Dingyuan - 定远 - 定遠 - Pinyin - Dìngyuan - Ting Yuen - Ting Yuan

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Dingyuan (simplified Chinese: 定远; traditional Chinese: 定遠; pinyin: Dìngyǔan; Wade–Giles: Ting Yuen or Ting Yuan, English: Everlasting Peace[1]) was an ironclad battleship and the flagship of the Chinese Beiyang Fleet. She was the lead ship of the Dingyuan class, which included one other vessel, Zhenyuan, both of which were built in Germany in the early 1880s. Delivery of the two ironclads was delayed by the Sino-French War of 1884–1885. The ships were armed with a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) guns in a pair of gun turrets, making them the most powerful warships in East Asian waters at the time.

Dingyuan served as the flagship of Admiral Ding Ruchang during her active career. In the 1880s and early 1890s, the Beiyang Fleet conducted a routine of training exercises and cruises abroad, with emphasis placed on visits to Japan to intimidate the country. The latter resulted in the Nagasaki Incident in 1886 and contributed to a rise in hostility between the two countries that culminated in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. She led the Chinese fleet during the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September, where the Japanese Combined Fleet sank much of the Beiyang Fleet, though both Dingyuan and Zhenyuan survived despite numerous hits, thanks to their heavy armor. The survivors then retreated to Port Arthur for repairs, but after that city was threatened by the Japanese Army, fled to Weihaiwei.

As the Japanese continued to advance, they laid siege to Weihaiwei in late January 1895. On 5 February, a Japanese torpedo boat slipped into the port and hit Dingyuan with a torpedo, inflicting serious damage. The Chinese crew were forced to beach the vessel to avoid sinking, and for the next week, Dingyuan was used as a stationary artillery battery. Japanese ground forces seized the city's coastal fortifications on 9 February, allowing their artillery to shell the ships in the harbor, which prompted Ding to surrender. Dingyuan was scuttled in the harbor on 10 February. A full-scale replica of the ship was built in Weihai in 2003 as a museum ship and in 2019, the Chinese government announced that an underwater survey had located the original vessel's wreck.

Following the direct intervention of the imperialist European powers in the mid-19th century, including the First and Second Opium Wars, where their superior steam-powered fleets overwhelmed the small Imperial Chinese Navy that still relied on traditional junks, the Chinese began a naval construction program in the 1880s to meet these threats more effectively. They enlisted British and German assistance, and two Dingyuan-class ironclads were ordered from Germany.

Dingyuan was 308 ft (94 m) long overall, with a beam of 59 ft (18 m) and a draft of 20 ft (6.1 m). She displaced 7,220 long tons (7,340 t) normally and up to 7,670 long tons (7,790 t) at full load. She was powered by a pair of compound steam engines that each drove a screw propeller. Steam was provided by eight coal-burning fire-tube boilers that were ducted into a pair of funnels amidships. She was capable of a top speed of 15.7 knots (29.1 km/h; 18.1 mph) from 7,500 indicated horsepower (5,600 kW). Her crew consisted of 350 officers and enlisted men.

The ship carried a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) 20-caliber breech-loading guns in two twin-gun turrets that were placed en echelon forward. These were supported by a secondary battery of two 5.9 in (150 mm) guns in a pair of single turrets, one at the bow and the other at the stern. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried a pair of 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon and eight 37 mm (1.5 in) Maxim-Nordenfelt quick-firing guns in casemates. Dingyuan was also equipped with three 14 in (356 mm) or 15 in (381 mm) torpedo tubes.

She was protected by compound armor that was 14 in for the armor belt, which covered the central part of the ship were the ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces were located. An armor deck that was 3 in (76 mm) thick provided horizontal protection. Her conning tower was covered with 8 in (203 mm) of armor plate on the sides. The barbettes for the gun turrets were 12–14 in thick. A strake of armor that was 8 in thick protected the casemate guns.

Dingyuan was ordered in 1880 and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, Germany in March 1881; her name means "eternal peace" in Chinese. Work proceeded quickly and she was launched on 28 December 1881 to clear the slipway so work could begin on her sister ship Zhenyuan. Fitting-out work continued into May 1883, when the vessel was completed, but delivery was to be delayed until Zhenyuan was finished in April 1884. The start of the outbreak of the Sino-French War in August prevented both Dingyuan-class ships from being delivered until 1885, since Germany would not transfer the vessels to a country at war.

Both vessels were manned by German crews, sailing on 3 July 1885 under the German flag in company with the also German-built protected cruiser Jiyuan. The three ships arrived in Tianjin in November, where they were transferred to Chinese control. Li Hongzhang, the Viceroy of Zhili and director of China's naval construction program, inspected the vessels following their arrival. The two ironclads were then commissioned into the Beiyang Fleet, which was based in Port Arthur. The ships steamed south to Shanghai for the winter of 1885–1886.

In the 1880s, the Beiyang Fleet was occupied with an annual routine of winter training cruises to the South China Sea, often in company with the Nanyang Fleet. This cruise typically involved visits to Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong provinces, and sometimes went as far south as stops in Southeast Asia. The rest of the year was spent in northern waters off Zhili, Shandong, and Fengtian provinces, conducting training exercises. Training cruises to foreign ports were conducted in the mid-1880s and early 1890s, both to train navigational skills on voyages far from shore and to show the flag. Discipline aboard the ships of the Beiyang Fleet was poor, which contributed to a low state of readiness of the ships. During this period, the fleet was commanded by Admiral Ding Ruchang, who employed Dingyuan as his flagship. At the time, China lacked dry docks large enough to handle Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, forcing the navy to rely on shipyards in Japan or in British Hong Kong for periodic maintenance.

The two Dingyuan-class ships began their training routine in April 1886 in joint maneuvers with the units of the Nanyang Fleet, which culminated in a naval review in Port Arthur. They received the British vessels of the China Station from 19 to 20 May. Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, and four cruisers made the first of their overseas cruises in August 1886, which included stops in British Hong Kong, Busan and Wonsan in Korea, Vladivostok, Russia, and Nagasaki, Japan. While at the latter port in August, Chinese crewmen became involved in an altercation with Japanese locals that resulted in the deaths of eight Chinese sailors and two Japanese police, with forty-two Chinese and twenty-nine Japanese injured. The so-called Nagasaki Incident was characterized by the Japanese press as an attempt by China to intimidate Japan, leading to calls for naval expansion to counter the Beiyang Fleet. The Japanese government ordered three Matsushima-class protected cruisers in response. The Japanese also refused to allow the Chinese ironclads to return for repairs in their shipyards, hampering the ability of the Beiyang Fleet to keep the vessels operational.

The year 1887 passed less eventfully, with the ships spending the bulk of the year in the Bohai Sea. Late in the year, another group of four European-built cruisers arrived, further strengthening the fleet and necessitating extensive maneuvers in 1888 to familiarize the crews with the rest of the fleet. The Beiyang Fleet adopted the same black, white, and buff paint scheme used by the Royal Navy at the time, repainting their vessels at some point in 1888. In 1889, the fleet was divided into two divisions; Dingyuan and several cruisers were sent on a tour of Korean ports while Zhenyuan and the rest of the fleet remained in the Bohai Sea for exercises. The two divisions rendezvoused in Shanghai in December, thereafter proceeding to Hong Kong for Zhenyuan and Dingyuan to be drydocked. They then cruised off Korea.

Another visit to Japan came in June and July 1891; the fleet stopped in Kobe on 30 June and Yokohama on 14 July. At the latter port, a large Japanese delegation of senior military commanders and members of the imperial family received the ships. Another voyage to Japan took place the following year. Coupled with the Nagasaki Incident, these voyages contributed to the growing tensions between China and Japan, since Hongzhang intended them to make clear Chinese naval strength at a time the Japanese fleet was small and poorly developed. At the core of the dispute was control over Korea, which since the Convention of Tientsin of 1884, was treated as a co-protectorate of China and Japan.

n early 1894, the Donghak Peasant Revolution broke out in Korea, prompting China to send an expedition of 28,000 to suppress the rebels. Japan viewed this as a violation of the Tientsin Convention and deployed 8,000 troops in response, leading to the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War on 1 August. The Chinese fleet was no match for the new Combined Fleet of Japan, as years of insufficient naval budgets had not allowed Hongzhang to update the vessels—funds he had planned to use to add new quick-firing guns to Zhenyuan and Dingyuan were instead appropriated for the 60th birthday of the Dowager Empress Cixi—and the Chinese lacked effective commanders and sufficiently trained crews. And to add to China's disadvantages during the war, the Japanese had broken the Chinese diplomatic codes in 1888, giving them access to China's internal communications.

As the Chinese made preparations in August for action, they removed the gun shields from the main battery turrets. Experience at the Battle of Pungdo had revealed the thin shields created numerous splinters when struck by enemy fire, and these fragments had inflicted numerous casualties to the gun crews of the cruiser Jiyuan at Pungdo. The crews also placed bags of coal around the gun batteries as a form of improvised armor. The ships were repainted light gray to make them more difficult to observe at sea. The ships of the Beiyang Fleet then steamed to Taku to take on supplies, thereafter doing little for the next month.

Ding took the fleet on a sweep into the Korea Bay on 12 September to clear the way for a convoy of troopships scheduled to deliver reinforcements to Korea. While on the way to the bay, he received faulty reports indicating the presence of Japanese warships off the Shandong Peninsula, prompting him to change course to search for them. Finding no enemy vessels, he took the fleet to Weihaiwei (now Weihai), and on 15 September, the fleet rendezvoused with the convoy to cover its approach to the mouth of the Yalu River, where the transports deposited the men and supplies on 16 September. During the unloading process, Dingyuan and the bulk of the fleet remained underway to provide distant support and avoid presenting themselves as stationary targets to Japanese torpedo boats known to be in the area. While the Chinese were on the way back to Port Arthur, the Combined Fleet under Vice Admiral Itō Sukeyuki intercepted them on 17 September, leading to the Battle of the Yalu River. The poorly-trained Beiyang Fleet sailed in a disorganized line abreast formation, while the Japanese approached them from the south in line ahead; the Chinese ships steamed at around 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) and the Japanese at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

Itō turned his ships to pass in front of the oncoming Beiyang Fleet. Dingyuan opened fire first, at about 12:20, at the extreme range of 5,300 yd (4,800 m), far in excess of what fire-control equipment was capable of accurately directing at the time. The blast effect from Dingyuan's initial salvo destroyed her own bridge, collapsing it and trapping Ding and his staff for the duration of the action, depriving the Beiyang Fleet of central control. The rest of the Chinese fleet quickly followed Dingyuan, but failed to score any hits as their opponents passed in front. The Japanese ships returned fire at 12:25, having divided into two squadrons and turned back to starboard to encircle the Chinese. Concentrating their fire on the cruisers on the Chinese right flank, they quickly destroyed the Chinese cruisers Yangwei and Chaoyong. The battle quickly devolved into a melee at close range, and the Chinese cruisers Zhiyuan and Jingyuan were sunk. In return, the Chinese warships inflicted serious damage on the old ironclad Hiei, which had been unable to keep pace with the rest of Itō's fleet, and was eventually forced to disengage and flee. Zhenyuan and Dingyuan hit the auxiliary cruiser Saikyō Maru with four 12-inch shells and inflicted significant damage.

The Japanese ships then concentrated their fire on Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. The ships' heavy citadel armor proved to be impervious to the Japanese shellfire directed against it, though the large-caliber Canet guns mounted on the Matsushima-class cruisers proved to be nearly useless and the other Japanese cruisers were engaged with their Chinese counterparts. Both ships were hit numerous times and several fires broke out, but both crews adeptly suppressed them despite being under heavy fire. By around 17:00, both sides were low on ammunition and the Chinese began to reform their surviving vessels into line-ahead formation. The Japanese eventually broke off at around 17:30 and withdrew. The battered Beiyang Fleet, by then reduced to the two Dingyuan-class ships and four smaller vessels, limped back to Port Arthur, arriving there the next day.

Repairs to the damaged ships began immediately, and fresh supplies and ammunition were sent to ready the vessels for action. By October, the Japanese Army had begun to approach Port Arthur, forcing the Chinese to withdraw the Beiyang Fleet to Weihaiwei. Ding sortied on 20 October and crossed the Bohai Strait to Weihaiwei without encountering Japanese forces. In early November, Ding sortied to cover the transfer of Zhenyuan, which had remained in Port Arthur as long as possible to complete repairs. The Japanese Army had advanced to Weihaiwei by the end of January 1895, launching a major attack on the port on the 30th to begin the Battle of Weihaiwei. They quickly captured the fortifications on the eastern side of the city despite heavy fire from Dingyuan and other vessels of the fleet. The capture of the fortresses forced the Chinese ships to withdraw to the western portion of the harbor, where they would be out of range for the guns there. Dingyuan disabled one of the 9.4 in (240 mm) disappearing guns in the fortress at Luchiehtsui, but several guns remained on operation, and Japanese gunners quickly set to work to bring them to bear on the trapped fleet. The Chinese ships bombarded Japanese forces as they advanced on the city's defenses.

A group of ten Japanese torpedo boats broke into the harbor on the night of 4/5 February and hit Dingyuan with a torpedo on the port side toward the stern. The attack inflicted serious damage and the crew's damage control efforts failed to contain the flooding, hampered by leaking watertight doors. They got steam up in the boilers and began to get underway, but with the uncontrolled flooding threatening to sink the ship, the crew was forced to ground her to prevent her from sinking. The ship was thereafter employed as a stationary artillery battery and Ding shifted his flag to Zhenyuan. Two of the attacking torpedo boats were discovered having been disabled in the previous night's action at dawn. The next night, the torpedo boats made another assault on the Chinese fleet, sinking a cruiser, a training ship, and an auxiliary vessel.

By 9 February, the Japanese had seized the fortifications that overlooked the rest of the harbor. They used the position to bombard the crippled Dingyuan with field artillery, further damaging the vessel. With their position in the harbor no longer tenable and most of the vessels damaged—Zhenyuan had also been badly damaged and was no longer seaworthy—Ding decided to scuttle Dingyuan the next day and then surrender. The decision provoked many of the senior officers of the Beiyang Fleet to commit suicide, including the ship's commander, Captain Liu Buchan. The exact nature of the crew's efforts to disable the vessel are unclear. Some reports indicate that a mine detonated amidships, and observers aboard the British protected cruiser HMS Edgar noted seeing a large explosion aboard Dingyuen. Photographic evidence, which shows the vessel aground in shallow water and with a gaping hole amidships, supports these reports, as does the observations of the British Vice Admiral Edmund Fremantle, who inspected the fleet shortly after the battle.

The Chinese government constructed a replica of Dingyuan at Weihai to commemorate both the original vessel and the Beiyang Fleet during the war; the vessel, built on a 1:1 scale, is open as a museum ship. Work on the vessel began in 2003.

On 2 September 2019 it was announced that the remains of Dingyuan had been located and over 150 artifacts recovered.

History

China

Name: Dingyuan

Ordered: 1880

Builder: Stettiner AG Vulcan, Stettin, Germany

Laid down: March 1881

Launched: 28 December 1881

Completed: May 1883

Commissioned: November 1885

Fate: Scuttled, 10 February 1895

General characteristics

Class and type: Dingyuan-class ironclad

Displacement:

Normal: 7,220 long tons (7,340 t)

Full load: 7,670 long tons (7,790 t)

Length: 308 ft (94 m)

Beam: 59 ft (18 m)

Draft: 20 ft (6.1 m)

Installed power:

8 fire-tube boilers

7,200 ihp (5,400 kW)

Propulsion:

2 compound steam engines

2 × screw propellers

Speed: 15.4 knots (28.5 km/h; 17.7 mph)

Range: 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)

Complement: 350

Armament:

4 × 12 in (305 mm) breech-loading guns

2 × 5.9 in (150 mm) breech-loading guns

2 × 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon

6 × 37 mm (1.5 in) Maxim-Nordenfelt quick-firing guns

3 × 14 in (356 mm) torpedo tubes

Armor:

Belt: 14 in

Deck: 3 in (76 mm)

Barbettes: 12–14 in

Conning tower: 8 in (203 mm)

Knyaz Suvorov

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Knyaz Suvorov (Russian: Князь Суворов) was one of five Borodino-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed after the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, she became the flagship of Vice Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, commander of the Second Pacific Squadron. The squadron was sent to the Far East a few months after her completion to break the Japanese blockade of Port Arthur. The Japanese captured the port while the squadron was in transit and their destination was changed to Vladivostok. During the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, the ship fell out of the battle line after a shell hit her bridge, killing her helmsman and wounding her captain and Rozhestvensky. Knyaz Suvorov was eventually torpedoed and sunk by Japanese torpedo boats; other than 20 wounded officers evacuated by a destroyer, there were no survivors.

The Borodino-class ships were based on the design of the French-built Tsesarevich, modified to suit Russian equipment and building practices. They were built under the 1898 program "for the needs of the Far East" to concentrate ten battleships in the Pacific. Knyaz Suvorov was 389 feet 5 inches (118.69 m) long at the waterline and 397 feet 3 inches (121.1 m) long overall, with a beam of 76 feet 1 inch (23.2 m) and a draft of 29 feet 2 inches (8.9 m), 38 inches (965 mm) more than designed. Her normal displacement was 14,415 long tons (14,646 t), almost 900 long tons (914 t) more than her designed displacement of 13,516 long tons (13,733 t). Her intended crew consisted of 28 officers and 754 enlisted men, although she carried 928 crewmen during the Battle of Tsushima.

The ships were powered by a pair of vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam generated by 20 Belleville boilers. The engines were rated at 15,800 indicated horsepower (11,800 kW) and designed to reach a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Knyaz Suvorov, however, only reached a speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) from 15,575 ihp (11,614 kW) during her builder's machinery trials on 9 August 1904. The ships could carry enough coal to give them a range of 2,590 nautical miles (4,800 km; 2,980 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

The main battery of the Borodinos consisted of four 12-inch (305 mm) Pattern 1895 guns which were mounted in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament of twelve 6-inch (152 mm) Pattern 1892 guns were mounted in six twin-gun turrets carried on the upper deck, three turrets on each broadside. Defense against torpedo boats was provided by a suite of smaller guns. The twenty 75-millimeter (3 in) Pattern 1892 guns carried were mounted in casemates in the sides of the hull. The ships also mounted twenty 47-millimeter (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns in the superstructure. The ships were fitted with four 15-inch (381 mm) torpedo tubes, one each above water in the bow and in the stern, and a submerged tube on each broadside.

The waterline armor belt of the Borodino class consisted of Krupp armor 5.7–7.64 inches (145–194 mm) thick. The armor of their gun turrets had a maximum thickness of 10 inches (254 mm) and their decks ranged from 1 to 2 inches (25 to 51 mm) in thickness. The 1.5-inch (38 mm) armored lower deck sloped downwards to connect to the anti-torpedo bulkhead of the same thickness.

Construction began on Knyaz Suvorov, named after Prince Alexander Suvorov, on 10 August 1901 at the Baltic Works in Saint Petersburg. The ship was laid down on 8 September, when the ceremonial laying of one of the plates was performed by Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, General-Admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. She was launched on 25 September 1902, in the presence of Tsar Nicholai II, Grand Duke Konstantin and King George I of Greece. She was completed in September 1904, after the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, at the cost of 13,841,000 rubles.

On 15 October 1904, Knyaz Suvorov, Rozhestvensky's flagship as commander of the Second Pacific Squadron, set sail for Port Arthur from Libau along with the other vessels of the squadron with the mission of reinforcing the First Pacific Squadron at Port Arthur and breaking the Japanese blockade. Rozhestvensky had received numerous reports of Japanese agents and torpedo boats disguised as fishing vessels before sailing and he ordered maximum alertness after coaling at Skagen, Denmark, on 7 October. Early on the evening of the following day, when the squadron was near the Dogger Bank, the auxiliary repair ship Kamchatka reported that she was under attack by torpedo boats in the rain. About four hours later, the squadron encountered British fishing trawlers working the Dogger Bank in the fog and opened fire on them at very short range. One trawler was sunk and at least three others were damaged; several fishermen were killed and others wounded. The battleships also fired upon and damaged the Russian cruisers Aurora and Dmitrii Donskoi. The incident enraged the British population and caused a diplomatic incident with the British that nearly led to war until Russia apologized and agreed to pay reparations on 29 October.

Rozhestvensky led his ships down the Atlantic coast of Africa, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and reached the island of Nosy Be off the northwest coast of French Madagascar on 9 January 1905 where they remained for two months while Rozhestvensky finalized his coaling arrangements. During this time, he learned of the capture of Port Arthur and changed his destination to Vladivostok, the only other port controlled by the Russians in the Far East. The squadron sailed for Camranh Bay, French Indochina, on 16 March and reached it almost a month later to await the obsolete ships of the Third Pacific Squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Nikolai Nebogatov. The latter ships reached Camranh Bay on 9 May and the combined force sailed for Vladivostok on 14 May. En route, Rozhestvensky reorganized his ships into three tactical divisions for the forthcoming battle; the leading division consisted of the four new Borodino-class battleships with Knyaz Suvorov in the lead, followed by the Second Division that consisted of three older battleships and an armored cruiser and Nebogatov retained his ships as the Third Division. While exact figures are not available for Knyaz Suvorov, it is probable that the ship was approximately 1,700 long tons (1,700 t) overweight as she and her sisters were overloaded with coal and other supplies; all of which was stored high in the ships and reduced their stability. The extra weight also submerged the waterline armor belt and left only about 4 feet 6 inches (1.4 m) of the upper armor belt above the waterline.

Rozhestvensky decided to take the most direct route to Vladivostok using the Tsushima Strait and was intercepted by the Japanese battlefleet under the command of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō on 27 May 1905. As the Russians entered the strait, they were arrayed in separate columns with the Second Division on the left and the Third trailing. Around noon, well after they had been spotted by the Japanese, Rozhestvensky ordered the Second Division, lead by the battleship Oslyabya, to form line ahead behind the First Division, but poorly trained signalmen caused confusion throughout the fleet and the Third Division fell in behind the Second Division, leaving the First Division on the main column's right, although it was still in the lead. When the main Japanese fleet was spotted by the Russians at 13:19, Rozhestvensky was still trying to get his ships properly formed.

The location sent to Tōgō had been inaccurate and his ships were out of position when they spotted the Russians; unwilling to engage the First Division, Tōgō maneuvered his ships across the front of the Russian forces and then reversed course to position his battleships on the left flank of the leading Russian ships. During this maneuver, Knyaz Suvorov opened fire at the Japanese battleship Mikasa, flagship of Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō at 14:05 at a range of 6,300 yards (5,800 m). Mikasa began to return fire after the Japanese ships had finished their maneuver and was joined by the battleship Asahi and the armored cruiser Azuma as the Japanese battleships split their fire between Knyaz Suvorov and Oslyabya. The battleship Fuji joined the others firing at Knyaz Suvorov around 14:20, which had been set on fire by hits from the other ships. At 14:35, splinters entered the conning tower killing her helmsman and wounding Rozhestvensky and the ship's captain; splinters from another shell again wounded Rozhestvensky so he drifted in and out of consciousness.[Note 2] Shortly afterwards, flames made the conning tower untenable so that the ship had to be steered from her auxiliary-control position. Around 14:52, another hit jammed the steering gear after a four point turn to starboard had been ordered and caused the ship to make nearly a full circle before she could be steered by her engines. Splinters from numerous shell hits shredded water hoses and made it much more difficult to put the numerous fires out. By this time Knyaz Suvorov's aft 12-inch gun turret had been destroyed by an explosion that blew its roof off onto the quarterdeck, her forward funnel had fallen down and her mainmast had been shot away.

Knyaz Suvorov never regained her position in the battle line and was engaged at short range by Mikasa and the battleship Shikishima as well as five cruisers of Vice Admiral Kamimura Hikonojō's 2nd Division between 15:20 and 15:35. Mikasa and two of the cruisers fired one torpedo each at her during this time, but none of them hit the ship. At 15:39, the cruiser Chihaya fired a pair of torpedoes and claimed one hit although no change was visible in Knyaz Suvorov's condition. Chihaya was hit by one shell just above the waterline during her attack that forced her to make emergency repairs. Around 15:40 the British observer aboard Azuma reported that Knyaz Suvorov was down by the bow with a heavy list to port and was covered by thick gray smoke from the forecastle to the mainmast. By this time, the ship's forward 12-inch gun turret had been knocked out, but some smaller guns were still in action. The Japanese 5th Destroyer Division attacked five minutes later with torpedoes at ranges under 900 yards (820 m), but failed to score any hits with their five torpedoes. The flotilla leader was hit in the boiler room by a three-inch shell that may have been fired by Knyaz Suvorov.

The ship found herself between the two fleets at 16:08 and was fired at by most of the Japanese ships at short range. Observers aboard those ships noted that she resembled "an island volcano in eruption". Mikasa fired two torpedoes and Shikishima fired one torpedo at Knyaz Suvorov during this time without effect. Captain William C. Pakenham, the Royal Navy's official military observer aboard Asahi under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, noted that Knyaz Suvorov was hit by a 12-inch shell near the rear 6-inch turret around 16:30 that caused an explosion and caused flames to spout 50 feet (15 m) in the air. At 17:05 the 4th Destroyer Division attacked with three destroyers; only one of the six torpedoes hit Knyaz Suvorov. The ship immediately took on a 10° list, but showed no signs of sinking. One shell from Knyaz Suvorov struck the destroyer Asagiri, but did not inflict much damage.

Around 17:30, the Russian destroyer Buinyi came and took off the wounded officers from Knyaz Suvorov, including Rozhestvensky, leaving an unwounded midshipman in command. The ship continued southwards at about 4–5 knots (7.4–9.3 km/h; 4.6–5.8 mph) and was engaged by many of the Japanese cruisers from about 18:30 until four torpedo boats of the 11th Torpedo Division attacked at 19:20. They fired seven torpedoes of which two or three hit the ship. One was thought to have caused a magazine to explode as a cloud of yellow and black smoke poured out and Knyaz Suvorov listed further to port before capsizing at about 19:30.[3] Other than the 20 officers taken off by Buinyi, there were no survivors of the 928 crew aboard. Naval historian Sir Julian Corbett commented: "While she had a gun above water she fired, and not a man survived her of all that crew, to whose stubborn gallantry no words can do justice. If there is immortality in naval memory it is hers and theirs.

History

Russian Empire

Name: Knyaz Suvorov (Князь Суворов)

Namesake: Prince Alexander Suvorov

Builder: Baltic Works, Saint Petersburg

Cost: 13,841,000 rubles

Laid down: 8 September 1901[Note 1]

Launched: 25 September 1902

In service: September 1904

Fate: Sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, 27 May 1905

General characteristics

Class and type: Borodino-class pre-dreadnought battleship

Displacement: 14,415 long tons (14,646 t)

Length: 397 ft (121.0 m) (o/a)

Beam: 76 ft 1 in (23.2 m)

Draft: 29 ft 2 in (8.9 m)

Installed power:

20 Belleville boilers

15,575 ihp (11,614 kW)

Propulsion: 2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines

Speed: 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)

Range: 2,590 nmi (4,800 km; 2,980 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)

Complement: 782 (designed)

Armament:

2 × twin 12 in (305 mm) guns

6 × twin 6 in (152 mm) guns

20 × single 75 mm (3 in) guns

20 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns

4 × 15 in (381 mm) torpedo tubes

Armor:

Krupp armor

Belt: 5.7–7.64 inches (145–194 mm)

Deck: 1–2 inches (25–51 mm)

Turrets: 10 inches (254 mm)

Battleship Vittorio Veneto

 Scale 1:700 Brand Trumpeter (Kit score 8/10)

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Vittorio Veneto was the second member of the Littorio-class battleship that served in the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) during World War II. The ship's keel was laid down in October 1934, launched in July 1937, and readied for service with the Italian fleet by August 1940. She was named after the Italian victory at Vittorio Veneto during World War I, and she had three sister ships: Littorio, Roma, and Impero, though only Littorio and Roma were completed during the war. She was armed with a main battery of nine 381-millimeter (15.0 in) guns in three triple turrets, and could steam at a speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph).

Vittorio Veneto saw extensive service during the war. Early in the war, she participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in November 1940 and the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. While damaged by torpedoes several times, including in the engagement off Cape Matapan and by the British submarine HMS Urge in December 1941, the ship escaped undamaged during the British raid on Taranto in November 1940. She spent 1941 and early 1942 attempting to attack British convoys to Malta, but crippling fuel shortages in the Italian fleet curtailed activity thereafter. Vittorio Veneto was among the Italian ships that were surrendered to the Allies in September 1943 after Italy withdrew from the war, and she spent the following three years under British control in Egypt. After the war, she was allocated as a war prize to Britain and subsequently broken up for scrap.

Vittorio Veneto was 237.76 meters (780.1 ft) long overall and had a beam of 32.82 m (107.7 ft) and a draft of 9.6 m (31 ft). She was designed with a standard displacement of 40,724 long tons (41,377 t), a violation of the 35,000-long-ton (36,000 t) restriction of the Washington Naval Treaty; at full combat loading, she displaced 45,236 long tons (45,962 t). The ship was powered by four Belluzo geared steam turbines rated at 128,000 shaft horsepower (95,000 kW). Steam was provided by eight oil-fired Yarrow boilers. The engines provided a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and a range of 3,920 mi (6,310 km; 3,410 nmi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph). Vittorio Veneto had a crew of 1,830 to 1,950 over the course of her career.

Vittorio Veneto's main armament consisted of nine 381-millimeter (15.0 in) 50-caliber Model 1934 guns in three triple turrets; two turrets were placed forward in a superfiring arrangement and the third was located aft. Her secondary anti-surface armament consisted of twelve 152 mm (6.0 in) /55 Model 1934/35 guns in four triple turrets placed at the corners of her superstructure. These were supplemented by four 120 mm (4.7 in) /40 Model 1891/92 guns in single mounts; these guns were old weapons and were primarily intended to fire star shells. Vittorio Veneto was equipped with an anti-aircraft battery that comprised twelve 90 mm (3.5 in) /53 Model 1939 guns in single mounts, twenty 37 mm (1.5 in) /54 guns in eight twin and four single mounts, and sixteen 20 mm (0.79 in) /65 guns in eight twin mounts. EC 3 ter Gufo radar, which could detect surface targets at a range of 30 kilometers (19 mi) and aircraft at 80 km (50 mi), was installed in July 1943.

The ship was protected by a main armored belt that was 280 mm (11 in) with a second layer of steel that was 70 mm (2.8 in) thick. The main deck was 162 mm (6.4 in) thick in the central area of the ship and reduced to 45 mm (1.8 in) in less critical areas. The main battery turrets were 350 mm (14 in) thick and the lower turret structure was housed in barbettes that were also 350 mm thick. The secondary turrets had 280 mm thick faces and the conning tower had 260 mm (10 in) thick sides. Vittorio Veneto was fitted with a catapult on her stern and equipped with three IMAM Ro.43 reconnaissance float planes or Reggiane Re.2000 fighters.

Service history

Construction

Vittorio Veneto was ordered under the 1934 construction program, and was named for the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, a decisive Italian victory over the Austro-Hungarian Empire in October–November 1918 during World War I. Her keel was laid on 28 October 1934 at Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico in Trieste, the same day as her sister ship Littorio. Vittorio Veneto was launched on 25 July 1937, and major construction was completed by October 1939. The fitting-out process was greatly delayed due to repeated changes to the design and shortages of heavy armor plate. Before she could begin sea trials, Vittorio Veneto was moved to Venice on 4 October to have her bottom cleaned of the fouling that had accumulated during the long fitting-out period, since the Venice Arsenal had the only drydock in Italy long enough to accommodate a ship the size of the Littorio class.

On 17 October, with the cleaning completed, the dockyard personnel flooded the drydock to conduct stability tests. The new battleship moved to Trieste on 19 October, and her trials began on 23 October. The trials, which also included tests for the ship's weaponry, lasted until March 1940, after which some additional fitting-out work was completed.[9] She was delivered on 28 April, though she was not yet complete. On 1 May, Vittorio Veneto was sent to La Spezia for final fitting-out work, escorted by the destroyers Leone Pancaldo and Emanuele Pessagno. On 6 May, she was loaded with shells for her main battery; the loading work for the main and secondary guns lasted until 20 May. Later that day, she was transferred to Taranto, escorted by the destroyers Ascari and Carabiniere, where she joined the 9th Division of the Italian fleet. The following month, Italy joined the war against Britain and France, though it wasn't until 2 August that Vittorio Veneto and Littorio were formally declared operational.

World War II

On 31 August – 2 September 1940, Vittorio Veneto sortied as part of an Italian force of five battleships, ten cruisers, and thirty-four destroyers to intercept British naval forces taking part in Operation Hats and Convoy MB.3, but contact was not made with either group due to poor aerial reconnaissance and no action occurred. In addition, British aerial reconnaissance detected the oncoming Italian fleet and was able to escape. On 6 September, the fleet sortied again to attack a British force that had been reported leaving Gibraltar, but the British ships instead steamed south into the Atlantic. A similar outcome resulted from the movement against British Operation "MB.5" on 29 September - 1 October; Vittorio Veneto, four other battleships, eleven cruisers, and twenty-three destroyers had attempted to intercept the convoy carrying troops to Malta. In this operation, the Italian Regia Aeronautica (Royal Air Force) did locate the convoy, but the British were able to evade the Italian fleet.

On the night of 10–11 November, the British Mediterranean Fleet launched an air raid on the harbor in Taranto. Twenty-one Swordfish torpedo bombers launched from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious attacked the Italian fleet in two waves. The Italian base was defended by twenty-one 90 mm anti-aircraft guns and dozens of smaller 37 mm and 20 mm guns, along with twenty-seven barrage balloons. The defenders did not possess radar, however, and so were caught by surprise when the Swordfish arrived. The first wave struck at 20:35, followed by the second about an hour later. Vittorio Veneto was undamaged in the attack, but three other battleships were hit, two of which were severely damaged. The morning after the Taranto raid, Vittorio Veneto led the Italian fleet to Naples. There, she took over the role of fleet flagship, under the command of Admiral Inigo Campioni.

Battle of Cape Spartivento

On 17 November, Vittorio Veneto and Giulio Cesare—the only operational Italian battleships—participated in an attempt to intercept the British Operation White convoy to Malta, though the forces made no contact. On 26 November, the Italian fleet made another attempt to attack a British convoy, Operation Collar, which resulted in the Battle of Cape Spartivento (known as the Battle of Cape Teulada to the Italians). Vittorio Veneto, Giulio Cesare, six cruisers, and fourteen destroyers attempted to catch a convoy steaming to Malta. The British escort included the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the battleship Ramillies, and the battlecruiser Renown; Italian aerial reconnaissance detected the escorts but exaggerated their strength and Campioni, under orders to not risk his two operational battleships against equal or stronger opponents, broke off the engagement shortly after it began. Vittorio Veneto briefly engaged several British cruisers at the extreme range 27,000 metres (17 miles). Vittorio Veneto fired 19 rounds in seven salvoes from long range and that was enough for the now outgunned British cruisers, which turned back at the fourth salvo.and slightly damaged the light cruiser Manchester. During the engagement, Ark Royal launched torpedo bombers against Vittorio Veneto, but the latter successfully evaded the torpedoes.

Repeated British air attacks on Naples, one of which damaged the cruiser Pola, prompted the high command to move Vittorio Veneto and the rest of the major warships of the fleet to Sardinia on 14 December. They were returned to Naples six days later, however, after the high command concluded that removing the fleet to Sardinia would allow British convoys from Alexandria to reach Malta with relative ease. On the night of 8–9 January 1941, the British launched an air raid with Vickers Wellington bombers on the Italian fleet in Naples, but the aircraft again failed to hit Vittorio Veneto; Giulio Cesare was slightly damaged by several near misses. Both ships were moved to La Spezia the next day, with Vittorio Veneto providing cover for Giulio Cesare. Vittorio Veneto was now the only operational battleship in the fleet. Giulio Cesare was back in service by early February, as was Andrea Doria. The three battleships, along with eight destroyers, attempted to intercept Force H on 8 February, which was en route to bombard Genoa. The two forces did not encounter each other, and the Italian fleet returned to La Spezia.

Battle of Cape Matapan

Vittorio Veneto returned to Naples on 22 March, and four days later led an attempt to attack British shipping off Greece, in company with eight cruisers and nine destroyers. The fleet would be supported by the Regia Aeronautica and the German Fliegerkorps X (10th Air Corps). This operation resulted in the Battle of Cape Matapan; the engagement began when the Italian 3rd Division—comprising the two Trento-class heavy cruisers and Bolzano and commanded by Vice Admiral Luigi Sansonetti—encountered the British 15th Cruiser Squadron. Iachino attempted to maneuver Vittorio Veneto to the east of the British cruisers while they were distracted with Sansonetti's cruisers, but HMS Orion spotted the battleship before she could close the trap. Vittorio Veneto immediately opened fire and quickly found the range, but only inflicted splinter damage on Orion, which fled to the south, back toward the main British fleet. Misfires in Vittorio Veneto's forward-most turret forced her to cease firing temporarily. The Italian gunners quickly returned the guns to action, however, and resumed their bombardment of the British cruisers. Poor visibility and smokescreens hampered the accuracy of Vittorio Veneto's gunners and they scored no hits, though they straddled the cruisers several times. In the course of this phase of the battle, she had fired 92 rounds from her main battery.

During this period of the battle, torpedo bombers from the carrier HMS Formidable arrived on the scene, and their attack forced Vittorio Veneto to break off the engagement with the British cruisers to take evasive action. She evaded the torpedoes, but the attack convinced Iachino that the Mediterranean Fleet was at sea, which prompted him to end the operation and return to port. The British launched several air attacks against the Italian fleet in an attempt to slow down Vittorio Veneto, including land-based Blenheim bombers from Greece and Crete. Later in the afternoon Formidable launched a second strike, and at 15:10 one of her Swordfish hit Vittorio Veneto on her port side, aft. The Italian anti-aircraft gunners shot the plane down after it launched its torpedo. The hit sheared off the port side propeller, damaged the shaft, jammed the port rudder, and disabled the aft port pumps. It also caused severe flooding—some 4,000 long tons (4,100 t) of water entered the ship—which gave her a 4–4.5 degree list to port, and forced her to stop for about ten minutes. While she was immobilized, a Blenheim bomber dropped a bomb that landed near her stern; the blast caused further, minor damage to stern.

The damage control parties had great difficulty in controlling and reducing the flooding, as they could use only emergency hand pumps. Some forward and starboard voids were counter-flooded to reduce the list. In the meantime, engine room personnel were able to restart the starboard shafts and steering could be effected with the backup hand-steering gear. After she got back underway, she was able to slowly increase her speed to 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) using only her starboard shafts. While the Italian fleet was withdrawing, Formidable launched another air strike of nine Swordfish in an attempt to slow Vittorio Veneto down. But instead of hitting the Italian battleship, they struck the cruiser Pola, leaving her dead in the water. Vittorio Veneto returned to port while two cruisers and several destroyers were detached to protect Pola; all three cruisers and two destroyers were sunk in a furious night action at very close range with the battleships Valiant, Warspite, and Barham. Vittorio Veneto meanwhile reached Taranto on 29 March, where repairs lasted until July.[30] She was not fully operational again until August.

Later operations

Vittorio Veneto and Littorio participated in an unsuccessful sortie to intercept British forces on 22–25 August. The British had intended to mine Livorno and launch an air raid on northern Sardinia, but Italian agents in Spain warned the Regia Marina of the British operation when it departed Gibraltar. The Italian fleet positioned itself too far to the south, however, and aerial reconnaissance failed to locate the British. A month later, Vittorio Veneto led the attack on the Allied convoy in Operation Halberd on 27 September 1941, in company with Littorio, five cruisers, and fourteen destroyers. The British had hoped to lure out the Italian fleet and attack it with a powerful convoy escort centered on the battleships Rodney, Nelson, and Prince of Wales. It too ended without contact with the British fleet; neither side located the other, but Italian torpedo bombers hit Nelson. At 14:00, Iachino cancelled the operation and ordered the fleet to return to port.

On 13 December, she participated in another operation to escort a convoy to North Africa, but the attempt was broken off after a British radio deception effort convinced the Italians that the British fleet was in the area. While returning to port the following day, Vittorio Veneto was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Urge in the Straits of Messina. Urge fired a spread of three torpedoes, but only one hit on her port side. The torpedo tore a hole 13 m (43 ft) long and caused over 2,000 metric tons (2,000 long tons; 2,200 short tons) of water to flood the ship, though the ship's Pugliese torpedo defense system successfully contained the explosion. Vittorio Veneto took on a 3.5 degree list to port and was down by 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) by the stern. Some counter flooding of a compartment on the starboard side abreast of the forward-most turret reduced the list by a degree, and she was able to steam under her own power back to port. She returned to Taranto for repairs, which lasted until early 1942.

On 14 June, Vittorio Veneto participated in the interception of the Operation Vigorous convoy to Malta from Alexandria. Vittorio Veneto, Littorio, four cruisers and twelve destroyers were sent to attack the convoy. The British quickly located the approaching Italian fleet and launched several air strikes early on 15 June with Wellington and Bristol Beaufort bombers in an attempt to prevent them from reaching the convoy. The aircraft scored no hits on the battleships, but they did disable the cruiser Trento, which was later sunk by a British submarine. Later that morning another air attack, this time B-24 Liberators from the USAAF, occurred. The high-level bombers scored one hit on Littorio and several near misses around her and Vittorio Veneto, but neither ship was seriously damaged. Another British strike with Beauforts arrived shortly thereafter, but Italian and German fighters had since arrived and they shot down two Beauforts and damaged five others. By the afternoon, Iachino had concluded that he would not reach the convoy before dark, and so he broke off the operation; by then, however, the threat from the Italian battleships had led to the failure of the British operation, as the convoy had been ordered back to Alexandria, and did not reach Malta. On the return voyage, another British air attack succeeded in torpedoing Littorio.

Fate

On 12 November, Vittorio Veneto was moved to Naples from Taranto in response to the Allied invasion of North Africa. While en route, the British submarine HMS Umbra unsuccessfully attacked Vittorio Veneto. An American air raid on the harbor on 4 December prompted the Italians to withdraw the fleet to La Spezia, where it remained for the rest of Italy's active participation in the war. On 5 June 1943, Vittorio Veneto was badly damaged by an American air raid on La Spezia; she was hit by two large bombs toward the bow, though only one detonated. That bomb passed through the ship and exploded under the hull, causing serious structural damage. The damage forced her to be transferred to Genoa for repair work, since the dockyard in La Spezia had also been damaged by the attack. On 3 September, Italy signed an armistice with the Allies, ending her active participation in World War II. Six days later, Vittorio Veneto and the rest of the Italian fleet sailed for Malta, where they would be taken into internment for the remainder of the war. While en route, the German Luftwaffe (Air Force) attacked the Italian fleet using Dornier Do 217s armed with Fritz X radio-controlled bombs. Vittorio Veneto was undamaged but Littorio—by now renamed Italia—was hit and damaged and her sister Roma was sunk in the attack.

Vittorio Veneto remained in Malta until 14 September, when she and Italia were moved to Alexandria, Egypt and then to the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal on 17 October. The two battleships remained there until 6 October 1946, when they were permitted to return to Italy. Vittorio Veneto went to Augusta, Sicily before moving to La Spezia on 14 October. In the Treaty of Peace with Italy, signed on 10 February 1947, Vittorio Veneto was allocated as a war prize to Britain. She was paid off on 3 January 1948, stricken from the naval register on 1 February, and subsequently broken up for scrap.

Vittorio Veneto had been the most active Italian battleship of the war, having participated in eleven offensive operations. Twelve 90 mm anti-aircraft guns taken from Vittorio Veneto were reused by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) as armament of its Žirje Island coastal artillery battery. The battery surrendered without resistance to the Croatian National Guard on 14 September 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence, and played a pivotal role in 16–22 September Battle of Šibenik, preventing the advance of the JNA on Šibenik and bottling up in harbor 34 Yugoslav Navy's patrol boats, one-fourth of the Yugoslav fleet, which were eventually seized by Croatian forces.

General characteristics

Class and type: Littorio-class battleship

Displacement:

Standard: 40,723 long tons (41,376 t)

Full load:45,237 long tons (45,963 t)

Length: 237.76 m (780.1 ft)

Beam: 32.82 m (107.7 ft)

Draft: 9.6 m (31 ft)

Installed power:

8 × Yarrow boilers

128,000 shp (95,000 kW)

Propulsion: 4 × steam turbines, 4 × shafts

Speed: 30 kn (35 mph; 56 km/h)

Range: 3,920 mi (6,310 km; 3,410 nmi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)

Complement: 1,830 to 1,950

Sensors and

processing systems: EC 3 ter 'Gufo' Radar[1]

Armament:

3 × 3 381 mm (15.0 in)/50 cal guns

4 × 3 152 mm (6.0 in)/55 cal guns

4 × 1 120 mm (4.7 in)/40 guns for illumination

12 × 1 90 mm (3.5 in)/50 anti-aircraft guns

20 × 37 mm (1.5 in)/54 guns (8 × 2; 4 × 1)

10 × 2 20 mm (0.79 in)/65 guns

Armor:

Main belt: 350 mm (14 in)

Deck: 162 mm (6.4 in)

Turrets: 350 mm

Conning tower: 260 mm (10 in)

Aircraft carried: 3 aircraft (IMAM Ro.43 or Reggiane Re.2000)

Aviation facilities: 1 stern catapult

USS Winsconsin BB-64

Escala 1:350 Mini Hobbie Models (Score 4/10)

Scale 1:700 Brand Hasegawa (Kit score 3/10)

Escala 1:700 Trumpeter (Score 4/10)

El USS Wisconsin (BB-64) es un acorazado clase Iowa, segundo buque de la Armada de los Estados Unidos en ser nombrado en honor del estado de Wisconsin. Fue construido en el Astillero Naval de Filadelfia, Filadelfia, Pensilvania, y botado el 7 de diciembre de 1943, segundo aniversario del ataque a Pearl Harbor, amadrinado por la esposa del Gobernador de Wisconsin, Walter Goodland.

Durante su carrera el acorazado sirvió en el teatro del Pacífico en el transcurso de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, donde bombardeó fortificaciones japonesas, y escoltó portaaviones en los ataques aéreos contra posiciones enemigas. Durante la Guerra de Corea el Wisconsin disparó contra objetivos norcoreanos en apoyo de las operaciones terrestres de las tropas de los Estados Unidos y Corea del Sur, tras lo que fue puesto fuera de comisión en las Flotas de reserva de la Armada de los Estados Unidos, conocida como «Flota de Almacenaje». Fue reactivado el 1 de agosto de 1986 y modernizado como parte del plan de 600 barcos de la armada estadounidense, participando en la Operación Tormenta del Desierto en enero y febrero de 1991.

El Wisconsin fue dado de baja por última vez en septiembre de 1991, habiendo obtenido un total de 6 Estrellas de Combate por su servicio durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial y la Guerra de Corea, así como un Elogio de Unidad Naval por su servicio durante la Guerra del Golfo. Actualmente es un barco museo gestionado por Nauticus, el Centro Marítimo Nacional en Norfolk (Virginia). El Wisconsin fue retirado del registro naval el 17 de marzo de 2006 y el 14 de diciembre de 2009 fue donado para su uso permanente como museo. El 15 de abril de 2010 la Ciudad de Norfolk se hizo oficialmente con la propiedad del barco.

El Wisconsin fue uno de los acorazados rápidos planeados en 1938 por la Subdirección de diseño preliminar de la Oficina de la Construcción y Reparación. Era el tercero de los cuatro de los acorazados clase Iowa.1

Su quilla fue puesta en grada el 25 de enero de 1941, en ​​el astillero naval de Filadelfia. Fue botado el 7 de diciembre de 1943, siendo la madrina del acto la Sra. Goodland, esposa de Walter S. Goodland, el gobernador de Wisconsin, y asignado el 16 de abril de 1944, con el capitán Earl E. Stone al mando.2 3

La batería principal del Wisconsin consistía en nueve cañones de 410 mm, que podía disparar 2700 libras de proyectiles perforantes de blindaje a unos 32 km. Su batería secundaria consistía en 20 cañones de 130 mm en diez torretas dobles, que podían disparar a blancos de hasta 16 km de distancia. Con la llegada del poderío aéreo y la necesidad de ganar y mantener la superioridad aérea llegó la necesidad de proteger a la creciente flota de portaaviones aliados, para lo cual, el Wisconsin fue equipado con una serie de cañones antiaéreos Oerlikon 20 mm y Bofors 40 mm para defender a las compañías aliadas de los ataques aéreos enemigos. Cuando se reactivó en 1986 se eliminaron los cañones antiaéreos de 20 mm y 40 mm, y fue equipado con montajes Phalanx CIWS para la protección contra misiles y aviones enemigos y cajas lanzadoras blindadas y lanzadores Quad Cell diseñados para disparar misiles Tomahawk y Harpoon, respectivamente.4

El Wisconsin es el acorazado estadounidense de numeración más alta construido. A pesar de que su quilla fue puesta después de que la del USS Missouri (BB-63), fue asignado antes que este.1 5 6 Por lo tanto la construcción del Wisconsin comenzó después y terminó antes que la de el Missouri.

Durante su carrera, el Wisconsin sirvió en el teatro de operaciones del pacífico durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, donde bombardeó fortificaciones japonesas durante la batalla del Golfo de Leyte, y escoltó a los portaaviones estadounidenses que lanzaron los ataques contra las posiciones enemigas.

Durante la Guerra de Corea, el USS Wisconsin bombardeó objetivos de Corea del Norte en apoyo de las operaciones de desembarco de Naciones Unidas y Corea del Sur, tras lo cual, fue dado de baja y asignado a la flota de reserva de los Estados Unidos.

Fue reactivado el 1 de agosto de 1986 y modernizado como parte del programa de la armada 600 buques, y participó en 1991 en la Guerra del golfo.

El Wisconsin fue dado de baja finalmente en 1991, con 6 estrellas de combate por su servicio en la Segunda Guerra Mundial y en la Guerra de Corea, así como una citación de la armada por sus servicios en 1991 durante la guerra del golfo. Actualmente, se preserva como buque museo, en el museo naval de Hampton Roads en Norfolk, Virginia. El Wisconsin dejó de aparecer en los listados del registro naval de buques el 17 de marzo de 2006, y actualmente, se espera su donación para su uso permanente como buque museo.

Historial

Astillero               Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

Clase     Clase Iowa

Tipo       Acorazado

Autorizado         12 de junio de 1940

Iniciado                25 de enero de 1941

Botado                 7 de diciembre de 1943

Asignado             16 de abril de 1944

22 de octubre de 1988

Baja       8 de marzo de 1958

30 de septiembre de 1991

Destino                cedido el 17 de marzo de 2006

buque museo

Características generales

Desplazamiento              45 000 toneladas

58 000 a plena carga

Eslora    270,43 metros

Manga 32,98 metros

Calado 11,6 metros

Armamento       9 Cañones Mark 7 16" (406 mm)

20 Cañones Mark 12 5" (127 mm)

80 Cañones anti-aéreos 40/60

49 Cañones anti-aéreos 20 mm

Propulsión          212 000 Cv

Velocidad           33 nudos (61 km/h)

Autonomía         28 500 km

Tripulación         1859 hombres

Aeronaves         2 hidroaviones