BB-52 Photos from NARA BB-55 Photos from NARA
The
use of sea power to protect its shores and to project the power
of a nation beyond those boundaries has been used since the early
days of the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. Since ours is an island
nation bounded by two oceans, naval heritage, within the maritime
heritage context, has been an important element in our Country
since its founding.
Over the centuries, maritime nations have developed major classes of seagoing combatants that have enabled them to effectively carry out the protection of its shores or the projection of power. Whether it was the ship-of-the-line or battleship, in their respective eras, these major combatants reflected the leading edge of technology of the period and the will of the nation. The Battleship NORTH CAROLINA's heritage can be traced to a more recent event. In 1906 the British Admiralty commissioned a totally new design, DREADNOUGHT. With an increased number of larger guns in her main battery, a more capable secondary battery, larger designed displacement, better armor and increased speed, DREADNOUGHT became the prototype for subsequent battleships built by other nations, including the United States. Historically, and until most recently, the most capable class of major combatants, or capital ships, in the U.S. Navy were named for States in the Union. While the Battleship NORTH CAROLINA is a very visible, and powerful, example of a capital ship, her lineage is equally impressive. The first ship to bear the name NORTH CAROLINA was a ship-of-the-line in the 1820s. Following her was a Confederate ironclad in the 1860s, a World War I-era armored cruiser, a never-completed post-World War I battleship, the Battleship NORTH CAROLINA of World War II fame, and in 2007 a nuclear attack submarine. While the focus is the Battleship NORTH CAROLINA, information on the others named for the State are included in this site.
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