Sunday Battleship Blogging: USS New York
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USS New York (BB-34) was the ninth dreadnought battleship built for the US Navy. Commissioned in April of 1914, New York displaced 27000 tons, could make 21 knots, and carried 10 14″ guns in five twin turrets. The latter made New York one of the most powerful ships in the world at the time, as German ships did not carry weapons of greater than 13″, and the Queen Elizabeth class battleships would not come into service for over a year.
Like several other US ships of the day, New York’s first action was against Mexico. When Warren Zevon sings:
I heard Woodrow Wilson’s guns
I heard Maria crying
Late last night I heard the news
That was dying
Veracruz was dying
He’s talking about New York, which commissioned just before the incident began. New York served in various capacities off the East Coast unitl April of 1917, when she led a squadron of USN battleships to join the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. The addition of the US battleships decisively tipped the balance of naval power against the German High Seas Fleet, although the experienced crews of the Grand Fleet viewed the American sailors with contempt, and did not highly value their fighting capability.
New York was modernized during the pre-war years, losing her cage masts and gaining various updated equipment. After 1937, New York was employed primarily as a training ship until 1941, when, along with other old battleships including Texas and Arkansas, she engaged in Atlantic convoy escort work. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, New York was guarding steamers against German U-boats and surface raiders. In spite of the destruction wrought by the Japanese, New York was not transferred to the Pacific. The problem with New York (and other old battleships) was less age than speed; the IJN Kongo was even older than New York, yet played a very active role in the war. New York eventually engaged in bombardment operations off of North Africa and Normandy, and deployed to the Pacific for similar operations in 1945.
By the end of the war, New York was quite obsolete. The USN decided that New York would be more useful as a target for atomic bombs than as scrap. Along with Arkansas, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and the Japanese Nagato, New York helped the Navy figure out what happens when you drop atomic bombs on large ships. New York survived the atomic tests before being sunk by conventional weapons off of Oahu.
Texas, the sister ship of New York, has been preserved as a memorial at San Jacinto.