The Anchors Aweigh series was placed in honor of the men of the
US Navy who have served in the defense of our country. Each cache
is dedicated to one of the warships involved in battle. If you find
all the caches in the series, you’ll reveal some nice GeoArt
on your cache map. These are not difficult caches to find. If you
cannot find a cache easily, it’s probably missing. Send me a
picture (by email, not in your log) of where you think the cache
should be, and I’ll accept the find and replace the
cache.
Because of the difficulty in finding suitable locations for some
of the caches, some puzzle caches were used (not this one) so that
the find icon could be in a location separate from the cache. You
should be able to solve the puzzles with information on this cache
page. I suggest you solve the puzzles before you make your cache
run, to help optimize the route.
USS Washington
USS Washington, the second of two battleships in the
North Carolina class, was the third ship of the United States Navy
named in honor of the 42nd state. Her keel was laid down on 14 June
1938 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and she was launched on 1
June 1940. In early 1942, Washington and twenty other
American ships were the first to be equipped with fully operational
radar. She has the distinction of being the only American
battleship to sink an enemy battleship during World War II in a
"one on one" surface engagement. Washington suffered no
losses to hostile action during the entire course of the war,
although she had some close calls: she was almost hit by "Long
Lance" torpedoes off Guadalcanal, and was hit once by enemy
ordnance, a 5-inch shell that passed through her radar antenna
without detonation. Other attempts by ships such as the ships she
and her task forces sank throughout the war to score at least a hit
on her all missed.
Around dawn on 1 February 1944, Washington rammed the
battleship Indiana and incurred several fatalities when the
latter was maneuvering across the formation to refuel destroyers.
With around 60 feet (18 m) of her bow heavily damaged,
Washington was forced to retire. The Pearl Harbor shipyards
fitted the battleship with a temporary bow; a full restoration had
to wait until the ship docked in the Puget Sound Navy Yard.
Washington was decommissioned on 27 June 1947, struck on
1 June 1960, and sold for scrapping on 24 May 1961.
USS Washington vs IJN Kirishima
USS Washington
By late 1942, the naval outlook for the Allies in the Pacific
was poor. With the loss of the carrier USS Hornet, only one
carrier, Enterprise was available. In addition, the Japanese
were using their naval night-fighting prowess to great effect by
sending heavy warships to shell Henderson Field while light forces
would run supplies to beleaguered soldiers on Guadalcanal. After
the Japanese army was repulsed during the Battle for Henderson
Field, reinforcements were needed, so Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
ordered a fleet made up of Kirishima, the cruisers Takao,
Atago, Sendai, Nagara, and nine destroyers sent to Guadalcanal.
The American submarine Trout spotted this force east of
Santa Ysabel late in the afternoon of the 14th, and after firing
and missing with three torpedoes, reported the position and number
of the oncoming ships.
Running low on available undamaged ships, allied forces sent
South Dakota and Washington, along with the
destroyers Walke, Benham, Preston, and Gwin, from the
vicinity of Nouméa. Approaching on a northerly course, nine miles
west of Guadalcanal, the fleet was reported by the Japanese
reconnaissance planes to consist of a battleship, a cruiser, and
four destroyers steaming in column formation. Walke led,
followed by Benham, Preston, Gwin, and the two battleships,
Washington and South Dakota. Both the Japanese and
Americans knew about the same information on each others' forces by
the afternoon of 14 November.
Vectored in, the American force prepared to intercept the
Japanese. Prior to the battle, Preston's primitive SC radar
equipment was interfering with the more advanced set on the
Washington, so it was shut off. At 22:55,
Washington's SG surface-search radar found a firm target
18,000 yards to the northwest well off the starboard bow. This was
Sendai. Although the American ships were in firing range,
they held fire while they searched for additional targets. At 23:12
Washington obtained a visual sighting, and the South
Dakota reported that they also had a sighting over the TBS
(Talk Between Ships) radio. Four minutes later, Admiral Lee gave
the order to all "open fire when you are ready." Washington
and South Dakota both immediately opened fire at the
Sendai with their 16 in guns at a range of 11,000 yards.
Almost simultaneously, Washington fired three of her
starboard 5-inch guns at Shikinami. All of the 16 in shots
missed, 42 from Washington. Rear Admiral Shintaro Hashimoto
ordered Sendai and Shikinami to lay down a smoke
screen and retreat. However, Washington fired until they
were well out of visual view, using its 5 inch guns, hoping to
discourage Ayanami and Uranami from attacking from
that area. However, the South Dakota did not fire as they
were afraid of hitting the Washington. The four escorting
destroyers moved in to fire torpedoes, but were easily destroyed or
damaged enough to take no further part in the battle. Walke
sunk directly in front of Washington at 2342, which was
unable to turn away but dropped several lifeboats into the
water.
IJN Admiral Kondo aboard the heavy cruiser Atago was
still intent on accomplishing his mission of blasting Henderson
Field with 14 inch shells with his battleship Kirishima. He
still discounted sightings of US battleships, even while lookouts
from his cruisers Atago and Takao consistently
reported that US battleships were present in the American surface
group. With reports from his destroyers that the fight was going
well against the US Navy, Kondo dispatched his light cruiser
Nagara and destroyers to continue with the fray as he took
the Kirishama, Atago and Takao to continue towards
Henderson Field for bombarding.
South Dakota's effectiveness was drastically reduced by
power failures. Having no radar and virtually blind, South
Dakota sailed to within 5,000 yards of the Japanese force and
was illuminated by searchlights. She suffered heavy damage,
receiving some 27 hits from 5-, 6-, 8- and 14-inch shells. However,
with attention focused on South Dakota, Washington
was able to maneuver completely undetected. She moved to about
8,400 to 12,650 yd away from Kirishima and opened fire. In
the span of seven minutes, the Japanese ship was struck by nine
16-inch and around forty 5-inch shells, destroying her ability to
steer and setting her on fire. Now realizing Washington's
position, some of the Japanese destroyers gave chase and fired
torpedoes, forcing Washington to evade (several detonated in
her wake), but they soon withdrew under the cover of a smoke
screen. Washington found South Dakota later in the
morning, and the two set course for Nouméa.
Washington was not hit during the battle; the nearest
shells fell 200 yards away. She fired a total of 117 16-inch and
522 five-inch shells. South Dakota steamed for the Brooklyn,
New York Navy Yard for two months of repairs and refitting.
Kirishima and the destroyer Ayanami were reported to
have been scuttled the day after the battle. However, more recent
analysis based on an underwater survey of the wreck and the
accounts of survivors has led at least one author to conclude that
Kirishima capsized as a result of progressive flooding
exacerbated by poor damage control.