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The Washington and her sister North Carolina were built to more modern battleship designs developed when the naval treaties of the 1920s and 30s had expired for all practical purposes. The class was the first of the “fast battleships”, the third and last generation of American battleships. More compact and powerful high-temperature steam turbines allowed for ships that not only carried heavy armor and large guns but also were much faster in order to be able to keep up with the modern aircraft carrier task forces. These ships also incorporated a more powerful battery of 20 - 5"/38 cal. guns and other anti-aircraft weapons along with modern radars and fire controls.
When World War II began in 1941, Washington was flagship of the Atlantic Fleet battleships. From March through July of 1942, Washington was flagship of an American Task Force operating with the British Home Fleet, guarding the convoy routes to the Soviet Union. While at Scapa Flow, Washington was inspected by His Majesty King George VI, a distinct honor for an American naval vessel. Washington soon returned to the New York Navy Yard for a short refit and then departed for the south Pacific, arriving in September of 1942 during the height of the Guadalcanal campaign.
On the night of November 15, 1942, Washington, as part of Task Force 64 with battleship South Dakota and four destroyers, engaged a Japanese force consisting of battleship Kirishima accompanied by several heavy and light cruisers and destroyers near Savo Island. South Dakota was disabled by gunfire, but Washington, tracking by radar and at first unobserved by the Japanese, sent 75 16" shells and over 100 5" rounds at Kirishima from a point-blank opening range of about 8,800 yards. Kirishima was wrecked and was quickly abandoned and scuttled. This was the only one-on-one battleship engagement of the Pacific war. Washington was undamaged in this battle.
For the rest of the war Washington was primarily used escorting the fast carrier task forces that would wrest the Pacific islands back from the Japanese. The speed and extremely powerful anti-aircraft batteries of the modern battleships such as Washington made them ideal for this role, although bombardment missions against island targets were not overlooked. Beginning in November of 1943, Washington served in the Gilberts and Marshalls campaigns, bombarding Nauru island and then Kwajalein in November, 1943. In February, 1944, Washington was seriously damaged in a collision with battleship Indiana, requiring a trip to Puget Sound for repair. Returning to the war in May, Washington was in the Marianas, Palau, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, occasionally exercising her guns in bombardments, the last being at Iwo Jima. Post-war, Washington went into reserve in 1947 and was sold for scrap in 1961. (DBoyer 2007)
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