Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military
From: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: U.S.S. Wisconsin (Also: Iowa Turret)
Message-ID: <1990Aug12.214346.2319@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 12 Aug 90 21:43:46 GMT
References: <1990Aug6.031133.2036@cbnews.att.com> <1990Aug8.030329.25468@cbnews.att.com>
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From: phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Phil Gustafson)
In article <1990Aug8.030329.25468@cbnews.att.com> voder!nsc!dtg.nsc.com!worden@decwrl.dec.com (Dennis Worden) writes:
>I am interested in the fourth Iowa Class Battleship, the 
>USS Wisconsin.  The other three have been recommissioned,
>The Iowa, New Jersey and Missouri, but I haven't heard
>anything about the Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin (BB-64) was recommissioned October 22, 1988.  She and the
Missouri (BB-63) will be the only operational battleships by the
end of this year.

>Also, My father-in-law was stationed on board her during
>WWI and insists that they did a surprise raid on Japan
>by sailing through the Sea of Japan (he remembers it as
>about 35 miles wide) and shelling both mainland Japan
>and whatever is on the east side of the Sea.  This sounds
>a little funny to me, would you send a Battlegroup along
>the length of Japan??  Seems like it would be easy pick'ins.

I have a reference for the South Dakota (BB-57) bom-
barding the Japanese home islands on July 14, 1945.  The
incident is mentioned as the "first attack of its king since 1863."
It is quite credible that the Wisconsin did as your father-in-law
remembers in the last few weeks of the war -- by that time the
Japanese Navy and Air Force will wll but impotent.

--

The most recent (90-2) _Warships_International_ includes a review
of the Navy investigation of the Iowa (BB-61) turret explosion.  Its author,
W. J. Jurens, concludes is is "clear to the point of certainty that
something -- it may never be determined exactly what -- was used to
sabotage the gun" and that it is "probable that the exact motive,
method, and identity of the saboteur(s) will forever remain '...known
but to God.'"  [In responses to this article, please be careful to
attribute those conclusions to Mr. Jurens rather than myself.]

The review was prepared before Sandia Laboratories was able to
simulate the accidental explosion that resulted in the temporary
deactivation of the remaining 16" batteries.  The magazine will
publish a followup article.  I will review either or both of the
articles if this group shows interest.

--

Meanwhile, the Iowa will go into mothballs with her turret unrepaired.
The gun and turret are in pretty good condition, but damage to supporting
machinery,  light bulkheads, and fire-control equipment adds up to $13
million or so.  Congress appropriated $11 million, of which the Navy has
spent $3 million so far.  The DOD has proposed using the remaining
$8 million to support "the new Democratic Nicaraguan Government."

Congressional opposition to the retirement of the Iowa and New Jersey (BB-62)
seems confined largely to representatives from their home ports. 

[All Iowa data from the text and footnotes of "What Happened to the _Iowa_,
The Ring of Truth(?)" (sic), _Warships_International_, No. 2, 1990.
Wisconsin data from _U.S. Battleships_,_An_Illustrated_Design_History_,
by Norman Friedman, and contemporary sources.]
-- 
  |  phil@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG 		 | Phil Gustafson
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