#USS Idaho (BB-24)

[lonestarbattleship]

"USS IDAHO (BB-24) is shown here being fited out after launching. Visible along the waterline is the teakwood backing for the casemate and belt armor still to be installed."

Photographed in January 1906.

source

[sjvllsblog]

New Mexico-class battleship USS 'Idaho' BB-42 off Kwajalein early 31 January 1944 to soften up shore positions.

On 31 January 1944, 'Idaho' and the rest of the fleet arrived off Kwajalein, Marshall Islands to begin the preparatory bombardment. She continued to batter Japanese forces until 5 February, by which time the Marines had wrested control of the small island from its Japanese garrison. 'Idaho' replenished fuel and ammunition at Majuro before returning to shell Japanese positions on other islands in the Marshalls before steaming to Kavieng, New Ireland to conduct a diversionary bombardment on 20 March.

In September 1941, she was stationed in Hvalfjörður, Iceland, and was there when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December.

She remained in reserve for a year and a half before being sold for scrap on 24 November 1947 to Lipsett, Inc., of New York City. Idaho received seven battle stars for World War II service.

(Colour by RJM)

[onceuponatown]

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1905.

Either the USS Mississippi BB-23 or USS Idaho BB-24 under construction at the Cramp and Sons Shipyard.

[uss-edsall]

A very rare photo of all the three last Greek battleships together. Place and time unknown, probably between 1927 and 1931, the year that Kilkis pulled out of service. From left, battlecruiser [armoured cruiser] Georgios Averof, in the middle probably Kilkis, at right probably Lemnos.  

Georgios Averof was an Italian Pisa-class armoured cruiser with Italian engines, French boilers, German generators, and British guns, and is known as the most succesful modern Greek ship to ever sail. She is still a museum ship today at Palaio Faliro, Athens, and is considered the flagship of the Hellenic Navy. 

Kilkis and Lemnos, as can probably be figured out by those unique cage masts, are originally American. Both were Mississippi-class battleships prior to being sold to Greece -- USS Mississippi (BB-23) and Idaho (BB-24) respectively.

[nebris]

Named after the state of Idaho, the 32,000-ton USS Idaho (BB-42) was a New Mexico class battleship that was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, NJ, and was commissioned on 24 March 1919. The ship was approximately 624 feet long and 97 feet wide, had a top speed of 21 knots, and had a crew of 1,081 officers and men. Idaho was armed with 12 14-inch guns, 22 5-inch guns, eight 3-inch guns, and two 21-inch torpedo tubes.

After being commissioned, Idaho steamed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in July 1919 and then transited the Panama Canal to the Pacific, where she was based for the next 12 years. During that time, Idaho participated in various naval exercises and training programs and traveled from the Caribbean to Hawaii and as far south as Chile. Idaho also patrolled off the coast of Alaska in 1920 and visited Australia and New Zealand in 1925. In September 1931, the battleship entered the Norfolk Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia, for an extensive overhaul and modernization, which lasted more than three years.

After leaving the Norfolk Navy Yard in October 1934, Idaho’s appearance had been transformed. Gone were the “cage” masts that were such a distinguishing feature of American battleships of that era, and a new tower superstructure supporting modern gunfire control systems had been built. Now one of the US Navy’s most modern warships, Idaho returned to the Pacific in 1935 to resume her peacetime duties of preparing for possible combat.

After World War II began in Europe in 1939, the US Navy’s attention was diverted towards the Atlantic. Idaho was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet in June 1941 and was based in Iceland for much of the rest of that year. She escorted convoys and protected them against the threat of German surface raiders during that period of “undeclared war” with Germany. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941, Idaho was sent back to the Pacific, arriving there in January 1942. For the next year, Idaho patrolled off America’s west coast and Hawaii. In April 1943, Idaho was sent north to the Aleutian Islands, where she supported the American amphibious landings at Attu in May and Kiska in August.   

Idaho then was ordered to the central Pacific, taking part in the American invasion of the Gilbert Islands in November 1943 and the invasion of the Marshall Islands in February 1944. She then participated in the bombardment of New Ireland in March, the invasion of the Marianas Islands in June and July, and the assault on the Palau Islands in September. During all of these operations, Idaho was used as an enormous artillery battery, providing heavy gunfire support for the American troops on shore.

In February 1945, Idaho bombarded Japanese targets on Iwo Jima. Her massive guns were then unleashed on enemy positions on Okinawa from late March to May 1945. While firing at targets on Okinawa, Idaho was damaged by a Japanese kamikaze, or suicide plane, on 12 April. No crewmen were lost in the attack and, after going to Guam briefly for repairs, Idaho returned to Okinawa and resumed her gunfire support missions.

When the war in the Pacific ended in August 1945, Idaho was preparing for the final Allied assault on the Japanese home islands. She was present in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on 2 September and shortly thereafter steamed back across the Pacific and through the Panama Canal, arriving at the Norfolk Navy Yard in mid-October. Generally inactive from then on, USS Idaho was decommissioned in July 1946 and was sold for scrapping in November 1947. The ship received seven battle stars for her service during World War II.

[lonestarbattleship]

"USS IDAHO (BB-24) was in the Mediterranean when sold to Greece in 1914, shortly after Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels outlawed shipboard wine messes. John McCrea was then a midshipman on board the IDAHO. He recalls that the ship was transferred through a shipyard representative. Following the decommissioning, the shipyard man gathered the officers in the wardroom, opened a briefcase full of whiskey, and announced that drinking was permitted because she was no longer a U.S. Navy ship."

Photographed on July 8, 1914.

source, source

[lonestarbattleship]

USS IDAHO (BB-42) recently refitted and on post-refit trials near Puget Sound, Washington.

This was her final wartime refit and her open mounted 5"/25 guns were replaced with ten enclosed 5"/38 weapons. "In addition to the ten 5"/38 single enclosed secondary battery IDAHO also had upgrades to fire control equipment. This included Mk 8 Mod 2 main battery fire control radar mounted in front of her forward Mk 31 main battery director. She still retained her aft Mk 3 main battery fire control radar mounted on the aft Mk 31 director. A Mk 27 main battery director was mounted on the Conning Tower.

For secondary battery control Idaho had MK 28 radars installed on her two Mk 33 directors. She also had fourteen MK 51 directors for her 40mm guns."

Photographed on January 2, 1945.

Photos and information from Navsource: link

United States. Navy, “USS Idaho battleship,” Digital Collections, accessed November 24, 2024, https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/document/19020

[lonestarbattleship]

USS IDAHO (BB-42) shortly before her launch on June 30, 1917. She was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey. The funding for the third New Mexico Class Dreadnought came from the sale of USS MISSISSIPPI (BB-23) and USS IDAHO (BB-24) to the Hellenic Navy.

Date: June 1917

NARA: 45546548

[lonestarbattleship]

USS MISSISSIPPI (BB-23) and USS IDAHO (BB-24) at the William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Photographed on September 12, 1908.

source

[lonestarbattleship]

Figurehead of USS IDAHO (BB-24).

Photographed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 28, 1909.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command: NH 115210

[lonestarbattleship]

USS Idaho (BB-24) in the Hudson River, during a Fleet Review in New York City, on October 3, 1911.

NARA: 45512714

[lonestarbattleship]

USS IDAHO (BB-24) underway. This was shortly "after the removal of her after bridge and installation of a cage mainmast. Her battery is unaltered, but the pair of 3-inch 50-caliber guns formerly mounted beneath the discarded bridge are now in the open, covered with canvas."

Photographed on July 25, 1909.

NARA: 45512503

source

[lonestarbattleship]

State Ship Series: USS IDAHO

There have been two ships commissioned named after the state of Idaho in the US Navy. A third is under construction. The state was admitted into the United States on July 3, 1890.

USS IDAHO (BB-24), Mississippi Class, Predreadnought Battleship, in commission from 1908 to 1914.

Laid down: May 12, 1904

Launched: December 9, 1905

Commissioned: April 1, 1908

Decommissioned: 1914

Date: Sold to Greece and commissioned into the Hellenic Navy

Her design was found to be deficient due to her small size and had poor sea keeping qualities in the Atlantic Ocean. She was sold to the Hellenic Navy in 1914, who renamed her Lemnos. After the sale and transfer, her crew was reassigned to be part of the first crew of USS TEXAS (BB-35).

The Greek Navy found Lemnos' design performed better in the relative calm waters of the Meditation Sea. She fought in WWI, Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and the Greco-Turkish War. Her sister ship, Kilkis (ex-USS MISSISSIPPI (BB-23)) and her served until 1932, when they become barrack ships.

When the Nazis invaded Greece, the Luftwaffe bombed the two in Salamis Naval Base and sank in the shallow waters. They were raised and scrapped after the war.

USS IDAHO (SP-545), motorboat, in commission from 1917 to 1919.

Laid down: unknown

Launched: unknown

Acquired: June 1917

Commissioned: July 12, 1917

Decommissioned: 1919

Date: Returned to her owner November 30, 1918

She was one of the numerous civilian vessels acquired by the Navy to the patrol coastal waters for U-boats during World War I.

USS IDAHO (BB-42), New Mexico Class, Dreadnought Battleship.

Laid down: January 20, 1915

Launched: June 30, 1917

Commissioned: March 24, 1919

Decommissioned: July 3, 1946

Fate: Scrapped

Built with the funds from the sell of MISSISSIPPI (BB-23) and IDAHO (BB-24).

Rebuilt in the mid 1930's, she and her sister ships were the most modernized of the non-tready battleships the US Navy in commission when WWII began. Consequently, they received the least amount of refits during the war. She was scrapped in 1947.

USS IDAHO (SSN-799), Virginia Class Block IV, under construction.

Laid down: August 24, 2020

Launched: Spring 2024

Commission: Spring 2025

One ship was named for the territory of Idaho.

USS IDAHO (1864), wooden steam sloop, converted to a full-rigged sailing ship.

Laid down: unknown

Launched: October 8, 1864

Acquired: 1966

Commissioned: April 2, 1866

Recommissioned: October 3, 1867

Decommissioned: December 31, 1873

Fate: Sold to the East Indies Trading Company in 1874.

"Completed in May 1866, she ran her sea trials the following August, making just over eight knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph). Her boilers and engines, ordered as a result of political influence, failed totally to achieve her 15-knot (28 km/h; 17 mph) contract speed. The U.S. Congress, however, stepped in and ordered its purchase. The ship was then modified with sail and became one of the fastest ships in the U.S. Navy."

In 1868, during her trip from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Nagasaki, Japan, she made 18 knots under sail. Making her one of the fastest ships of her era. IDAHO remained in Nagasaki for 15 months as a store and hospital ship for the Asiatic Squadron. On September 20, 1869, she started her voyage back to the United States when she was hit by a typhoon one day out. Her masts were ripped off and she limped back to Japan. Little more than a hunk, she remained there until she was decommissioned and sold to the East Indies Trading Company.

NHHC: NH 85971, NH 53479, NH 63306, NH 77440

NARA: 45512719

source, source, source

Norfolk Public Library: smc_mss0000187_003801_004

[lonestarbattleship]

"To the Shores of Iwo Jima, 1945."

Note: Fast forward to 0:29 and unmute to hear the battleships roar.

Video shows USS Texas (BB-35), USS Pensacola (CA-24), USS Idaho (BB-42), USS New York (BB-34), USS Nevada (BB-36), USS Tennessee (BB-43) and US Destroyers firing on Iwo Jima in preparation for the US Marines to land. Vought F4U Corsairs take off from an Essex class aircraft carrier.

This footage was recorded from February 16 to 19, 1945.

I posted the full length of the video on my YouTube channel if you want to see the rest: link, link.

NARA: 13089

[lonestarbattleship]

USS TEXAS (BB-35): Commissioning

On the snowy morning of March 12, 1914, sailors and officers boarded TEXAS at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia. Many of them came from the former USS IDAHO (BB-24), which was sold to the Hellenic Navy. These men were there for "a quaint ceremony-commissioning.

The crew, massed on the broad deck just abaft number three turret, stood to attention while the Commandant of the Navy Yard presented her to our captain, and the captain, a ruddy old autocrat, read his orders to us. The officers wore old-fashioned full dress, with cocked beaver hats and heavy gold fringed epaulettes; swords slatted at their sides.

Our band struck up the Star Spangled Banner and the marines, paraded aft, brought their rifles to a stiff 'present' as the colors were hoisted and the commission pennant run up to the main truck. The stripes of the flag were bright against the gray day, the gray water of the river.

In that instant we belonged to her-like taking the oath when you enlisted, or having a minister say: 'I now pronounce you man and wife.'

'Three cheers for her, men!'

The echo came ringing back from the brick walls of the Navy Yard as the captain stepped forward. 'I want to say one thing to you, men,' he barked. 'For a month we'll be loading stores, here and in New York. Then we'll go away to join the Fleet. We'll have five months of shaking down for final trials to decide her fitness for active service. At the end of that period I expect her to be the toughest, cleanest ship afloat.'

'If any of you have sailed with me before, you'll know the kind of a ship I mean. A tight ship's a happy one. I want the best you've got. Give me that, and I'll promise you the same. Between us, I want to win every trophy in the Navy, and every battle we join -and we'll join all of 'em. That is all. Set the watch.'"

-The text is from Come On TEXAS, 1930, by Paul Schubert. He was part of the original crew and served on her from 1914 to 1930.

Her first Commanding Officer was Albert Weston Grant. With a thirty year naval career behind him, he was given the honor of taking command of the new ship through the completion of TEXAS's construction and commissioning, then the training of her new crew.

Over the next 12 days, the crewmen familiarize themselves with their new home and loaded up stores, spare parts and other provisions needed on a battleship.

Photos from Henry Sabuda's Collection: link

source, source

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command: NH 49372

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department: 2002-1026-16

[lonestarbattleship]

State Ship Series: USS Mississippi

There have been four ships commissioned named after the state of Mississippi in the US Navy. The state was admitted into the United States on December 10, 1817.

USS Mississippi (BB-23), Mississippi class, predreadnought battleship, in commission from 1908 to 1914. She was found to have poor sea keeping qualities due to her small size in the Atlantic Ocean. She was sold to the Greek Navy in 1914, who renamed her Kilkis. The Greek Navy found Kilkis' design performed better in the relative calm waters of the Meditation Sea. She fought in WWI, Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and the Greco-Turkish War. Her sister ship, Lemnos (exUSS Idaho (BB-24)) and her served until 1932, when they become barrack ships. When the Nazis invaded Greece, the Luftwaffe bombed the two in Salamis Naval Base and sank in the shallow waters. They were raised and scrapped after the war.

USS Mississippi (BB-41/AG-128), New Mexico Class, dreadnought battleship, in commission from 1917 to 1956. She was the only New Mexico Class battleship to be fitted with 5 inch guns on the casemates, but were quickly removed and the ports were blanked over, leaving the 5 inch guns on the main deck as the only remaining. All future battleships dropped the casemates on the gun deck. Along with her sisters, she was modernized in the mid 1930's and were the most modern dreadnought battleships at the beginning of WWII. She fought in the liberation of the Aleutian Islands, Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, Battle of Peleliu, Battle of Leyte Gulf, Battle of Surigao Strait, invasion of Okinawa during WWII. After the war, she took over training duty from USS Wyoming (AG-17) and had her 14 inch turrets removed so AA guns could be installed. In 1952, the RIM-2 Terrier missile and the AUM-N-2 Petrel missile were installed for training. She was scrapped in 1956.

USS Mississippi (DLGN/CGN-40), Virginia class, nuclear powered guided missile cruiser, reclassified as a Guided Missile Cruiser before launch, in commission from 1978 to 1997.

USS Mississippi (SSN-782), Virginia Class Block II, in commission from 2012 to present.

There was one ship commissioned named after the Mississippi river.

USS Mississippi (1841), Mississippi class, 10 gun sidewheel steam frigate, in commission from 1841 to 1863. Fought in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. She pushed the ram, CSS Manassas onto shore and hit her with two full broadsides. She was abandoned and destroyed to prevent capture when she ran aground in 1863.

source, source

NPL: smc_mss0000187_000601_019

NHHC: NH 86366

330-CFD-DN-SC-85-01551

NARA: 513004