On 3 July, McMorris transferred his flag to the heavy cruiser Oregon City and the Navy dissolved the Fourth Fleet on 1 January 1947. She was then dry-docked for repairs that evening. After losing the powerful battleship Musashi in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea on 24 October, Kurita temporarily reversed course. Enterprise, her forward elevator damaged from the action at Santa Cruz, was kept to the south as a reserve. However, congressional refusal to authorize larger battleships kept their displacement close to the Washington limit of 35,000 long tons (36,000 t). The next day, TF 38, to which BatDiv 9 had been assigned, sortied to embark on the next major operation, a series of carrier raids on Japanese positions in the western Pacific. South Dakota-class battleship (19 The four destroyers were arrayed ahead of the two battleships. Washington quickly inflicted fatal damage on Kirishima, destroying two of her four main battery turrets, holing her below the waterline, and starting numerous fires. On 5 October, Hanson came back aboard the ship and she resumed her role as the flagship of BatDiv 9. On 12–13 October, attacks were flown against shipping and installations in Formosa. After steaming south through the Caribbean, Lee detached the escorting destroyers, passed through the Panama Canal, and picked up three other destroyers on the Pacific side of the canal. Several waves of G4M bombers struck the fleet, torpedoing the cruiser USS Canberra. After returning to the anchorage the next morning, the stores ship Aldebaran accidentally collided with South Dakota, striking her port side and inflicting only superficial damage. [7][14], As Lee's task group approached Guadalcanal, his Japanese counterpart Admiral Nobutake Kondō steamed to meet him with his main bombardment force, consisting of the fast battleship Kirishima, the heavy cruisers Takao and Atago, and a destroyer screen. Originally from Minneota, Minnesota, she spent 17 years in the Naval Reserve and was present at the dedication of Battleship South Dakota Memorial. The battleship transited the Panama Canal on 21 August 1942, and headed for the Tonga Islands, arriving at Nukuʻalofa, Tonga on 4 September; two days later, she struck an uncharted coral pinnacle in Lahai Passage and suffered extensive damage to her hull. By 6 April, the fleet had returned to Majuro to prepare for the next operation. Upon reactivating her search radar, South Dakota picked up numerous Japanese vessels directly ahead. [7][9], Japanese and American reconnaissance aircraft discovered each others' fleets on 25 October, and South Dakota's crew prepared for a night surface action that night, though the anticipated Japanese attack did not materialize. She returned to Majuro for upkeep from 4 May to 5 June, when she got underway with TF 58 to participate in Operation Forager, the landings on Saipan and Tinian. The fast carrier task force, still under Mitscher's command, steamed north to launch strikes on the Okinawa Islands; they arrived early on the morning of 10 October and began the raid, which sank twenty-nine Japanese vessels in the area. The gun crew was eventually informed by the Bureau of Ordnance that the gouges were deep enough that the barrels should not be fired. Additional carrier strikes were made from 24 to 28 July, inflicting further losses to the remnants of the Japanese fleet; the battleships Haruna, Ise, and Hyuga were all sunk at their moorings, along with a number of cruisers, destroyers, and other warships. She conducted anti-aircraft training through the following day before returning to Pearl Harbor on 14 October. The secondary battery consisted of sixteen 5 in (127 mm) /38 caliber dual purpose guns mounted in twin turrets clustered amidships, four turrets on either side. South Dakota operated as part of TG 58.7, again under Lee's command. She moved to Fiji on 7 November, and sortied from there four days later with Battleship Divisions 8 and 9 (BatDiv 8 and 9) in support of Task Group 50.1 (TG 50.1), the Carrier Interceptor Group, for Operation Galvanic, the Gilbert Islands assault. [35] On 6 May, South Dakota was replenishing ammunition from the ammunition ship USS Wrangell when a tank of propellant for the 16 in (410 mm) guns exploded. [2], The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 16-inch /45 caliber Mark 6 guns[a] in three triple gun turrets on the centerline, two of which were placed in a superfiring pair forward, with the third aft. Washington fired on the lead ship, thought to be a battleship or heavy cruiser. [7], A second strike later that morning, shortly after 10:00 targeted the Enterprise group, and South Dakota provided heavy anti-aircraft fire to drive off the attackers; the ships shot down seven Japanese aircraft and fighters claimed another three. [26], The landing on Leyte on 17 October triggered the Japanese high command to initiate Operation Shō-Gō 1, a complicated counter-thrust that involved four separate fleets converging on the Allied invasion fleet to destroy it. South Dakota steamed northeast to the Panama Canal, which she reached on 11 December. South Dakota again replenished her fuel bunkers on 7 August before re-forming TU 34.8.1 for a third bombardment mission on 9 August. Six days later, she was in the screen for the carriers which launched the first air attacks against the Mariana Islands. South Dakota refueled on 3 August and the carriers launched simulated strikes on the fleet for anti-aircraft training two days later. guns. Approximately an hour later the task force was again attacked, this time by some 40 torpedo bombers. In March 1954, a program to equip the four ships with secondary batteries consisting of ten twin 3-inch (76 mm) guns were proposed, but the plan came to nothing. [13], Though the Japanese carriers survived the battle and Hornet eventually had to be scuttled, the Japanese had lost 99 aircraft, nearly half of the carriers' complement, devastating Japanese naval aviation, which relied on a small number of highly trained veterans that could not be easily replaced. South Dakota received the Navy Unit Commendation for her role in the battle. The battleship transited the Panama Canal on 21 August 1942, and headed for the Tonga Islands, arriving at Nukuʻalofa, Tonga on 4 September; two days later, she struck an uncharted coral pinnacle in Lahai Passage and suffered extensive damage to her hull. [11], A miscommunication while transferring steering control to the executive officer's (XO) station caused South Dakota to haul out of formation, briefly headed toward Enterprise before the XO corrected the mistake. Further reinforced by the British Pacific Fleet, the Allied fleet struck targets around Tokyo on 17 July, sinking or damaging several warships in the area. These were repaired and she was refloated on 27 May; during this period, Third Fleet resumed command of the fast carrier task force, reverting all subordinate unit designations to the 30-series. The mural is based on a painting by Dwight Shepler. From there, she steamed to Fiji on 7 November, where she joined the rest of BatDiv 9, which had been assigned to the support force for TG 50.1, designated the Carrier Interceptor Group. Washington fired first at 23:17 at a range of 18,000 yd (16,000 m), followed quickly by South Dakota, though she was limited to four of her six forward guns owing to the damage to two of the barrels sustained at Santa Cruz. In June, she was attached to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet; and on 31 January 1947, she was placed in reserve, out of commission. Articles incorporating text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, World War II battleships of the United States, United States Navy South Dakota-related ships, http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/battlesh/bb57.htm, http://www.dutcheastindies.webs.com/kondo.html, http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/homefront/other.html#obj142, "USS South Dakota (BB-57) Battleship - History, Specs and Pictures - Navy Ships", http://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=USS-South-Dakota-BB57, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/uss_south_dakota_bb57.htm, "U.S.S. Continued for several days refueling destroyers and replenishing her own aircraft in the number of main guns a! Loaded ammunition and other warships for the next several days and significantly increased their crews appearance of a.... 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