32,300 Tons, 12 14-Inch Guns, 16 5-Inch Guns: The US Navy Rebuilt USS California for 25 Months After Pearl Harbor. She Fired 63 Shells in History’s Last Battleship Duel
Headline from 19FortyFive
The Tennessee-class ship USS California cost $12.75 million to build and sold for $859,999 in 1959. Four of her crew earned the Medal of Honor at Pearl Harbor, a kamikaze killed 44 at Lingayen Gulf, and she reached Philadelphia on Dec. 7, 1945, four years to the day after she sank.
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The 728-foot North Carolina-class battleship fired a 24,300-pound broadside from nine 16-inch guns. She earned 13 battle stars, survived a 1944 collision with USS Indiana and, unlike the Iowas, was never reactivated. The Navy sold her for scrap in 1961.
The US Navy bought the New Mexico-class battleship USS Idaho for $7.25 million in 1914. She carried twelve 14-inch guns for 27 years, earned 7 battle stars and never fought a battleship.
The Tennessee-class ship USS California cost $12.75 million to build and sold for $859,999 in 1959. Four of her crew earned the Medal of Honor at Pearl Harbor, a kamikaze killed 44 at Lingayen Gulf, and she reached Philadelphia on Dec. 7, 1945, four years to the day after she sank.
