USS North Carolina (BB-55) - Construction and Shakedown

Construction and Shakedown

The North Carolina was laid down on 27 October 1937 at the New York Naval Shipyard and launched on 13 June 1940, sponsored by the young daughter of Clyde R. Hoey, the Governor of North Carolina. This battleship was commissioned in New York City on 9 April 1941, with Captain Olaf M. Hustvedt in command. She was the first of the U.S. Navy's fast, heavily-armed battleships to be commissioned, carrying a powerful main battery of nine 16 in (410 mm) guns. The North Carolina received so much attention during her completion and sea trials that she won the lasting nickname of "Showboat".

As the first newly-designed American battleship to be built in two decades, the North Carolina was built using the latest in shipbuilding technology. Limited to a standard displacement of 35,000 long tons (36,000 t) by both the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Treaty, and to a beam of less than 110 ft (34 m) by the width of the locks of the Panama Canal, and to a draft of no more than 38 ft (12 m) to enable the battleship to use as many anchorages and shipyards as possible, she was a challenge to design.

To save weight, the North Carolina was built using the new technique of welded construction. Her machinery arrangement was unusual in that there were four main spaces, each with two boilers and one steam turbine connected to each of the four propeller shafts. This arrangement served to reduce the number of openings in watertight bulkheads and to conserve the space to be protected by the armor plate. The long sweeping flush deck of the North Carolina and her streamlined structure made her far more graceful than earlier battleships. 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 which characterized her predecessors. The North Carolina was one of 14 ships to receive the early RCA CXAM-1 radar.