Donor Gets First Look at Battleship USS Arizona (BB 39) Model
The battleship USS Arizona (BB 39) resting at the bottom of Pearl Harbor, is a powerful symbol of the devastation wrought on 7 December 1941 as Japanese aircraft swooped down on the unsuspecting American Pacific Fleet. Surprisingly, until the year 2000, the U.S Navy did not have a scale model of the battleship in the collection of the Curator of Ship Models. In the summer of that year, the Naval Historical Foundation purchased a 3 foot model of Arizona, and donated it to the Navy.
On 6 May 1916 the first ship-to-shore radio telephone voice conversation was completed, from the battleship USS New Hampshire (BB 25) off the Virginia Capes to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels in Washington, DC. This photo of New Hampshire was taken in the Hudson River, New York, 27 December 1918. NHHC image NH 2891.
On 19 April 1989, an explosion tore through the Number Two sixteen-inch gun turret of the battleship USS Iowa (BB 61), killing 47 crewmen.
On 9 April 1941 the battleship USS North Carolina (BB 55) was commissioned at New York Navy Yard. NHHC image NH 44718.
On 7 April 1945 the world’s largest battleship, Yamato, steaming for Okinawa on the one-way suicidal “Ten-Go” Operation, was sunk by American carrier aircraft while still some 200 miles north of Okinawa.
On 6 April 1968 the battleship USS New Jersey (BB 62) was recommissioned for shore bombardment duty in Vietnam. New Jersey is shown here bombarding enemy targets near Tuyho, on South Vietnam’s central coast, during her last line period, late in March 1969. NHHC image NH 90639.
On 5 April 1946 the battleship USS Missouri (BB 63), at the center of this photo, arrived in Turkey to return the body of the Turkish ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegun from the U.S. and to show U.S. support and willingness to defend Turkey. Destroyer USS Power (DD 839) is at left, and the Turkish Battlecruiser Yavuz (formerly the German Goeben) is at right. National Archives image 80-G-366179.
High School Student is Latest Addition to NHF Speakers Program
By William Whittenbury
Hello! My name is William Whittenbury. I live in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, and attend Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. I live with my mom and dad and my amazing parakeet, Abraham.
I’ve been interested in naval history since before I can remember. However, my naval history interest began in earnest when I was about four years old. During an elementary school trip to the library, I was captivated by a beautifully illustrated volume about the hunt for the Bismarckin 1941.
On 1 April 1945, over 1,200 Navy ships supported the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. In this photo, the battleship USS Idaho (BB 42) bombards shore targets with her 14”/50 main battery guns. Photographed from USS West Virginia (BB 48). National Archives photo 80-G-K-3829.
On 19 March 1898 the battleship USS Oregon (BB 3) departed San Francisco for a 14,000 mile trip around South America to reinforce the U.S. Squadron off Cuba, during the Spanish-American War. The poem above describes the battleship’s cruise and participation in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, a great American victory.
