uss washington (bb-56)

Second of the North Carolina-class battleships of the United States Navy, BB-56 was launched in 1940 and commissioned in May of 1941, shortly before America's entry into World War II. The vessel earned thirteen Battle Stars for combat service in the Pacific Theater. (Though Washington did see service in the Atlantic Theater as well, primarily hunting for the battleship Tirpitz, it saw no combat during that time and as such was awarded no Battle Stars.) The vessel was decommissioned for the last time in 1947 and sold for scrap in 1960.

Washington was the favored flagship of American battleship commander Admiral Willis Lee, an Olympic marksman who became the USN's expert on radar-directed gunnery and the go-to commander for detached battleship divisions. The vessel is most famous for its actions during the Guadalcanal campaign, where it engaged the Japanese battleship Kirishima in a close-range night action and destroyed it, one of only three examples of a battleship destroying another battleship during the Second World War and the only example in the Pacific.

This tag is for depictions of the actual vessel, and personifications outside of established franchises.

Depictions

• Washington (Kancolle)
• Washington (Azur Lane)
• Washington (Warship Girls R)

North Carolina-class battleships

• USS North Carolina (BB-55)
• USS Washington (BB-56)

See also

• USS Washington (BB-47): A planned vessel of the Colorado-class whose construction was halted by the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922.
• USS Washington (SSN-787): The successor vessel to BB-56, a Virginia-class submarine commissioned in 2017.