USS Indiana (BB-58) - World War II

World War II

Following shakedown in Casco Bay, Maine, the new battleship steamed through the Panama Canal to bolster US fleet units in the Pacific during the critical early months of World War II. She joined Rear Admiral Lee's aircraft carrier screening force on 28 November 1942. For the next 11 months, Indiana helped protect carriers Enterprise and Saratoga, then supporting American advances in the Solomon Islands.

Indiana steamed to Pearl Harbor on 21 October 1943, and departed on 11 November with the support forces designated for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. The battleship protected the carriers which supported the Marines during the bloody fight for Tarawa. Then, in late January 1944, she bombarded Kwajalein for eight days prior to the Marshall Islands landings on 1 February. While maneuvering to refuel destroyers that night, Indiana collided with the battleship Washington, killing several men. Temporary repairs to her starboard side were made at Majuro Atoll, and she returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 February for additional repair work. The captain of Indiana admitted that his ship was out of position, and he took responsibility for the collision. On 23 January Admiral Chester Nimitz removed him from command and replaced him with Captain Thomas Peyton.

Indiana joined the noted Task Force 58 (TF 58) for the huge Truk Atoll raids of 29–30 April, and then she bombarded Ponape Island on 1 May. In June, Indiana proceeded to the Mariana Islands with a gigantic American fleet for the invasion of that strategic island chain. She bombarded Saipan Island on 13–14 June, and she shot down several enemy aircraft with her anti-aircraft battery while fighting off air attacks on 15 June. As the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet approached the Marianas to try to repel the Americans, Indiana steamed out to meet them as part of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee's battle line. The two large fleets approached each other on 19 June for the biggest carrier air battle of the war, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and as four large air raids hit the American formations, the F6F Hellcats of the fleet, with minor assistance by the ships in the screens, shot down nearly 400 of the Japanese attackers. With able assistance from submarines, Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's forces sank three Japanese aircraft carriers, also, including Shōkaku and the brand-new Taihō. The air battle was called the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".

Indiana shot down several planes, and endured two near misses by torpedoes. The Battle of the Philippine Sea decided in the American favor, Indiana resumed her screening duties around the carriers, and remained at sea for 64 consecutive days in daily support of the Marianas invasion.

In August, Indiana began operations as a unit of Task Group 38.3 (TG 38.3), bombarding the Palau Islands, and later the Philippines. She screened strikes on enemy shore installations from 12–30 September, helping to prepare for the coming invasion of Leyte Island in the central Philippine Islands. Indiana then departed the Philippines for the naval shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, arriving on 23 October, for a needed major overhaul and installation of additional anti-aircraft armament. Thus, she missed the major Battle of Leyte Gulf off the Philippines. After her overhaul, Indiana steamed for Pearl Harbor.

Reaching Pearl Harbor on 12 December, Indiana immediately began underway training preparedness. She steamed out on 10 January 1945, and with a fleet of battleships and cruisers, she bombarded Iwo Jima on 24 January. Indiana then joined TF 58 at Ulithi Atoll, and then sortied on 10 February for the invasion of Iwo Jima, the next step on the island road to Japan. She supported the carriers during raids on the Tokyo area on 17 February, and again on 25 February, with screening of air strikes on Iwo Jima in the interval. Indiana supported an air strike on Okinawa, and then departed back to her base. She arrived back at Ulithi for replenishment on 5 March.

Indiana steamed out of Ulithi on 14 March for the crucial invasion of Okinawa, and until June, she steamed in support of carrier operations against Japan and Okinawa. These naval air raids did as much as they could to aid the ground campaign, and damage the Japanese at home. During this period, she often repelled enemy kamikazes as the Japanese tried desperately but vainly to stem the mounting tide of defeat. In early June, Indiana rode out a terrible typhoon, and then steamed to San Pedro Bay on 13 June.

As a member of TG 38.1, Indiana operated at sea from 1 July to 15 August, supporting air strikes against Japan, and bombarding coastal targets with her big 16 in (410 mm) guns. The veteran battleship arrived in Tokyo Bay on 5 September, and nine days later she steamed for San Francisco, California, where she arrived on 29 September.