Her anti-aircraft guns helped halt or frustrate scores of attacks on aircraft carriers. In all, NORTH CAROLINA carried out nine shore bombardments, sank an enemy troopship, destroyed at least 24 enemy aircraft, and assisted in shooting down many more. One of her Kingfisher pilots performed heroically during the strike on Truk when she rescued ten downed Navy aviators on 30 April 1944. In the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August of 1942, the Battleship’s anti-aircraft barrage helped save the carrier ENTERPRISE, thereby establishing the primary role of the fast battleship as protector of aircraft carriers. Her wartime complement consisted of 144 commissioned officers and 2,195 enlisted men, including 86 Marines.ĭuring World War II, NORTH CAROLINA participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific area of operations and earned 15 battle stars. Armed with nine 16-inch/45 caliber guns in three turrets and twenty 5-inch/38 caliber guns in ten twin mounts, NORTH CAROLINA proved a formidable weapons platform. At the time of her commissioning on 9 April 1941, she was considered the world’s greatest sea weapon. The battleship is over 728 feet long and weighs 44,800 tons at full load. She became the first of ten fast battleships to join the American fleet in World War II. When the keel of NORTH CAROLINA was laid in October of 1937 at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, she was the first battleship to be constructed in sixteen years.
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