USS Nevada
The lead battleship of her class, USS Nevada, was commissioned on March 11, 1916. Serving in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, she was ordered to the British Isles for particicpation in World War I with Division 6 at Bantry Bay, Ireland. For the next decade after the war, Nevada served in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific. Following moderinzation and removal of her basket masts in 1927-30, she operated in the Pacific Ocean and was present at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese Air Attack on December 7, 1941. Nevada was the only battleship to get underway, but she came under attacks by Japanese aircraft and was left in a sinking condition after receiving one torpedo and several bomb hits.
Following salvage repairs, Nevada returned to combat duty and participated in the Attu landings in May 1943. Transferring to the Atlantic, she actively served during Normandy Invasion in June 1944. Following service in the region, Nevada returned to the Pacific to serve at Iwo Jima and Okinawa where she was hit by a kamikaze on March 27 and an artillery shell on April 5. With the Japanese Surrender apparent, she was sent to Pearl Harbor and became designated to be one of the ships to take part in Operation Crossroads, the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in July 1946. Decommissioned the following month, Nevada was inactive for two years until towed to sea off the Hawaiian Islands and sunk by gunfire and torpedoes on July 31, 1948. In May 2020, she was discovered at her resting place 65 nautical miles southest of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, by private organizations on a joint expedition.
Image: 80-G-282709: USS Nevada (BB-36), underway off U.S. Atlantic coast, September 17, 1944. NHHC Photograph Collection.
