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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Wisconsin (BB-64), 1944-____

USS Wisconsin, a 45,000-ton Iowa class battleship built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, was commissioned in April 1944. After shakedown in the Caribbean area, she joined the Pacific Fleet in October 1944 and reached the western Pacific combat zone in December. Over the next nine months, Wisconsin took part in operations to capture the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and raid the Japanese home islands. During this period, she rode out two typhoons without damage and used her sixteen-inch guns to bombard enemy targets in Okinawa and Japan.

With the coming of peace, Wisconsin undertook routine operations, including a cruise to South America in late 1946 and a visit to Europe in mid-1947. She was placed out of commission in July 1948, but reentered active service in March 1951. She made one Korean War combat tour in November 1951-April 1952, during which she served as flagship of the Seventh Fleet and undertook extensive shelling along the North Korean coast. Wisconsin made another cruise as Seventh Fleet flagship in 1953-54. She also carried midshipmen on several training cruises to European and South American waters during the 1950s and took part in several fleet exercises.

USS Wisconsin was the Navy's last active battleship when she decommissioned in March 1958. She remained in reserve for three decades, but recommissioned in October 1988 in the waning days of the Reagan-era naval expansion. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 brought her to the Persian Gulf area within a few weeks. She was on station there when Operation "Desert Storm" combat operations began in mid-January 1991. During the brief war that followed, Wisconsin fired missiles at targets in Iraq and used her guns to help force the enemy from Kuwait. With the Mid-east war over, and the end of the Cold War producing major cuts in defense expenditures, USS Wisconsin was decommissioned for a third time in September 1991.

This page features selected views of USS Wisconsin (BB-64).

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: 80-G-453313

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)


At anchor on 30 May 1944, during her Atlantic coast shakedown period.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 565 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-470324

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)


Underway with other warships in the western Pacific, circa December 1944 - August 1945.
Photographed by Lt. Barrett Gallagher, USNR.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 133KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 78940

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)


Tied up outboard of the hulk of USS Oklahoma (BB-37), at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 11 November 1944.
Note: anti-torpedo netting outboard of the ships; great difference in lengths of these two battleships.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 194KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 44530

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)


At sea, 20 January 1952.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 143KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-12107 (Color)

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

Operating off Korea, circa January-April 1952.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 111KB; 740 x 510 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-440021

USS Buck (DD-761)
,
USS Wisconsin (BB-64) and
USS Saint Paul (CA-73)

Steaming in close formation during operations off the Korean coast.
Photo is dated 22 February 1952.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 116KB; 740 x 595 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 97206-KN (Color)

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

Underway at sea, circa 1988-91.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 190KB; 590 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-3667 (Color)

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

Band concert under the battleship's after 16"/50 guns, while she was operating at sea with the Pacific Fleet, circa 1945.
An aircraft carrier is faintly visible in the right distance.
Sailor in right foreground has name J.C. Smith stencilled on his working jacket.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-441034

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)


View of the battleship's forward 16"/50 guns and superstructure, taken 21 March 1952, while she was serving with Task Force 77 in Korean waters.
Note her Mk.38 main battery director and various radar antennas.
Photographed by AF3c M.R. Adkinson.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 104KB; 595 x 765 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-12103 (Color)

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

Fires a three-gun salvo from her forward 16"/50 gun turret, during bombardment duty off Korea.
Photograph is dated 30 January 1952.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 510 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 97207-KN (Color)

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

Firing a broadside to port with her 16"/50 and 5"/38 guns, circa 1988-91.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 136KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Link added 14 May 2000