USS North Carolina BB 55
The USS North Carolina BB 55 is a North Carolina-class battleship that was launched June 14th, 1940 from the New York Naval Shipyard, later named Brooklyn Navy Yard. The ship was sponsored by Isabel Hoey who was the daughter of Clyde R. Hoey, the Governor of North Carolina and commissioned in New York City on April 9th, 1941 under the command of Captain Olaf M. Hustvedt at the helm. The North Carolina received so much attention during her testing and trial period that she earned the enduring nickname “Showboat” which it is still called to this day.
During the Guadalcanal campaign, she screened the Enterprise in the Air Support Force for the invasion. She participated in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons as well as the operations at the Gilbert Islands. She screened carriers from air attack in pre-invasion strikes during the assault on the Marshall Islands. She fought off air attacks during the raids on the Mariana Islands where she served as flagship with Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee, Jr. commander of the Pacific battleships group with whom she also protected again massive air strikes against the assault on Truk where she also bombarded enemy fuel, ammunition and supply dumps. Afterwards she received repairs at Puget Sound Navy Yard before heading back out and joining with carriers off the coast of Ulithi in the middle of a fierce typhoon on November 7th, 1944.
She laid the ground work for the assaults on Okinawa and Iwo Jima shelling the shoreline of the enemy occupied islands to make room for invading U. S. infantry forces. She dropped anchor in Tokyo Bay and steamed home transporting carrying sailors and members of her marine detachment home to the United States of America to rest after years of fighting the enemy forces of the Japanese Imperial Fleet. After the war, the North Carolina assisted with a few more years of training exercises with newer ships but was ultimately decommissioned in New York on June 27th, 1947. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on June 1st, 1960 and transferred to the people of Wilmington, North Carolina where she rests today in a national memorial battleship museum that was erected as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
The crews of the USS North Carolina BB 55 were exposed to many dangers throughout their honorable service, but the threats from perilous weather and certain enemy attacks weren’t the only dangers that surrounded them on a daily basis. Asbestos fibers were used and predominant on most of the submarines and ships during that particular era and any crewmembers inhaling such fibers were at risk of deadly harm from inhaling these airborne asbestos particles . These materials were usually used in the construction of insulation, specifically the insulation that dealt with ducts and any type of piping. Asbestos has been directly linked to the development of mesothelioma, also known as asbestos cancer, and any crewmembers of the USS North Carolina BB 55 that were exposed to this dangerous asbestos should closely monitor their respiratory health.
Last modified: December 28, 2010.
