US Battleship Nicknames Trivia Quiz

Answer: USS Wisconsin

In the 1950s BB-64 USS Wisconsin would suffer a collision with the destroyer DDE-510 USS Eaton that would lead to her nickname. On May 6, 1956 Wisconsin was steaming off the Virginia Capes in a heavy fog bank when she collided with Eaton which was traveling at an estimated speed of 20 knots. According to Wisconsin's deck log for that day, Wisconsin struck Eaton at a ninety degree angle abreast of Eaton's #1 gun mount on the starboard side, passing through the forecastle before coming to rest between gun mounts #1 and #2. The collision also destroyed Wisconsin's bow. Both ships made it back to port.

Wisconsin eventually entered dry dock where an innovative solution was put in place to get the battleship back to sea as soon as possible. The Iowa-class of fast battleships was originally a four ship class but was extended to six ships in 1940 with BB-65 USS Illinois and BB-66 USS Kentucky being ordered. Neither ship would ever be commissioned though work would begin on both before they were canceled. In late '45 it was recommended that work continue on Kentucky, only have her completed as an anti-aircraft platform. By 1947 Kentucky was about 72.1% complete when work was suspended according to the website NavSource. With this largely complete sister ship at their disposal, the repair crew removed Wisconsin's bow and replaced it with Kentucky's. WisKY would then refer to Wisconsin after receiving her new bow.

Answer: USS Wyoming

When the US declared war on Germany in April 1917, BB-32 USS Wyoming was in the Chesapeake Bay off of Yorktown Virginia. She would spend seven months training engine room personnel for the expanding American fleet before joining BB-34 USS New York, BB-28 USS Delaware, and BB-30 USS Florida to form Battleship Division 9 (BatDiv 9). BatDiv 9 would then join the British fleet at Scapa Flow. Eventually BB-35 USS Texas would join BatDiv 9 and BB-33 USS Arkansas would replace Delaware in the division.

Wyoming would be decommissioned in 1930 and then recommissioned and reclassified as the gunnery training ship AG-17 USS Wyoming. At the start of WWII she was primarily operating out of the Chesapeake Bay area where she was frequently sighted leading to her nickname Chesapeake Raider. Thousands of men would train in the operation of everything from the 5" guns to the .50-calibers during this period.

In early 1944 Wyoming would undergo a refit that would remove the last of her 12" guns, replacing these with additional 5" mounts in both single and duo configuration. She would see further alterations in July 1945 not long after her career as the Chesapeake Raider came to an end. Her final role in WWII came in Maine's Casco Bay where she would be used to study tactics dealing with kamikaze.

Following the war cadet Jimmy Carter graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, becoming Ensign Jimmy Carter. Although the future 39th President would be best known for his service as a submariner, Ensign Carter's first assignment following graduation in 1946 was to the Wyoming. By that time the former battleship was serving as a floating laboratory for the testing of electronics and gunnery equipment. He would remain a member of Wyoming's crew until she was decommissioned for the final time in 1947, at which time he and the rest of Wyoming's crew transferred to AG-128 USS Mississippi, the former battleship BB-41 USS Mississippi which had been reclassified as a gunnery training ship months prior to his graduation from the Naval Academy. After two years aboard surface ships Carter would transfer to what his naval service is best known for, submarine duty.

Answer: BB-59 USS Massachusetts

BB-59, USS Massachusetts was built in the Fore River Shipyard of the Bethlehem Steel Company/Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts. According to the National Park Service's Maritime History of Massachusetts (the site is on the maritime history of the state, not the ship specifically) page on her, at a displacement of 35,000 tons the Massachusetts was the heaviest ship to be launched at Quincy at the time she was launched, which lead to her being called Big Mamie.

Massachusetts would conduct her shakedown cruise in Maine's Casco Bay before she departed in late October to take part in the Torch landings. She would serve as the flagship of Admiral Robert C. Giffen's Covering Group during the landings. On November 8, 1942 Massachusetts and the heavy cruiser CA-37 USS Tuscaloosa would get into a largely one sided gun duel with the unfinished Jean Bart. Construction on the French battleship, much like Massachusetts, had begun in the '30s but she was unfinished when the war began. When it became clear the Germans were going to win the Battle of France, the French sent Jean Bart to Casablanca to keep her out of German hands. But as the Vichy government effectively became a puppet of Germany, the Jean Bart would be used to try to prevent Allied forces from taking Casablanca. However, in the battle of November 8th, Jean Bart only managed to fire seven rounds from her four 15-inch guns. In comparison, Massachusetts' nine 16-inch guns fired five volleys, each volley being made up of six to nine rounds PER gun. One of Massachusetts' rounds disabled Jean Bart's rotational equipment on her turret, taking it out of action for a 48 hour period.

BB-2 USS Massachusetts was an Indiana-class battleship and the second U.S. battleship to officially be designated Battleship (BB). She saw service during the Spanish-American War and as a gunnery training ship during WWI. BB-54 USS Massachusetts was a member of the planned South Dakota-class of the '20s. Because of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, construction on this class was halted and all six ships were scrapped. The six were to have been BB-49 USS South Dakota, BB-50 USS Indiana, BB-51 USS Montana, BB-52 USS North Carolina, BB-53 USS Iowa, and the Massachusetts. North Carolina, South Dakota, Iowa, and Montana would become the names of the intended four fast battleship classes respectively (though the Montana-class would be canceled before any of the ships in the class could be laid down) and five of the six names would be built as fast battleships. The North Carolina-class battleship BB-55 USS North Carolina; the South Dakota-class battleships BB-57 USS South Dakota, BB-58 USS Indiana, BB-59 USS Massachusetts; the Iowa-class battleship BB-61 USS Iowa. BB-20 was actually the Connecticut-class battleship USS Vermont.

Answer: USS Nevada

How the Nevada came to be known as the "Cheer Up Ship" seems to be a question with various possible answers. According to some reports it was the fact that she did manage to get underway during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Others suggest that "cheer up" was the slogan of her first captain.

Answer: USS Pennsylvania

BB-38 USS Pennsylvania was in Pearl Harbor's Dry Dock #1 along with the destroyers DD-372 USS Cassin and DD-375 USS Downes on the Day of Infamy. The Japanese attacked the dry dock several times but failed to do any major damage to the battleship, though she was heavily strafed and did suffer one bomb hit.

The two destroyers ahead of Pennsylvania did not fair quite so well. An incendiary bomb either struck Downes directly or landed between the two destroyers, in either case the bomb ruptured Downes' fuel tank and caused both destroyers to catch fire.

The dry dock was purposely flooded around 9:20 AM (0920) to try to put out the fires, but about ten minutes later explosions began aboard both ships and at 9:41 AM (0941) ammunition on Downes' starboard side began to explode.

A portion of one of the destroyer's torpedo tubes would strike Pennsylvania's forecastle.

Answer: USS West Virginia

BB-48 USS West Virginia was moored alongside BB-43 USS Tennessee at mooring quays of berth F-6 on December 7, 1941. Both ships would be damaged in the attack, though Tennessee only received light damage. In comparison West Virginia would be hit by two armor piercing bombs and seven torpedoes.

The damage West Virginia took would result in her being sunk, wedging the inboard Tennessee between the mooring quays and West Virginia. It would be ten days before Tennessee could be freed from her predicament.

But for West Virginia, one of four battleships sunk or capsized at Pearl Habor (the other three being USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, and USS California; the former battleship converted into an auxiliary target ship USS Utah was also among the ships sunk or capsized in the attack), it would not be until May 1942 that she would be raised. Nearly a year later she would be sent to the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington for a rebuild and modernization.

This period would be completed in July 1944, following which West Virginia would undergo a shakedown period before sailing for Hawaii that September where she would once more become an Admiral's flagship.

Her first major operation of the war would come during the invasion of the Philippines.

Answer: USS North Carolina

There are two versions of the story behind BB-55 USS North Carolina's nickname of Showboat. The first is that during her shakedown period she was in and out of the New York Navy Yard so often that New Yorkers and Walter Winchell took to calling her the Showboat after the Broadway musical "Show Boat". "Show Boat" was a 1927 musical written by Oscar Hammerstein, of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame, and Jerome Kern based on the 1926 book of the same name by Edna Ferber. Ferber had actually gathered research material for her book on a trip to Bath, North Carolina, so it seems more fitting that USS North Carolina should be nicknamed Showboat. The musical, which featured such well known and controversial songs as "Ol' Man River" and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", ran on Broadway until 1929 then enjoyed a Broadway revival in 1932. It also had a run in London's West End that began in 1928. In 1929 a film partially based more on the novel than the musical would be released as the first movie version of "Show Boat". This would be followed in 1936 by a film version based on the musical which would have its premier in NYC. Since WWII there have been a number of revivals of the musical as well as the 1951 film based on the musical. But North Carolina earned her nickname before these post war revivals and film.

Then there is the BB-56 USS Washington version of the story. The North Carolina-class is made up of two ships, USS North Carolina and USS Washington, both ships were commissioned within a little over a month of each other. However, the lead ship of the class received more attention than Washington which the crew of the Washington felt was unfair. One Sunday in the fall of 1941 the Washington's chaplain instructed the ship's band to play "Here Comes the Showboat" (or "Here Comes that Showboat"), a jazz tune, as North Carolina passed by. The incident ended up in Washington's weekly newspaper which the ship's captain ordered all copies rounded up and the article removed before the paper was reprinted. Despite this, word of the article got out and earned North Carolina the nickname "Showboat".

The crew of Washington may have also given North Carolina the nickname USO North Carolina on account of the fact that North Carolina received more press coverage than many other ships in the fleet.

Answer: USS Texas

One definition for hoodoo is something that brings bad luck. Old Hoodoo thus seems a fitting nickname for USS Texas as her crew thought she was a jinxed ship. The start of her construction was delayed due to questions being raised in her design over stability and the ship's characteristics. Either these were ignored or the design was changed by the time construction finally began. Yet while this would certainly be little to no reason to believe the ship was jinxed, discoveries while the ship was in dry dock after her sea trials probably helped with the belief she was jinxed. At this time it was discovered there were structural defects in the Texas, with floors having buckled and cracks in the cement at her keel being discovered. Though these defects were corrected, a Board of Survey was formed to determine just how structurally sound she was and what improvements could be made to fix potential structural defects.

Following improvements made to the ship's hull the next event that no doubt helped lead to the belief that Texas was jinxed came in September 1896 when she ran aground off Newport, Rhode Island. A combination of operator error and signal failure were determined to be the cause of her running aground, leading to a number of her officers being reprimanded. This event would require Texas to undergo repairs and while undergoing these repairs in New York that November water pressure would unseat the main injection valve. This caused the compartment to flood. Leaks in the water tight doors combined with the voice pipes and holes for electrical cables would allow the rising water to spread to other compartments, causing Texas to sink. Thankfully she had sunk in shallow water and was able to be raised and moved to dry dock to undergo repairs.

The crew's next reason for believing she was jinxed would come in February 1897 in Galveston, Texas. While at berth a strong tide forced her into a mud bank. Texas stuck fast and was unable to pull herself free. Nor could a Revenue steamer help her escape. She had to wait until the following day for a tug to pull her out of the mud. These various strokes of bad luck caused the crew to call her Old Hoodoo.

Answer: USS South Dakota

BB-57 USS South Dakota was known as Battleship X and Old Nameless for secrecy purposes. Concerned with the need to hide secretive operational information from the Japanese, the US Navy took to calling South Dakota Battleship X in order to hide her real name while she was serving with the Third and Fifth fleets.

Whenever South Dakota was mentioned in American newspapers or radio programs, she was called either Battleship X or Old Nameless.

Answer: USS Oregon

BB-3 USS Oregon was constructed at the Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California where as her sisters in the Indiana-class, BB-1 USS Indiana and BB-2 USS Massachusetts were constructed at William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as was BB-4 USS Iowa. The second class battleships USS Texas and USS Maine were constructed at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia and New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn, New York respectively. On February 15, 1898, the day the Maine blew up and sank in Havana Harbor, Oregon was the only U.S. battleship not either in the Atlantic or the Caribbean. With the loss of the Maine, the USS only had five battleships left. To bolster the fleet that was being put together to blockade Spanish forces in Cuba, which included most of the nation's battleships, the Secretary of the Navy ordered the Oregon to the Atlantic.

Oregon's trip around South America helped contribute to her nickname Bulldog of the Navy. In nautical slang of the day, a high bow wave was said to be a ship "having a bone in her teeth". Oregon was forced to speed around the continent to make it to the Atlantic as fast as she could, thus kicking up such a wave. While this trip proved the capabilities of heavy battleships in all wind and see conditions, it would also give weight to the argument for the construction of the Panama Canal. It was pointed out that the U.S. could not afford to spend six months waiting for warships to round South America each time a crisis came up. Her fighting at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba may have also contributed to this nickname. The Oregon proved rather tenacious in her pursuit of the Spanish cruiser Cristóbal Colón. The Spanish may have given Oregon a different nickname, the Yankee Devil.