USS Maryland (BB-46)

USS ''Maryland'' (BB-46), also known as "Old Mary" or "Fighting Mary" to her crewmates, was a . She was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the seventh state. She was commissioned in 1921, and serving as the flagship of the fleet, cruised to Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.

During World War II, she was on Battleship Row during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and was lightly damaged by Japanese bombs. Returning to duty in 1942, she saw service in the Pacific War, first supporting the rest of the fleet at the Battle of Midway, and then patrolling the Fiji Islands to guard against Japanese incursion. Next, she went on the offensive, commencing shore bombardments in the Battle of Tarawa and later in the Battle of Kwajalein. During the Battle of Saipan she took torpedo damage to her bow, necessitating repairs and refits. She then participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf where she was hit by a ''kamikaze''. She took another ''kamikaze'' hit at the Battle of Okinawa, and was under repair toward the end of World War II. The USS Maryland had completed repairs at Bremerton, WA and was sailing back to the Pacific Theater when word was received that the war had ended. The ship turned around and returned to the Port of Long Beach, CA.

After service in Operation Magic Carpet, she was decommissioned in 1947, and sold for scrap in 1959. She received seven battle stars for World War II service.

Design

In 1916, design work was completed on the next class of battleships to be built for the United States Navy beginning in 1917. These ships were nearly direct copies of the preceding , with the exception of the main battery, which increased from twelve guns to eight guns. The ''Colorado'' class proved to be the last class of battleships completed of the standard type.

''Maryland'' was long overall and she had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced as designed and up to at full load. The ship was powered by four General Electric turbo-electric drives with steam provided by eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The ship's propulsion system was rated at for a top speed of , though on speed trials she reached and a speed of . She had a normal cruising range of at , but additional fuel space could be used in wartime to increase her range to at that speed. Her crew numbered 64 officers and 1,241 enlisted men.

She was armed with a main battery of eight 16 in /45 caliber Mark 1 guns in four twin-gun turrets on the centerline, two forward and two aft in superfiring pairs. The secondary battery consisted of sixteen /51 caliber guns, mounted individually in casemates clustered in the superstructure amidships. She carried an anti-aircraft battery of eight /50 caliber guns in individual high-angle mounts. As was customary for capital ships of the period, she had a torpedo tube mounted in her hull below the waterline on each broadside. ''Maryland''s main armored belt was thick, while the main armored deck was up to thick. The main battery gun turrets had thick faces on barbettes. Her conning tower had thick sides.

Service history

Inter-war period

''Maryland'' was one of four dreadnought battleships of the ''Colorado'' class to be constructed. Her keel was laid down on 24 April 1917, by Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on 20 March 1920, and she was commissioned on 21 July 1921. She was the third ship named for the state of Maryland. The first ''Maryland was a sloop commissioned in 1799 and the second ''Maryland'' was an armored cruiser commissioned in 1905.

Following her commissioning, ''Maryland'' undertook an East Coast shakedown cruise. Shortly thereafter, ''Maryland'' was made flagship of Admiral Hilary P. Jones. ''Maryland'' found herself in great demand for special occasions. She appeared at Annapolis, Maryland, for the 1922 United States Naval Academy graduation and at Boston, Massachusetts, for the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill and the Fourth of July. From 18 August to 25 September, she paid her first visit to a foreign port transporting Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes to Rio de Janeiro for Brazil's Centennial Exposition. The next year, after fleet exercises off the Panama Canal Zone, ''Maryland'' transited the canal in the latter part of June to join the battle fleet stationed on the west coast. She continued to be a flagship until 1923 when the flag was shifted to ''Pennsylvania''.

She made another voyage to a foreign port in 1925, this time to Australia and New Zealand. Several years later, in 1928, she transported President-elect Herbert Hoover on the Pacific leg of his tour of Latin America. She was overhauled in 1928–1929, and the eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns were replaced by eight 5-inch/25 cal guns. Throughout these years and the 1930s, she served as a mainstay of fleet readiness through tireless training operations. She conducted numerous patrols in the 1930s.

In 1940, ''Maryland'' and the other battleships of the battle force changed their bases of operations to Pearl Harbor. She was present at Battleship Row along Ford Island during the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

On the morning of 7 December, ''Maryland'' was moored along Ford Island, with to port, connected by lines and a gangway. To her fore was , while and were astern. Further aft were and . The seven battleships, in what is now known as "Battleship Row," had recently returned from maneuvers. Many of ''Maryland''s crew were preparing for shore leave at 09:00 or eating breakfast when the Japanese attack began. As the first Japanese aircraft appeared and explosions rocked the outboard battleships, ''Maryland''s bugler blew general quarters.

Seaman Leslie Short—addressing Christmas cards near his machine gun—brought the first of his ship's guns into play, shooting down one of two torpedo bombers that had just released against ''Oklahoma''. Inboard of ''Oklahoma'', and thus protected from the initial torpedo attack, ''Maryland'' managed to bring all her antiaircraft (AA) batteries into action. The devastating initial attack sank ''Oklahoma'', and she capsized quickly, with many of her surviving men climbing aboard ''Maryland'' to assist her with anti-aircraft defenses.

''Maryland'' was struck by two armor-piercing bombs which detonated low on her hull. The first struck the forecastle awning and made a hole about by . The second exploded after entering the hull at the water level at Frame 10. The latter hit caused flooding and increased the draft forward by . ''Maryland'' continued to fire and, after the attack, sent firefighting parties to assist her compatriots, especially attempting to rescue survivors from the capsized ''Oklahoma''. The men continued to muster the AA defenses in case the Japanese returned to attack. In all, two officers and two men were killed in the attack.

The Japanese erroneously announced that ''Maryland'' had been sunk, but on 30 December, the damaged ship entered Puget Sound Navy Yard for repairs just behind ''Tennessee''. Two of the original twelve 5-inch/51 cal guns were removed and the 5-inch/25 cal guns were replaced by an equal number of 5-inch/38 cal dual purpose guns. Over the course of the next two months, she was repaired and overhauled, receiving new fighting equipment. Repairs were complete on 26 February 1942. She then underwent a series of shakedown cruises to West Coast ports and the Christmas Islands. She was sent back into action in June 1942,
the second battleship damaged at Pearl Harbor to return to duty.

Supporting patrols

During the important Battle of Midway, ''Maryland'' played a supporting role. Like the other older battleships, she was not fast enough to accompany the aircraft carriers, so she operated with
a backup fleet protecting the West Coast. ''Maryland'' stood by on security, awaiting call from other ships if she was needed, until the end of the battle. At the end of the action around Midway, ''Maryland'' was sent to San Francisco.

Thereafter, ''Maryland'' engaged in almost constant training exercises with Battleship Division 2, Battleship Division 3, and Battleship Division 4 until 1 August, when she returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs, her first time in the harbor since the Japanese attack. She departed Pearl Harbor in early November with ''Colorado'', bound for the forward area. On 12 November, King Neptune came aboard ''Maryland'' to initiate her "pollywogs" for the line-crossing ceremony. ''Maryland'' steamed for the Fiji Islands where she patrolled against Japanese incursion. The two battleships acted as sentinels to guard against Japanese advance to prevent Japanese forces from threatening Australia. During this duty, the two battleships conducted frequent sweeps for Japanese forces.

In early 1943, with the success of the Solomon Islands campaign, Allied forces went on the offensive. In February 1943, ''Maryland'' and ''Colorado'' moved to New Hebrides, operating off of Efate. Intense heat there proved difficult and unpleasant for the crew. She then moved to Espiritu Santo to guard against Japanese incursion, but heat and heavy rains plagued this tour of duty. ''Maryland'' and ''Colorado'' stood out of Aore Island Harbor in August. During a five-week overhaul at Pearl Harbor's shipyard, several AA guns were installed on the top decks and foremast as protection against anticipated Japanese air raids in future operations.

Battle of Tarawa

Departing the Hawaiian Islands on 20 October 1943 for the South Pacific, ''Maryland'' became flagship for Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill's V Amphibious Force and Southern Attack Force in the Gilbert Islands Invasion. Also aboard her were Major General Julian C. Smith, commander of 2nd Marine Division, and Colonel Evans Carlson, commander of Carlson's Raiders. ''Maryland'' returned to Efate Island staging area, where she joined a large task force preparing for an assault on Tarawa