The Savage American Battleship with the Most Terrifying Challenge of WW2

on the evening of November 14th 1942 as Darkness enveloped the Pacific the battleships USS South Dakota and Washington and four destroyers embarked on a covert Mission under vice admiral Willis a Lee to intercept a significant Japanese Fleet near savvo Island leading a group of Destroyers and cruisers was the battleship kirishima one of the mightiest ships of the Empire the guns on both sides roared to life ripping holes into halls and decks the Japanese ships lined up and moved in to perform wh

at they believ to be AUD de on the Americans not to be outdone South Dakota and Washington mirrored the move however as South Dakota was about to enter the fry a sudden blackout struck disabling her radar and cutting off communication with Washington vital for the safety of her crew unwilling to give up Captain Thomas gatch an eccentric yet beloved leader decided to steam ahead anyway trusting his expertly trained crew of wild men to rise to the occasion now with both fleets MO thousands of yard

s apart a rare event in World War II and Naval History as a whole was about to ensue a battleship versus Battleship Showdown USS South Dakota had one of the most remarkable anti-aircraft arsenals of its time 40mm bow fors 1.1 in guns and 20mm Eran Auto Cannons all designed to create a lethal barrier against enemy warplanes today our battles have shifted from the sea to the digital realm yet we also need defensive Firepower to protect our identity that is where our SP sponsor delete me comes in d

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Navy battleships much more vulnerable than in World War I where their only other adversaries were ships of their kind as such new generations of modernized battleships like the South Dakota class had thicker armored decks and much more Firepower meant to make it harder for airplanes and submarines to catch and Destroy them displacing a whopping 35,000 tons South Dakota the First of class was the heaviest United States ship ever constructed despite being nearly 700 ft long The Vessel dashed thro

ugh the Seas at a top speed of 27 knots placing it in the fast Battleship category of the Navy these ships were expected to participate in task forces alongside aircraft car protecting them and destroying everything that posed a threat worsening relations between America and Japan hurried the construction of South Dakota and when it was completed the public was not allowed to attend the launching ceremony sure enough by the time the battleship was ready for seed Duty in August 1942 the United St

ates was at war against the Axis powers on August 16th 1942 exactly 3 years to the day before Japan surrender South Dakota and 115 officers and 1,678 man crew began a long Voyage towards the Waters of the South Pacific the battleship first ever Commander was Captain Thomas L gatch A known eccentric admirer of Shakespearean sonnets and an American Civil War connoisseur with no previous combat experience he quickly adapted championing the philosophy of the primary role of battleships like the Sout

h Dakota was to decisively destroy enemy vessels and aircraft as such the her prioritized Gunnery training at the expense of nearly every other task on his ship throughout the voyage to ensure that their skills were honed to Perfection Gat frequently summoned his crew to Battle Stations to drill with the ship's 16-in guns which fired massive shells weighing over a ton across a range of nearly 30,000 yards with a constant Drilling in practice the men's gun handling skills improved quickly and thi

s Speedy training earned the captain the nickname gunpowder Gat historians and former Sailors agree that g was an exceptional Captain adored by all his men for his unique leadership role G's leadership style was unconventional he cared little for the traditional Naval emphasis on appearance allowing his crew the freedom to dress more casually this approach fostered a unique camaraderie and a sense of rugged individualism among the sailors often described as wild men while the ship was often dirt

y this did not imply a lack of discipline or Readiness the ship's guns were meticulously maintained these unique rules and ways of living earned South Dakota a reputation unique among the Navy's battleships but despite the somewhat unorthodox practices as the battleship finally neared Warfare Waters according to Naval historian Samuel Elliot Morrison quote no ship more eager to fight ever entered the Pacific for Captain Gat by exercising a natural gift for leadership had welded the green crew in

to a splendid fighting team while on the way to the Solomon Islands the battleship struck a reef and the damage caused it to travel to Pearl Harbor for repairs but this incident may have been a blessing in disguise as workers also replaced the ship's anti-aircraft guns with highly effective 40mm models in Quad mounts by October 1942 South Dakota was finally on her way just in time for the most heated moments of the battle of guad canal as the end of the month approached the Japanese troops were

desperately trying to drive the Americans out of their land and into the sea where a large Fleet of carriers led by their fiercest Empire commanders was ready to strike in sweep away any American unit that stood in their way and even though the US Navy was still perfecting its Air Attack defense tactics task force 16 commanded by rear Admiral Thomas cancade consisting of South Dakota carrier USS Enterprise two Cruisers and eight destroyers was ready to fight on October 26th in the battle of the

Santa Cruz Islands as the prime target Enterprise was quickly swarmed by a dizzying volume of Japanese aircraft coming from all sides maneuvering as fast as possible to get close to the Big E the men of South Dakota finally put their grueling Gunnery training to good use and Unleashed all the anti-aircraft fire they could claiming 32 enemy war planes destroyed but officially credited with 26 this came at a cost for the battleship would not escape the battle unscathed amid the anti-aircraft melee

a massive 500lb bomb hit the vessel's main gun turret while the gun mount was so heavily protected that the gun crew did not notice the damage the men near the bridge including Captain Gat himself surely did severely injured in the jugular two quarter Masters quickly rushed in to save the life of their beloved Skipper back on the damaged Bridge the Heat of the Moment caused a communication mishap that caused the ship to lose control and nearly collide with Enterprise with the ladder maneuvering

at the very last minute to avoid it with the skipper out of the fight the executive officers stepped up and stabilized the situation resuming their protective role over the task force but the scene was still chaotic and the men of South Dakota still extremely focused and stressed out of their minds accidentally fired upon six SPD dive bombers returning to their carrier this incident sparked a unique reputation for South Dakota shoot first ask questions later according to Navy veteran Donald You

ng Navy Pilots had a simple rule regarding the South Dakota class Battleship quote don't fly anywhere near that big so and so she'll shoot you down although the Americans suffered heavy losses the battle for Santa Cruz forced the Japanese to move northward and away from the island on the morning of November 14th South Dakota was about to embark on her wildest Adventure yet when the Japanese group attacked a field in gule Canal Island task force 64 steamed right towards the attackers led by Admir

al Lee made up of Enterprise Battleship Washington and South Dakota with the heated Captain Gat back in command but as the sun set knowing the Big E could not perform nighttime Air Ops Lee commanded the two battleships and four destroyers to look for and destroy the enemy shortly before midnight around savvo Island Duo of battleships encountered the angry group of enemy destroyers and cruisers which quickly Unleashed their power and damaged All Ships as a Duo of heavy Cruisers and Battleship kir

ishima closed in for a showdown Washington and South Dakota did the same but as the ladder steamed towards them all electrical power was lost to a malfunction leading to a radar error throughout the rest of the fight now with no way of contacting Washington directly South Dakota and her men had no choice but to face the Darkness directly steaming right towards the Japanese vessels as the enemy fired nearly three dozen Torpedoes and as the smoke cleared the American Battleship remained unscathed

but the worst was yet to come now with South Dakota only 5,000 yard away from the Japanese task force the enemy shined their lights upon it and fired mercilessly while Battleship versus battleship is a rare occurrence in World War I on that fateful day this was the reality for Gat and his men despite all their best work they could not stop the enemy from scoring 42 hits causing many casualties and wounded South Dakota was severely damaged and in deep trouble but this Carnage had a silver lining

as the fire and noise from the battleship to Battleship encounter allowed Washington to spot the positions of every ship and so in retribution for their beleaguered comrade Washington Unleashed her main battery reducing Hiroshima to a ball of flame while the heavily damaged South Dakota escaped the battle at full speed as did most of the other surviving Japanese ships as Dawn broke in the accorded Rendevous Point Washington's crew was uncertain of South Dakota's fate after her bold nighttime esc

ape the hours stretched on with vigilant eyes scouring The Horizon for the battleship silhouette then precisely at 9:00 a.m. they agreed upon time for the Meetup battered yet undefeated South Dakota made her timely appearance reuniting with Washington her fellow Battleship and savior the damage from the encounter that South Dakota suffered was serious enough she had to return to the mainland for repairs once at the Brooklyn Navy Yard the battleship Gat and his crew received plenty of attention f

rom the hero seeking press and media but on the other side of the world the rapid disappearance of the battleship after what became the Second Battle of savvo Island caused the Imperial Navy to believe South Dakota was sunk during that Pier's fight even further back than that Japanese aviators also reported the battleship as lost in the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands because of this mysterious backstory American Naval intelligence chose to encourage the misinformation and for a long time inste

ad of South Dakota this now reputable vessel was merely identified as Battleship X in dispatches and other official documents throughout the conflict the Western press referred to the ship as old nameless but to the sailors aboard those who truly knew her she was simply dear old sodak after two months of repairs sodak was again ready for SE duty this time with the new captain Lind McCormack in the summer of 1943 she traveled all the way to the the Atlantic theater where she joined one of the man

y Allied efforts to hunt one of the Creeks marinees most iconic ships the tier pits as The elusive Battleship waked Havoc with convoys and the mermont grun threatening to shut it down altogether Allied War planning came up with the idea to use the ultra fast American Navy battleships that had already proved their medal in the South Pacific to lure the German vessel into a head-to-head battle where aircraft could finish her off however when the plan failed to materialize after 2 months South Dako

ta had no choice but to head back to the Pacific there the battleship returned to a naval war in which the United States was clearly gaining the upper hand against the empire however there was still some fighting to be done between mid November 1943 and June 1944 the ship participated in actions in the Caroline Islands against a sizable Japanese base that tro and in support of marine Landings on the Mariana Islands mostly providing anti-aircraft protection during the iconic Mariana's turkey shoo

t where the Allies accounted for over 400 Japanese planes in a single day on June 19th 1944 South Dakota was the only major ship that suffered damage as a 500lb bomb hit the Captain's Quarters and injured over 50 men after a refit the battleship returned to the war albeit with some new crew members including alen Vernon Robinson a journalist turn sailor who chronicled South Dakota's final year of operation in World War II in late September as the Allies attempted to capture each of the Mariana's

Islands wiii Island the easternmost at to in the chain was taken virtually without opposition however pelu was much more heavily defended and the struggle required two of the harshest months for the crew of USS South Dakota speaking about the fear and uncertainty he and his fellow Sailors felt Robinson described it as quote you didn't always know what the enemy had in mind and what might start as small and insignificant may turn into something you were most totally unprepared for thankfully luc

k remained on South Dakota's side from late 1945 for on as the fierce engagement South Dakota's men fought became less frequent the battleship served mainly as a carrier escort and provided Shore bombardment mainly on okanawa and in the Philippines on July 14th 1945 zodak became the first enemy warship in nearly a century to fire directly upon the Japanese Mainland as night fell on August 10th 1945 after finishing a bombardment of kamay shihad the crew had barely survived a kamakazi attack and w

ere ready to spend the rest of the day relaxing when they were notified of the hiroshim and Nagasaki bombs from a few days before in an essay Robinson spoke of that iconic Day quote we expected the war to end suddenly un trumpeted and without ceremony for us it did that but we did not expect it to end when it did it was 8:55 p.m. on the night of August 10th 1945 that this bad dream came to an end for us shouts screams and impromptu celebrations reverberated throughout the ship it was too good to

be true but it was South Dakota was one of the American Best Vel on Tokyo bay on September 2nd 1945 in Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz officially accepted the surrender of the Japanese empire by the time the battleship left the bay a few days later she had traveled 246,000 for arming Us in today's digital Voyage snag their exclusive 20% off for us consumer plans and fortify your online defenses rally with us against data Brokers and activate delete me click the link below and take command of your

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