US Battleships Of WWII – Episode #1

In this episode, we are covering the oldest classes of battleships that were in commission for the US Navy during WWII. These are the Wyoming, New York and Nevada class ships. Enjoy!

Timestamps:
Preface: The Rise of American Dreadnoughts - 01:03
Wyoming class - 03:05
New York class - 08:49
Nevada class - 15:24
Conclusion and Charts - 27:42

Disclaimer!! The info sheets for each class are as accurate as I could make them. Info such as tonnages and crew may have slightly varied.

The graphics in this video were created by this channel and take many hours. If you are interested in using them, please reach out and do not use without asking.

Books for Reference:
New Vanguard -- US Navy Dreadnoughts 1914-45 by Ryan K. Noppen
New Vanguard -- US Standard-Type Battleships 1941-45 (1) by Mark Stille

[billbrockman]

I really have always admired the older BB’s doing their part in WW2. So glad we still have USS Texas.

[nickgiordano]

Those rebuilds are (in my opinion) some of the best looking ships out there

[ronaldgray]

Note on the USS Texas. She is the only surviving battleship in the world that served with the Grand Fleet from WWI. The British only let coal fired American battleships at Scapa due to their shortage of Oil for the battleships. She is a beautiful ship.

[JohnnySmithWhite-wdey]

Arkansas also helped prevent German radio controlled guided bombs off of Normandy. Specialists used radio transmitters to scramble signals that guided the Fritz X bombs.

[Aaronbinhadden]

Texas flooding the outer ballasts to allow the guns more range was genius

[petestorz]

Because of the layout of Pearl Harbor and facilities, the "easiest" attack route for the Kate torpedo bombers was over the Southeast Loch. This avoided turbulence from the buildings on either side of the Loch. This made USS Oklahoma and USS West Virginia the "easiest" targets, and USS California a bit more difficult, due to 1010 Dock. This led to over-concentration on the USS Oklahoma (5-8 hits) and USS West Virginia (7 hits). USS California was hit twice, and USS Nevada once.

[amerigo]

TLDR - US Navy lost two battleships in the entirety of World Wars I and II. The two permanently lost were USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma, both on December 7, 1941.

Many other US battleships were damaged, some seriously, but none were kept out of the fight for long.

The last fleet carrier sunk by the enemy was the original USS Hornet in the Solomon Islands campaign. The last fleet carrier sunk was the decommissioned USS America. The Navy sank her in the 21st Century as a test of her class's ability to absorb damage. It was a classified operation, but indications are strong that she absorbed enormous damage before finally being sunk.

[Biggarou]

I love tht the president that day came out and was like 'ok you have our undevided attenion now, slant eyes.' and mobilized within a day and transformed a from a ' not our war' to a huge angry mob all saying in unison saying 'ok these guys re dead.' even females and kids got involved that fast.

[michaeldantoni]

Looking forward to seeing part 2. My dad served on the Pennsylvania (BB38).

[gayprepperz]

I'm so glad they preserved the USS Texas (and thank God for TEXAS!), as the only surviving Dreadnought from that era. She may not be as heavily armed as the later Dreadnoughts (like the Queen Elizabeth class), but she is a classic example of naval thought and engineering of her time, and she is a magnificent specimen of the period. I look forward to getting down there after her restoration and walk her decks. I can just imagine the action and the life aboard this historical example of naval thought, construction, and principle of the time, all of which are a direct consequence of Alfred Mahan, and the impact of his important work (The Influence of Naval Sea Power on History). It changed the world, and the USS Texas is a classic example of that.

[DeliveryDemon]

My great granddad Feser was on the California at Pearl. He survived and was stationed to a fleet oiler and then in Korea was assigned to a destroyer. He saw every Pacific battle except for Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima

[timothyboles]

Thanks for the excellent breakdown and profiles of the early "dreadnought" battleships. Can't wait for part 2

[ManuelDiaz-ontg]

The kamakazi hit of Nevada, my Dad was there…one of the men killed was his battle station partner. My Dad had been called away to the other side of the ship just before the hit.

[Mercer]

Always loved the unique profiles of the older standard BB's. I especially like the trademark forward facing bent crane at the stern of the vessel.

[petestorz]

Re secondaries in USS Nevada's post-PH rebuild, the 5"/51 anti-ship and 5"/25 AA secondaries were replaced with 5"/38 dual-purpose guns. This update made Nevada a slower, somewhat less heavily armed version of the USN's modern battleships. Nevada would not have done well against Yamato, but she would have given Nagato a very rough fight, and could have beaten a Fuso- or Ise-class battleship.

[tomstrains]

Crazy how they were already designing new battleships while the previous iterations were still being built!

Thank you for your continued commitment to details and the informative video. Looking forward to the next one.

[amerigo]

A 5 inch, 50 caliber naval gun has a barrel 50 times longer than the barrel bore. That means a 5 inch, 50 caliber gun barrel was 250 inches long (20 feet, 10 inches).

[nickgraff]

While the wreck of the USS Oklahoma has still not been found, during dredging operations at Pearl Harbor in 2006, one of her aft mast legs that supported the rear fire control was discovered, recovered, and sent to Muskogee War Memorial Park in Oklahoma. Aside from her bell, a screw, and two anchors at the Science Museum in Oklahoma City, and the aft wheel at the Oklahoma History Center, also in Oklahoma City, it is the largest section of the ship that has since been recovered and preserved. It is 40 feet in length, and weighs 25, 000 pounds. Of the 429 sailors and Marines killed on board during the Pearl Harbor attack, 396 have since been identified in the eight decades since that fateful Sunday morning. Only 33 of her men remain known only to their God, and were re-interred in their final resting place at the Punchbowl Cemetery during the 80th anniversary of the attack.

[squirepraggerstope]

Apart from the USN staying for rather longer with triple expansion propulsion plant, the 21kt, 28, 370 ton f.l.d. "New York" class battleships (10 x 14"/45cal main battery guns in 5 x twin turrets in positions A, B, Q, X, Y firing 1, 500lb APCs, + 21 x 5" casemate mounted secondaries and max 12" belt + 2" deck armour) seem VERY similar to their nearest UK contemporaries built over almost the same period, the 21.5kt 29, 500 ton f.l.d. "Iron Duke" class ships (10 x 13.5"/45cal main battery guns in 5 x twin turrets in positions A, B, Q, X, Y firing 1, 410lb APCs, +12 x 6" casemate mounted secondaries and max 12" belt +2.5" deck armour). Each class was also the last in their respective navies that relied on coal and apart from the US ships originally carrying the not very successful cage type masts, they even looked very much alike.
One must wonder how much mutual interest/observation of each other and exchange of info, formal or otherwise, took place "across the Pond" even as long ago as before WW1. More than seemingly did just across the North Sea, if directly contemporaneous German designs are any guide!

[richardnoah]

Absoulutely amazing video, detailed videos on naval vessels exist, but more specified overviews like this I find to be fairly rare. Thank you so much, subscribed and happily waiting for further work.