Description

The North Carolina (BB-55) was laid down in October 1937 by the New York Naval Shipyard, launched in June 1940 and commissioned at New York in April 1941. North Carolina completed her shakedown in the Caribbean prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, and after intensive war exercises entered the Pacific in June 1942. When the US attacked Guadalcanal in early August 1942, North Carolina was the only US battleship available to provide protection for the carriers Wasp CV-7, Saratoga CV-3 and Enterprise CV-6. In the Battle of the Eastern Solomon, North Carolina forever changed the role of the new battleships when she shot down seven Japanese planes in one battle. After that battle it would not be uncommon for fast battleships to screen aircraft carriers due to their massive anti-aircraft batteries. On the afternoon of September 15, 1942, one torpedo hit the North Carolina, tearing a hole 10 meters long and 6 meters high in the shell plating and causing 5 deaths. After inactivation, she decommissioned at New York in June 1947 and in April 1962 she was dedicated at Wilmington, N.C. as a memorial to North Carolinians of all services killed in World War II. North Carolina received 12 battle stars for World War II service.