Yard, allowing her to serve as a convoy escortin the Atlantic and as a fire-support ship in five amphibious assaults (theinvasions of Attu, Normandy, Southern France, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa).

At the end of the Second World War, the Navy decided that, due to age, Nevadawould not be retained as part of the active fleet and she was instead assignedas a target ship for the atomic experiments at Bikini Atoll in July 1946(Operation Crossroads). The ship was hit by the blast from atomic bomb Able,and was left heavily damaged and radioactive. Unfit for further service, Nevadawas decommissioned on 29 August 1946, and sunk for naval gunfire practice on 31July 1948, in Operation Crossroads. (Wikipedia)

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The USS Nevada (BB-36) "In Dry Dock Number 1 at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, Hawaii, circa 1935. Note men painting her boot topping from stages rigged over the side, and outline of her anti-torpedo blister where it merges with her forward hull.

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USS Nevada beached at Hospital Point after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

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USS Nevada (BB-36) after her 1942 upgrade.

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USS Nevada (BB-36), 1942.

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USS Oklahoma wearing experimental camouflage, circa 1917.

USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was a Nevada-classbattleship built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation for the United StatesNavy, notable for being the first American class of oil-burning dreadnoughts.Commissioned in 1916, the ship served in World War I as a part of BattleshipDivision Six, protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic. Afterthe war, she served in both the United States Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet.Oklahoma was modernized between 1927 and 1929. In 1936, she rescued American citizensand refugees from the Spanish Civil War. On returning to the West Coast inAugust of the same year, Oklahoma spent the rest of her service in the Pacific.

On 7 December 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, severaltorpedoes from torpedo bombers hit the Oklahoma's hull and the ship capsized. Atotal of 429 crew died; survivors jumped off the ship 50 feet (15 m) intoburning oil on water or crawled across mooring lines that connected Oklahomaand Maryland. Some sailors inside escaped when rescuers drilled holes andopened hatches to rescue them. The ship was salvaged in 1943. Unlike most ofthe other battleships that were recovered following Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma wastoo damaged to return to duty. Her wreck was eventually stripped of herremaining armament and superstructure before being sold for scrap in 1946. The hulk sank in a storm while being towed from Oahu, Hawaii, to a breakers yard inSan Francisco Bay in 1947. (Wikipedia)

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USS Oklahoma (BB-37) passing Alcatraz in the 1930s.

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"Battleship Row" after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37) is visible the foreground, behind her is USS Maryland (BB-46), USS West Virginia (BB-48) burns furiously on the right.

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USS Oklahoma- Salvage. Aerial view toward shore with ship in 90 degree position, 19 March 1943.

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