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USS ''North Carolina'' (BB-55) was the lead ship of s and the fourth warship in the U.S. Navy to be named in honor of the State of North Carolina. She was the first newly constructed American battleship to enter service during World War II, and took part in every major naval offensive in the Pacific Theater of Operations; her 15 battle stars〔() 〕 made her the most highly decorated American battleship of World War II. She is now a museum ship and memorial kept at the seaport of Wilmington, N.C. == Construction and shakedown == ''North Carolina'' was laid down on 27 October 1937 at the New York Naval Shipyard and launched on 13 June 1940, sponsored by the daughter of Clyde R. Hoey, the Governor of North Carolina. She was commissioned in New York City on 9 April 1941, with Captain Olaf M. Hustvedt in command. The first of the U.S. Navy's fast battleships to be commissioned, she carried a powerful main battery of nine /45 caliber Mark 6 guns. The ship received so much attention during her completion and sea trials that she won the lasting nickname of "Showboat".〔()〕 ''North Carolina'' was limited to a standard displacement of by both the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Treaty, to a beam of less than by the width of the locks of the Panama Canal, and to a draft of so she could use as many anchorages and shipyards as possible. Thus constricted, she proved a challenge to design. As the first American battleship to be built in two decades, ''North Carolina'' was given the latest in shipbuilding technology. To save weight, she was welded rather than riveted together. Her propulsion was divided into four main spaces, each with two boilers and one steam turbine per propeller shaft. This resulted in fewer openings in watertight bulkheads and minimized the area requiring protection by additional armor plate. Her propulsion systems (boilers/turbines/shafts/propellers) suffered numerous teething troubles which were reflected in long post-commissioning defect correction period which lasted April-December 1941. Her sister suffered equally, and neither ship was ever able to achieve their designed deep load speed of 28 knots. On the plus side however, she was also one of just 14 ships to receive the early RCA CXAM-1 radar, and a heavy (for the day) light anti-aircraft armament. Aesthetically, her large tower forward, tall uncluttered stacks, and clean superstructure and hull were a sharp break from the elaborate bridgework, heavy tripod masts, and casemated secondary batteries of World War I-era battleships.〔 Combined with her long sweeping flush deck and streamlined structure, she was far more graceful not only than her predecessors but the nearly 50' shorter South Dakota-class battleships that succeeded her.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS North Carolina (BB-55)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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