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This page is dedicated to the USS Wisconsin (BB-64), to all those who served on her, and to all those who received her support during her 51 years of active and inactive service to our country.
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The USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is one of four Iowa class battleships. The Iowa class of battleships was the last class of these type ships built by the United States Navy. The USS Wisconsin is the "Last Battleship"to be completed. The other members of the class are the USS IOWA (BB-61), USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62), and the USS MISSOURI (BB-63).
The USS Wisconsin was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in Pennsylvania. She was launched on 7 December 1943.
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The Wisconsin was first commissioned on 6 April 1944 during World War II, and served in the Pacific Theater fighting the Japanese until their surrender on 2 September 1945.
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USS Wisconsin somewhere in the Pacific during World War II. Note Essex Class aircraft carrier in background. (Photo National Arahives)
The battleships of the Iowa class carried the largest guns ever used by the United States Navy. The USS Wisconsin and her sister ships carried nine, 16 inch/50 caliber guns placed in three turrets of three guns each. These weapons were capable of shooting a 2,300 pound projectile to a range of 41,000 yards (24 miles) with an accuracy of 65 yards to the designated target.
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After World War II the USS Wisconsin served until she was decommissioned on 1 July 1948, and was placed in the reserve fleet at Norfolk, Virginia. On 3 March 1951, the USS Wisconsin was re-commissioned for service in the Korean War. She arrived on station off the coast of Korea in December 1951. During this time she provided naval gun fire support to the United Nations forces fighting the North Koreans and Communist Chinese. The Wisconsin continued to serve in a variety of duties after the cease fire in Korea in 1953 until she was decommissioned on 8 March 1958 at Philadelphia. On that date, the United States Navy was without a single battleship in commissioned service for the first time since 1895.
From 1958 until the early 1980s, the US Navy held the Iowa class battleships in mothballs, except for a very brief period of time during the Vietnam war, when the USS New Jersey (BB-62) was activated for service off the Vietnamese coast to provide fire support to army and marine corps units fighting the North Vietnamese.
In 1980 Ronald Reagan was elected as President of the United States, over the next eight years the four Iowa class battleships were completely modernized and re-commissioned in to active service. The USS Wisconsin was the last of the four Iowas to be activated, and she was re-commissioned on 22 October 1988. Because the Wisconsin was the last battleship to be re-commissioned, she also became the most modern and the only ship to receive a new teak wood deck. The other battleships also had their decks replaced, but they were not of teak. (The first picture on this page shows the Wisconsin as she appeared after being re-commissioned in 1988.)
On 2 August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait. The USS Wisconsin was immediately deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Shield. On 15 February 1991 she launched the first Tomahawk cruise missiles against Iraq from a battleship, and on 28 February 1991 the Wisconsin fired the last 16 inch rounds against an enemy target. During the war she also became the first ship to have enemy forces surrender to a pilot-less drone observation aircraft.
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At the conclusion of the Persian Gulf war, the USS Wisconsin returned to the United States, and was soon greeted with the news that she was to be decommissioned. Even though she and the USS Missouri (BB-63) had performed in an outstanding manner, there were a number of factors which caused the decision to remove her and the USS Missouri from active service. The first reason probably was the cost to keep her in commission. Keeping a battleship on active duty is not cheap, secondly the turret explosion in the B turret of the USS Iowa (BB-61) a year or two previously, which killed everyone in the turret (46 personnel), probably made the navy believe that these ships should be retired from active service. Finally, with the end of the cold war, it was felt that the navy did not need to have the capabilities these ships offered because other more modern ships that required less expenditure of funds could perform the same missions.
On 30 September 1991, the USS Wisconsin was decommissioned at
Philadelphia.
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The USS Wisconsin laid up at Philadelphia.
On 12 January 1995, the navy decided that it no longer had a requirement for the four Iowa class battleships, and they were stricken from the list of navy ships.
In 1997 the Navy reconsidered the disposition of the USS Wisconsin (BB-64) and the USS New Jersey (BB-62), both ships were reinstated to the reserve fleet. The USS Iowa (BB-61) and the USS Missouri (BB-63) remain stricken. The USS Missouri is now at Pearl Harbor off the bow of the USS Arizona (BB-39). Status of the USS Iowa (BB-61) is unknown as of this time.
On December 7, 2000, 57 years to the day after she was launched, the USS Wisconsin was moved from her berth at the Norfolk Navy Yard to her new permanent berth at Nauticus in Norfolk, Virginia. She will be open for viewing after April 16, 2000. Since the Wisconsin is still in the fleet reserve of the US Navy she can be recommissioned at anytime until she is stricken from the rolls. As a result, only the upper deck and possibly the bridge will be open of viewing.
USS Wisconsin being moved to her berth at Nauticus in Norfolk, Virginia.
It's a proud day for the people of the State Of Wisconsin to know that their ship - The Last Battleship - the last United States battleship to fire her 16" rifles in combat - is safe from the breakers, and will be a memorial to all who served.
USS Wisconsin In Norfolk, Virginia
USS
Wisconsin BB-64 Association
