Tuesday, May 20, 2014

USS Idaho (BB-42)


Figure 1: USS Idaho (BB-42) underway, circa1920. Note semaphore signalman atop her second turret. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, DC. US Naval Historical Center photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 2: Inspection on USS Idaho's (BB-42) forecastle, circa 1920. Note her forward triple 14-inch gun turrets and "cage" foremast. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 3: USS Idaho’s (BB-42) crewmen running on deck during physical training, circa 1920. Note wooden planking and working gear on her deck. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image. 



Figure 4: Crewmen in USS Idaho's (BB-42) bake shop, circa 1920. Courtesy of Carter Rila, 1986. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image. 



Figure 5: USS Idaho (BB-42), foreground, and USS Texas (BB-35) steaming at the rear of the battle line during battle fleet practice off the California coast, circa 1930. Idaho's four triple 14-inch gun turrets are trained on the starboard beam. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, DC. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 6:  USS Idaho (BB-42) photographed in 1934, following modernization. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 7: USS Idaho (BB-42) underway at sea, circa the mid-1930s. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image. 



Figure 8:  USS Idaho (BB-42) anchored in Hvaeldefjord, Iceland, October 1941. Collection of Vice Admiral Robert C. Giffen, USN. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 9:  USS Idaho (BB-42) bombarding Iwo Jima, circa late February 1945. Courtesy of Bill Jones. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image. 



Figure 10: USS Idaho (BB-42) bombarding Okinawa with her 14-inch main battery guns, 1 April 1945. Photographed from USS West Virginia (BB-48). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image. 



Figure 11:  USS Idaho (BB-42) fires the 14-inch guns of Turret Three at nearly point-blank range during the bombardment of Okinawa, 1 April 1945. Photographed from USS West Virginia (BB-48). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Named after the state of Idaho, the 32,000-ton USS Idaho (BB-42) was a New Mexico class battleship that was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, NJ, and was commissioned on 24 March 1919. The ship was approximately 624 feet long and 97 feet wide, had a top speed of 21 knots, and had a crew of 1,081 officers and men. Idaho was armed with 12 14-inch guns, 22 5-inch guns, eight 3-inch guns, and two 21-inch torpedo tubes.

After being commissioned, Idaho steamed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in July 1919 and then transited the Panama Canal to the Pacific, where she was based for the next 12 years. During that time, Idaho participated in various naval exercises and training programs and traveled from the Caribbean to Hawaii and as far south as Chile. Idaho also patrolled off the coast of Alaska in 1920 and visited Australia and New Zealand in 1925. In September 1931, the battleship entered the Norfolk Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia, for an extensive overhaul and modernization, which lasted more than three years.

After leaving the Norfolk Navy Yard in October 1934, Idaho’s appearance had been transformed. Gone were the “cage” masts that were such a distinguishing feature of American battleships of that era, and a new tower superstructure supporting modern gunfire control systems had been built. Now one of the US Navy’s most modern warships, Idaho returned to the Pacific in 1935 to resume her peacetime duties of preparing for possible combat.

After World War II began in Europe in 1939, the US Navy’s attention was diverted towards the Atlantic. Idaho was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet in June 1941 and was based in Iceland for much of the rest of that year. She escorted convoys and protected them against the threat of German surface raiders during that period of “undeclared war” with Germany. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941, Idaho was sent back to the Pacific, arriving there in January 1942. For the next year, Idaho patrolled off America’s west coast and Hawaii. In April 1943, Idaho was sent north to the Aleutian Islands, where she supported the American amphibious landings at Attu in May and Kiska in August.
    
Idaho then was ordered to the central Pacific, taking part in the American invasion of the Gilbert Islands in November 1943 and the invasion of the Marshall Islands in February 1944. She then participated in the bombardment of New Ireland in March, the invasion of the Marianas Islands in June and July, and the assault on the Palau Islands in September. During all of these operations, Idaho was used as an enormous artillery battery, providing heavy gunfire support for the American troops on shore.

In February 1945, Idaho bombarded Japanese targets on Iwo Jima. Her massive guns were then unleashed on enemy positions on Okinawa from late March to May 1945. While firing at targets on Okinawa, Idaho was damaged by a Japanese kamikaze, or suicide plane, on 12 April. No crewmen were lost in the attack and, after going to Guam briefly for repairs, Idaho returned to Okinawa and resumed her gunfire support missions.

When the war in the Pacific ended in August 1945, Idaho was preparing for the final Allied assault on the Japanese home islands. She was present in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on 2 September and shortly thereafter steamed back across the Pacific and through the Panama Canal, arriving at the Norfolk Navy Yard in mid-October. Generally inactive from then on, USS Idaho was decommissioned in July 1946 and was sold for scrapping in November 1947. The ship received seven battle stars for her service during World War II.