Laid down in 1937 and launched on 9 April 1941, the USS North Carolina was the first new construction battleship to enter service during World War II and took part in every major naval offensive in the Pacific Theater, becoming the most decorated U.S. battleship of WWII. After a brief stint post war as a training ship, the North Carolina dubbed in the press as the Showboat was laid up in the reserve fleet, before her eventual movement to Wilmington, in her namesake state, and her preservation there as a war memorial. This second volume in the Squadron at Sea series traces the history of the North Carolina from her keel-laying to her preservation, photographically documenting the evolution of armament and electronics that resulted from her pre-Pearl Harbor design to its peak bristling with guns to counter the threat of kamikaze attack as she operated against the Japanese home islands. In addition to the ship's evolution, this volume documents the North Carolinas wartime operations that earned her 12 battlestars. More than 330 photographs, many of them color, illustrate the ship, her crew, and their work and recreation. Her years in the reserve fleet and ultimate restoration are also covered in the book s 136 pages. Detailed line drawings illustrate North Carolina s changing configurations, and 11 color profiles show the various camouflage schemes worn by both the ship and her scouting aircraft through the years.
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