Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
United States Navy — Battleship BB-48

USS West Virginia (BB-48)

Colorado-class battleship

USS West Virginia (BB-48)
U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships — Official U.S. Navy photo 19-N-68376 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate — BB-48 The U.S. Navy battleship USS West Virginia (BB-48) off the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington (USA), 2 July 1944, following reconstruction. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 7D.

Service

  1. United States Navy as West Virginia1 December 1923 — 9 January 19472,193 days of the war
Full service history About 5,781 words
Colorado-class battleship Particulars
Name
USS West Virginia
Pennant / hull number
BB-48
Namesake
West Virginia
Builder
Newport News Shipbuilding
Ordered
5 December 1916
Laid down
12 April 1920
Launched
19 November 1921
Commissioned
1 December 1923
Decommissioned
9 January 1947
Struck
1 March 1959
Fate
Sold for scrap, 24 August 1959 (1959)
Status
Scrapped

Specifications — Original configuration

Displacement, standard
32,693 long tons (33,218 t)
Displacement, full load
33,590 long tons (34,129 t)
Length
190.2 m (624 ft)
Beam
29.57 m (97 ft)
Draught
9.14 m (30 ft)
Speed
21 knots (38.9 km/h, 24.2 mph)
Range
8,000 nmi (14,816 km)
Complement
1,305
Main gun
406 mm (16 in)

At the outbreak of the Civil War, 40 western counties of Virginia remained loyal when the rest of the state seceded. West Virginia was admitted to the Union as the 35th state on 20 June 1863

The second West Virginia (Battleship No. 48) was laid down on 12 April 1920 at Newport News, Va., by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; reclassified to BB-48 on 17 July 1920; launched on 17 November 1921; sponsored by Miss Alice Wright Mann, daughter of Issac T. Mann, a prominent West Virginian; and commissioned on 1 December 1923, Capt. Thomas J. Senn in command.

The most recent of the "super-dreadnoughts," West Virginia embodied the latest knowledge of naval architecture; the water-tight compartmentation of her hull and her armor protection marked an advance over the design of battleships built or on the drawing boards before the Battle of Jutland.

Continue to the full service history About 5,781 words

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (West Virginia II (BB-48)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.

Armament and machinery

This vessel is recorded in 2 configurations. Wartime refits changed armament and complement substantially, so each is kept separately rather than averaged into one set of figures. The figures above are as built.

Original configuration
Propulsion
  • 4 × General Electric turbo-electric drive
  • 4 × Propellers
Power
  • 8 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers
  • 28900 shp
Armament
  • 8 × 16 in/45 caliber guns
  • 16 × 5 in/51 caliber guns
  • 8 × 3 in/50 caliber guns
  • 2 × 21 in torpedo tubes
Armour
  • Belt: 8 - 13.5 in
  • Barbettes: 13 in
  • Turret face: 18 in
  • Conning tower: 16 in
  • Decks: 3.5 in
Final configuration
Beam
34.75 m (114 ft)
Main gun
406 mm (16 in)
Armament
  • 8 × 16 in/45 caliber guns
  • 16 × 5 in/38 cal guns
  • 40 × Bofors 40 mm gun guns
  • 43 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons

Sister ships

Sources

  • Facts harvested from USS West Virginia (BB-48) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Service history reproduced verbatim from West Virginia II (BB-48) , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships — public domain, a work of the United States Government.
  • Photograph: U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships — Official U.S. Navy photo 19-N-68376 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons