USS ''New Mexico'' (BB-40) was a battleship in service with the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

from 1918 to 1946. She was the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of a class of three battleships, and the first ship to be named for the state of

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

. Her keel was laid down on 14 October 1915 at the New York Navy Yard, she was launched on 23 April 1917, and was commissioned on 20 May 1918. ''New Mexico'' was the U.S. Navy's most advanced warship and its first battleship with a

turbo-electric transmission A turbo-electric transmission uses electric generators to convert the mechanical energy of a turbine ( steam or gas) into electric energy, which then powers electric motors and converts back into mechanical energy that power the driveshafts. T ...

, which helped her reach a maximum speed of . Her numerous commendations for gunnery, engineering, and battle efficiency during naval exercises earned her the moniker, "Queen of the Fleet". Shortly after completing initial training, ''New Mexico'' escorted the ship that carried President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French m ...

to sign the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

. Thereafter she was made the first flagship of the newly created

United States Pacific Fleet The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...

. The interwar period was marked by repeated exercises with the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

and Atlantic Fleets, use as a trial ship for

PID controller A proportional–integral–derivative controller (PID controller or three-term controller) is a control loop mechanism employing feedback that is widely used in industrial control systems and a variety of other applications requiring continuou ...

s, and a major modernization between March 1931 and January 1933. ''New Mexico'''s first actions during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

were neutrality patrols in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. She returned to the Pacific after the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

and participated in shore bombardments during operations at Attu and Kiska,

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...

, the Mariana and Palau islands,

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, and

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

; these were interspersed with escort duties, patrols, and refits. The ship was attacked by ''

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending t ...

s'' on several occasions. ''New Mexico'' was awarded six

battle stars A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

for her service in the Pacific campaign and was present in Tokyo Bay for Japan's formal surrender on 2 September 1945. Four days later, she sailed for the United States and arrived in Boston on 17 October. ''New Mexico'' was decommissioned in Boston on 19 July 1946 and struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 25 February 1947. She was sold for

scrapping Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

to the Lipsett Division of Luria Bros in November 1947, but attempts to bring her to

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.fireboat A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipme ...

s were sent to block the passage of the battleship and the Lipsett tugboats, while the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

declared intentions to guarantee safe passage. The Under Secretary of the Navy Department was sent to defuse what the media began to call the "Battle of Newark Bay"; the city agreed to break up ''New Mexico'' and two other battleships before scrapping operations in Newark Bay ceased, while Lipsett was instructed to dismantle the ships in a set timeframe or suffer financial penalties. Scrapping commenced in November and was completed by July 1948.

Description

''New Mexico'' was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

and had a beam of and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of . She displaced as designed and up to at full combat load. Unlike the other members of her class, ''New Mexico'' was powered by four-shaft

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

steam turbines fitted with

and nine oil-fired

Babcock & Wilcox Babcock & Wilcox is an American renewable, environmental and thermal energy technologies and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets across the globe with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio, USA. Historicall ...

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...

s rated at , generating a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . Her crew numbered 1,084 officers and enlisted men. As built, she was fitted with two

lattice mast Lattice masts, or cage masts, or basket masts, are a type of observation mast common on United States Navy major warships in the early 20th century. They are a type of hyperboloid structure, whose weight-saving design was invented by the Russian ...

s with

spotting top Spotting may refer to: Medicine * Vaginal spotting, light bleeding that is not a menstrual period Photography: * Aircraft spotting * Bus spotting * Car spotting * Train spotting Pastimes: * Spots (cannabis), a method of smoking cannabis Phys ...

s for the main gun battery. The main armored belt was thick, while the main armored deck was up to thick. The main battery gun turrets had thick faces on

barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protectio ...

s. The conning tower had thick sides. The ship was armed with a

main battery A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...

of twelve /50 caliber guns in four, three-

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

s on the centerline, placed in two superfiring pairs forward and aft of the superstructure. Unlike earlier American battleships with triple turrets, these mounts were true three-gun barrels, in that each barrel could elevate independently. The

secondary battery A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a disposable or pri ...

consisted of fourteen /51 caliber guns mounted in individual casemates clustered in the superstructure

amidships This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th ...

. Initially, the ship was fitted with twenty-two of the guns, but experiences in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

demonstrated that the additional guns, which were placed in the hull, would have been unusable in anything but calm seas. As a result, these guns were removed and the casemates were plated over to prevent flooding. The secondary battery was augmented with four /50 caliber guns. In addition to her gun armament, ''New Mexico'' was also fitted with two

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s, mounted submerged in the hull, one on each broadside.

Service history

On 30 June 1914, ''New Mexico'' was authorized by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. Initially, ''New Mexico'' was to have been named ''California'', but she was renamed while under construction. Work on the new ship began on 14 October 1915, with her keel laying at the New York Navy Yard. She was launched on 13 April 1917, and commissioned into the fleet on 20 May 1918. Captain Ashley Herman Robertson was her first commanding officer. The ship thereafter began

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s and a shakedown cruise before formally joining the Atlantic Fleet. In September, she was transferred to Boston. She was present during a

naval review A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...

held on 26 December in New York City. She escorted the passenger ship as she carried President

to France for the

Versailles Peace Conference The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

, departing the United States on 15 January 1919. On 22 February, ''New Mexico'' encountered a foundering schooner; after taking off the sinking ship's crew, ''New Mexico''s secondary battery used the vessel for target practice. On 27 February, the ship reached New York, and in mid-July, she had moved to Hampton Roads, Virginia. On 16 July, she became the flagship of the Pacific Fleet. Three days later, she left for California, passing through the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

and arriving in San Pedro on 9 August. Two of her 5-inch/51 caliber guns were removed in a later overhaul, in 1922. The next twelve years consisted of training exercises and maneuvers in the Pacific and the Caribbean, with the Pacific and the Atlantic Fleets. She also took several cruises to South American ports and was used for the early development of

s. Invented by the Russian-American engineer Nicolas Minorsky for the automated steering of ships, the devices have since become widespread in

control engineering Control engineering or control systems engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with control systems, applying control theory to design equipment and systems with desired behaviors in control environments. The discipline of controls o ...

. After that, in 1925, she took a cruise to Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. After her training exercises in the Atlantic and the Pacific were finished, ''New Mexico'' was overhauled and modernized at the Philadelphia Harbor by the Navy from March 1931 to January 1933. The overhaul included the replacement of her turbo-electric drive with more conventional geared turbines, which were made by Curtis. In addition, ''New Mexico'' received eight 5-inch/25 caliber anti-aircraft guns, replacing the four 3-inch/50 caliber guns that had been previously installed. After the overhaul, she returned the Pacific to continue training exercises and the development of tactical operations. ''New Mexico's'' performance during these exercises garnered numerous awards, particularly in gunnery, engineering, and battlefield efficiency; she subsequently became known as the "Queen" or "Queen of the Fleet" by her crew. During the 1936 Fleet Problem XVII, she had a maximum speed of , in line with most U.S. Standard-type battleship of that time, but only faster than Japan's slowest battleships. This led to the development of the faster and ''South Dakota''-class battleship. In 1937, she arrived in Hawaii to sail to

Dutch Harbor Dutch Harbor is a harbor on Amaknak Island in Unalaska, Alaska. It was the location of the Battle of Dutch Harbor in June 1942, and was one of the few sites in the United States to be subjected to aerial bombardment by a foreign power during ...

, Alaska, where she and several other ships were sent to help the Navy evaluate fighting in sub-arctic conditions.

World War II

1940–43

As the prospect of war grew, ''New Mexico'' was based at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

, Hawaii, from 6 December 1940 to 20 May 1941. She then left Pearl Harbor to join the Atlantic fleet at

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

on 16 June for

neutrality patrol On September 3, 1939, the British and French declarations of war on Germany initiated the Battle of the Atlantic. The United States Navy Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) established a combined air and ship patrol of the United States Atlantic coa ...

duty along the Atlantic coast. In the Atlantic, she served on three 7- to 14-day "shifts" following destroyers to escort convoys across the Atlantic. On 10 December, while headed to Hampton Roads (en route to the west coast after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor), she accidentally rammed and sank the U.S. freighter south of the Nantucket Lightship off Boston Harbor. She managed to reach the Panama Canal by 17 January 1942. During an overhaul in May 1942, at the

Puget Sound Navy Yard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted u ...

, she had her remaining secondary battery of twelve 5–inch/51 guns removed to make space for more anti-aircraft guns. After the overhaul, which was completed on 1 August, she departed

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

to Hawaii to prepare for action. From 6 December to 22 March 1943, she escorted convoys and transports to the Fiji Islands. After that, she patrolled the southwestern Pacific, before returning to Pearl Harbor to get ready for the Aleutian Islands Campaign. After her training, on 17 May, she steamed to Adak, which would be her base for the attack on Attu. She later participated in the shelling of

Kiska Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is require ...

on 21 July, which preceded the Japanese evacuation of the island a week later. After the Aleutian Islands Campaign, a refit was undertaken at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. On 25 October, ''New Mexico'' returned to Pearl Harbor to practice for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. On 20 November, while the invasion was under way, she shelled

Makin Atoll Butaritari is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati. The atoll is roughly four-sided. The south and southeast portion of the atoll comprises a nearly continuous islet. The atoll reef is continuous but almost without islets ...

. During the fighting on the islands the ship was tasked with guarding transports at night when they retreated from the islands, providing anti-aircraft fire for the unloading of supplies and troops, and providing screening fire for the aircraft carriers. After U.S. troops captured the Gilbert Islands on 5 December, ''New Mexico'' returned to Pearl Harbor.

1944

''New Mexico'' was part of the

invasion force on 12 January 1944. She shelled

Kwajalein Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civil ...

and

Ebeye Ebeye ( ; Marshallese: , or in older orthography, ; locally, , , after the English pronunciation) is the most populous island of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, as well as the center for Marshallese culture in the Ralik Chain of the arc ...

from 31 January to 1 February. Replenishing at

Majuro Majuro (; Marshallese: ' ) is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The ato ...

, on 20 February the ship shelled

Wotje Wotje Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 75 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Geography Wotje's land area of is one of the largest in the Marshall Islands, and en ...

, and then the following month also shelled New Ireland and

Kavieng Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2009, it had a population of 17,248. Kavi ...

. After that, she sailed to the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

to practice the attack on the Mariana Islands, stopping at Sydney, in Australia, on the way. In mid-June, ''New Mexico'' joined the shelling of

Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the ...

, and also bombarded Saipan and

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

. On 18 June, she helped drive away two air attacks. Later, on 20 June, she escorted transports off the Mariana Islands. Meanwhile, the carrier task force destroyed the Japanese carrier force at the

Battle of the Philippine Sea The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invas ...

. Later, she escorted troop transports to the naval base of

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with i ...

. On 9 July, she sailed to guard escort carriers until 12 July. Her guns later hit Guam on 21 July and kept on shelling the island until 30 July. After the invasion of the Mariana Islands, she received an overhaul at

Bremerton, Washington Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremer ...

, from October to November. After the overhaul, she arrived in

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao ...

to escort reinforcement and supply transports and convoys. She dealt with daily air attacks, as the Japanese put up heavy resistance to the liberation of the Philippines. She departed Leyte Gulf on 2 December to the

Palaus Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Car ...

, where she later joined a

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...

-bound convoy. She provided anti-aircraft fire for the convoy and provided cover fire for invading forces. She provided cover for two more days before retiring to the Palaus.

1945

The ''New Mexico'' is struck by a ''kamikaze'' aircraft, 12 May 1945 ''New Mexico''s next task in the Philippines was the liberation of

. She took part in the pre-invasion shelling of Lingayen Gulf on 6 January. During the bombardment she came under heavy attack by ''

s'', one of which hit her

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, killing her commanding officer, Captain Robert Walton Fleming, and 29 others. The dead included

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Herbert Lumsden Lieutenant-General Herbert William Lumsden, & Bar, MC (8 April 1897 – 6 January 1945) was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars. He commanded the 1st Armoured Division in the Western Desert camp ...

, the British representative to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Lumsden was the most senior

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

combat fatality of World War II. A further 87 of her crew were wounded. Bruce Fraser, the commander of the

British Pacific Fleet The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. The fleet was composed of empire naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944 from the remaining ships o ...

, narrowly escaped death while on her bridge, although his secretary was killed. The guns remained in action as the ship's crew repaired the damage while the invasion troops were landing on the beaches. More extensive repairs were completed at Pearl Harbor, after which ''New Mexico'' sailed to the island of

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the larges ...

, where she was assigned to Task Force 54 (TF 54), the fire-support group for the invasion of Okinawa. Her heavy guns opened up on

on 26 March, and for the next month she continued to support the US troops ashore. On 11 May, she destroyed eight ''Shinyo'' suicide boats. While she was approaching her berth in the

Hagushi Hagushi bay is located in Yomitan, Okinawa. The bay is at the mouth of Hija River. The north side of the mouth of the river has a public beach called Toguchi Beach. World War II Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American suppli ...

anchorage, just after sunset on 12 May, she was attacked by two ''kamikazes''. One of them plunged into her, the other managed to hit her with its bomb. She was set on fire and 54 members of ''New Mexico''s crew were killed, while a further 119 were wounded. Swift action led to the fires being extinguished within 30 minutes. On 28 May, she departed for repairs at

, followed by rehearsals for the planned invasion of the Japan. Word of the war's end reached her when she was at Saipan on 15 August. The next day she sailed for Okinawa to join the occupation force. She entered Sagami Wan on 27 August to support the airborne occupation of Atsugi Airfield. The next day ''New Mexico'' passed into

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous ...

to witness the

Japanese surrender The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...

, which took place on 2 September. She departed Tokyo Bay on 6 September, passing Okinawa, Hawaii, and the Panama Canal, before arriving at Boston on 17 October.

Postwar

''New Mexico'' was decommissioned in Boston on 19 July 1946 and was struck from the

on 25 February 1947. On 9 November 1947, she was sold for scrapping to the Lipsett Division of Luria Bros, for $381,600. Lipsett decided to tow ''New Mexico'' for scrapping at

s, ''Michael P. Duffy'' and ''William T. Brennan'', were dispatched and were prepared to use their fire hoses and chemical sprayers to halt Lipsett and ''New Mexico''. In response, Lipsett organized its own force of four tugs, and the

declared it would guarantee safe passage of ''New Mexico'', provided legal entry was permitted. This showdown was dubbed by the press as the "Battle of Newark Bay", while the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce announced it would protest Newark's "slur" of ''New Mexico's'' namesake, through its refusal to admit the battleship. As ''New Mexico'' awaited suitable tidal conditions to make the final tow into Newark, the Navy Department sent Under Secretary W. John Kenney to negotiate. After several sessions, he arranged a tenuous agreement between the City of Newark and Lipsett. Newark would allow ''New Mexico'' and two other battleships, and , to be scrapped at Newark, but there would be no permanent ship dismantling facility. Lipsett had nine months to dispose of the three ships, or would be subjected to a fine of $1,000 per day after the deadline. ''New Mexico'' finally entered Newark Channel on 19 November, and was greeted by the same Newark fireboats that had earlier been sent to oppose the ship. Newark also arranged to have school children honor the old battleship dockside, with a marching band. ''New Mexico'' was subsequently joined by ''Idaho'' and ''Wyoming'', where all three were finally dismantled. Scrapping of ''New Mexico'' began on 24 November and was completed by July 1948. USS_New_Mexico_Bell_1918

Two

ship's bell A ship's bell is a bell on a ship that is used for the indication of time as well as other traditional functions. The bell itself is usually made of brass or bronze, and normally has the ship's name engraved or cast on it. Strikes Timing of s ...

s from the battleship were donated to the state of New Mexico. The larger bell was on display at the

Santa Fe Plaza The Santa Fe Plaza is a National Historic Landmark in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico in the style of traditional Spanish-American colonial cities. The plaza, or city square is a gathering place for locals and also a tourist attraction. It is home ...

from 1948 until the early 1970s and is now part of the

New Mexico History Museum The New Mexico History Museum is a history museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or s ...

collection. The smaller bell was sent to the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

, where it hung in Scholes Hall from 1948 to 1964 and subsequently in its own freestanding tower near Smith Plaza.

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References

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External links

''New Mexico'' BB-40 Photo Gallery
at Maritimequest
''History of the USS New Mexico (BB-40) The Queen''
by John J. Wickland {{DEFAULTSORT:New Mexico (Bb-40) New Mexico-class battleships Ships built in Brooklyn 1917 ships World War I battleships of the United States World War II battleships of the United States Maritime incidents in December 1941 Turbo-electric steamships Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign