USS North Carolina, the lead ship of her class, emerged from the horizon, slicing through the waves with determination. Her nine 16-inch guns thundered, hurling 2,700-pound shells toward the distant enemy.
The Imperial Japanese Navy fleet approached without hesitation, her for the dominion of the Pacific. With her engines throbbing, North Carolina charged guns blazing to open a gap in the enemy lines.
North Carolina’s objective was easier said than done: protect the US Navy’s aircraft carriers at all costs. As both task forces clashed, her mission turned more difficult.
Japanese aircraft swarmed the US vessels, ready to strike them down with either conventional bombs or devastating kamikaze attacks. Still, North Carolina, in her protector role, did not flinch and opened fire with more than 40 guns from her secondary armament.
The sky soon turned into a deadly maze of anti-aircraft fire, smoke, and gunfire from American and Japanese fighters.
Despite the relentless Japanese waves, North Carolina’s thick armor openly defied the enemy bombs and torpedoes, with her crew focused on safeguarding the task force from being scattered by the enemy.
USS North Carolina fired salvo after salvo until her barrels ran hot, fending off her attackers as the sun went down…
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God Bless her and her past crew!
Ths is a great video of BB55. I have toured her several times. It is a great memorial to all who fought and gave their lives in WW2.
I was one of those school children that raised money to bring USS North Carolina (BB-55) to Wilmington. My father took us down to see it arrive. Years later, I took my children to tour the battleship. When the guide learned that I was a serving naval officer he let me do most of the tour. I tried to get assigned as a Fire Control officer for USS Wisconsin (BB-64) but it fell through. I REALLY wanted to fire those Mk7 16" rifles. Today USS North Carolina is part of the 3rd largest fleet in the world, US Museum ships. By displacement it might be the second largest.
7:17, did you just really show CVN-65 instead of CV-6! 🤣 Over all decent videos but you shouldn't skimp on the facts.
Your screen grab of the enterprise is wrong. It should be CV-6 but you have CVN-65, which wasn't laid down until 1958.
Fleet carriers and sebmarines were the greatest sea weapons ro energe, They are still in service, barrleships are not.
Listening to her history while driving past her is a wild experience.
Yes! US Battleships. Would love a history on the other dreadnoughts of this time period. How about Iowa, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, South Dakota, and the ones I cannot remember. Never hear much about the Battleships built from 1937 to 1945!
4:33 Those planes would have come in real handy in WWII.
Please use historically accurate images and images of the ships being referenced instead of some generic stock image. The nuclear powered Enterprise was not built until many years after WWII. You have plenty of stock video available of the Enterprise that served in WWII. You do this often in your videos and it cheapens the end product.
Some things simply MUST be preserved. And the USS North Carolina is one of them.
Wrong USS Enterprise at 4:32. The one in WWII did not have an angled flight deck nor was she nuclear-powered.
I grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina and am proud to say – especially as ex-military (Army, but military is military…we're brothers and sisters in arms) – that I visited my state's proud memorial. It is absolutely AMAZING to see it up close and personal, to walk the decks, see the main guns and touch them. There are many ships around the US that have been preserved as national monuments and every US citizen should take a day and go see one. You won't regret it.
Wrong Enterprise!
This was a wonderful documentary and I truly hope I can visit her someday.
As a Kid, I contributed pennies, nickels, and dimes to the effort. I still enjoy visiting the old ship. I hope to be a large scale model of her one day of 1/100 scale.
The Puget sound shipyard is in Bremerton Wa.
A shame she's sitting half buried in mud. I know the preservators do the best they can, but it's still tragic. Such a beautiful ship.
Puget Sound shipyard is in Washington not North Carolina.
They keep talking of her covering the Enterprise but showing video of the nuclear Enterprise with her angled deck and squared Island. At least 3 times.
Wrong Enterprise.
The images of the Enterprise used in the video are CVN-65 which did not exist yet in WW2. The Enterprise that fought in WW2 was CV-6, a Yorktown class carrier.
Other than that, it was a great video. Thank you for telling the story of the USS North Carolina.
This generation was, in my opinion, the bravest, toughest to walk on the planet, and I never will forget their sacrifice.
04:34 even though the Enterprise was at the Canal I highly doubt it was CVN Enterprise,
Puget Sound is nowhere near North Carolina. Also the pictures flashed of the U.S.S. Enterprise was the Enterprise but the Nuclear Powered Carrier built long after WW2.
Dude tour history channel
Wrong….germany declared war on the US
I'm proud to say I have spent hundreds of hours exploring BB-55 since I was a child and my family lived nearby.
☺