WISCONSIN (BB-64)

From: DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN NAVAL FIGHTING SHIPS, James L. 
Mooney, ed., Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 
Washington, DC., 1981

displacement. 45,000
length. 887'3"
beam. 108'3"
draft. 28'11" (mean)
speed. 33k.
complement. 1,921
armament. 9 16", 20 6", 80 40mm., 49 20mm.
class. IOWA

The second WISCONSIN (BB-64) was laid down on 25 January 1941 at 
the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 7 December 1943; 
sponsored by Mrs. Walter S. Goodland; and commissioned on 16 
April 1944, Capt. Earl E. Stone in command.

After her trials and initial training in the Chesapeake Bay, 
WISCONSIN departed Norfolk, Va., on 7 July 1944, bound for the 
British West Indies. Following her shakedown, conducted out of 
Trinidad, the third of the IOWA-class battleships to join the 
Fleet returned to her builder's yard for postshakedown repairs 
and alterations.

On 24 September 1944, WISCONSIN sailed for the west coast, 
transited the Panama Canal, and reported for duty with the 
Pacific Fleet on 2 October. The battleship later moved to 
Hawaiian waters for training exercises and then headed for the 
Western Carolines. Upon reaching Ulithi on 9 December, she 
joined Admiral William F. Halsey's 3d Fleet.

The powerful new warship had arrived at a time when the 
reconquest of the Philippines was well underway. As a part of 
that movement, the planners had envisioned landings on the 
southwest coast of Mindoro, south of Luzon. From that point, 
American forces could threaten Japanese shipping lanes through 
the South China Sea.

The day before the amphibians assaulted Mindoro, the 3d Fleet's 
Fast Carrier Task Force (TF) 38-supported in art by WISCONSIN-
rendered Japanese facilities at Manila largely useless. Between 
14 and 16 December, TF 38's naval aviators secured complete 
tactical surprise and quickly won complete mastery of the air 
and sank or destroyed 27 Japanese vessels; damaged 60 more; 
destroyed 269 planes; and bombed miscellaneous ground 
installations.

The next day the weather, however, soon turned sour for Halsey's 
sailors. A furious typhoon struck his fleet, catching many ships 
refueling and with little ballast in their nearly dry bunkers. 
Three destroyers- HULL (DD-350), MONAGHAN (DD-354), and SPENCE 
(DD-512)-capsized and sank. WISCONSIN proved her seaworthiness 
as she escaped the storm unscathed.

As heavily contested as they were, the Mindoro operations proved 
only the introduction to another series of calculated blows 
aimed at the occupying Japanese in the Philippines. For 
WISCONSIN, her next operation was the occupation of Luzon. By-
passing the southern beaches, American amphibians went ashore at 
Lingayen Gulf-the scene of the Japanese landings nearly three 
years before.

WISCONSIN-armed with heavy antiaircraft batteries -performed 
escort duty for TF 38's fast carriers during air strikes against 
Formosa, Luzon, and the Nansei Shoto, to neutralize Japanese 
forces there and to cover the unfolding Lingayen Gulf 
operations. Those strikes, lasting from 3 to 22 January 1945, 
included a thrust into the South China Sea, in the hope that 
major units of the Japanese Navy could be drawn into battle.

Air strikes between Saigon and Camranh Bay, Indochina, on 12 
January resulted in severe losses for the enemy. TF 38's 
warplanes sank 41 ships and damaged heavily damaged docks, 
storage areas, and aircraft facilities. At least 112 enemy 
planes would never again see operational service. Formosa, 
already struck on 3 and 4 January, again fell victim to the 
marauding American airmen, being smashed again on 9, 15, and 21 
January. Soon, Hong Kong, Canton, and Hainan Island felt the 
brunt of TF 38's power. Besides damaging and sinking Japanese 
shipping, American planes from the task force set the Canton oil 
refineries afire and blasted the Hong Kong Naval Station. They 
also raided Okinawa on 22 January, considerably lessening enemy 
air activities that could threaten the Luzon landings.

Subsequently assigned to the 5th Fleet-when Admiral Spruance 
relieved Admiral Halsey as Commander of the Fleet-WISCONSIN 
moved northward with the redesignated TF 58 as the carriers 
headed for the Tokyo area. On 16 February 1945, the task force 
approached the Japanese coast under cover of adverse weather 
conditions and achieved complete tactical surprise. As a result, 
they shot down 322 enemy planes and destroyed 177 more on the 
ground, Japanese shipping-both naval and merchant-suffered 
drastically, too, as did hangars and aircraft installations. 
Moreover, all this damage to the enemy had cost the American 
Navy only 49 planes.

The task force moved to Iwo Jima on 17 February to provide 
direct support for the landings slated to take place on that 
island on the 19th. It revisited Tokyo on the 25th and, the next 
day, hit the island of Hachino off the coast of Honshu. During 
these raids, besides causing heavy damage or ground facilities, 
the American planes sent five small vessels to the bottom and 
destroyed 158 planes.

On 1 March, reconnaissance planes flew over the island of 
Okinawa, taking last minute intelligence photographs to be used 
in planning the assault on that island. The next day, cruisers 
from TF 58 shelled Okino Daito Shima in training for the 
forthcoming operation. The force then retired to Ulithi for 
replenishment.   WISCONSIN's task force stood out of Ulithi on 
14 March, bound for Japan. The mission of that group was to 
eliminate airborne resistance from the Japanese homeland to 
American forces off Okinawa. Enemy fleet units at Kure and Kobe, 
on southern Honshu, reeled under the impact of the explosive 
blows delivered by TF 58's airmen. On 18 and 19 March, from a 
point 100 miles southwest of Kyushu, TF 58 hit enemy airfields 
on that island. However, the Japanese drew blood during that 
action when kamikazes crashed into FRANKLIN (CV-17) on the 19th 
and seriously damaged that fleet carrier.

That afternoon, the task force retired from Kyushu, screening 
the blazing and battered flattop. In doing so, the screen downed 
48 attackers. At the conclusion of the operation, the force felt 
that it had achieved its mission of prohibiting any large-scale 
resistance from the air to the slated landings on Okinawa.

On the 24th, WISCONSIN trained her 16-inch rifles on targets 
ashore on Okinawa. Together with the other battlewagons of the 
task force, she pounded Japanese positions and installations in 
preparation for the landings. Although fierce, Japanese 
resistance was doomed to fail by dwindling numbers of aircraft 
and trained pilots to man them. In addition, the Japanese fleet, 
steadily hammered by air attacks from 5th Fleet aircraft, found 
itself confronted by a growing, powerful, and determined enemy. 
On 17 April, the undaunted enemy battleship YAMATO, with her 
18.1-inch guns, sortied to attack the American invasion fleet 
off Okinawa. Met head-on by a swarm of carrier planes, YAMATO, 
the light cruiser YAHAGI, and four destroyers went to the 
bottom, the victims of massed air power. Never again would the 
Japanese fleet present a major challenge to the American fleet 
in the war in the Pacific.

While TF 58's planes were off dispatching YAMATO and her 
consorts to the bottom of the South China Sea, enemy aircraft 
struck back at American surface units. Combat air patrols (CAP) 
knocked down 15 enemy planes, and ships' gunfire accounted for 
another three, but not before one kamikaze penetrated the CAP 
and screen to crash on the flight deck of the fleet carrier 
HANCOCK (CV-19). On 11 April, the "Divine Wind" renewed its 
efforts; and only drastic maneuvers and heavy barrages of 
gunfire saved the task force. None of the fanatical pilots 
achieved any direct hits, although near-misses, close aboard, 
managed to cause some minor damage. Combat air patrols bagged 17 
planes, and ships' gunfire accounted for an even dozen. The next 
day, 151 enemy aircraft committed hara-kiri into TF 58, but 
WISCONSIN, bristling with 5-inch, 40-millimeter and 20-
millimeter guns, together with other units of the screens for 
the vital carriers, kept the enemy at bay or destroyed him 
before he could reach his targets.

Over the days that ensued, American task force planes hit 
Japanese facilities and installations in the enemy's homeland. 
Kamikazes, redoubling their efforts, managed to crash into three 
carriers on successive days -INTREPID (CV-11), BUNKER HILL (CV-
17), and ENTERPRISE (CV-6).

By 4 June, a typhoon was swirling through the Fleet. WISCONSIN 
rode out the storm unscathed, but three cruisers, two carriers, 
and a destroyer suffered serious damage. Offensive operations 
were resumed on 8 June with a final aerial assault on Kyushu. 
Japanese aerial response was pitifully small; 29 planes were 
located and destroyed. On that day, one of WISCONSIN's 
floatplanes landed and rescued a downed pilot from the carrier 
SHANGRI-LA (CV-38).

WISCONSIN ultimately put into Leyte Gulf and dropped anchor 
there on 18 June for repairs and replenishment. Three weeks 
later, on 1 July, the battleship and her consorts sailed once 
more for Japanese home waters for carrier air strikes on the 
enemy's heartland. Nine days later, carrier planes from TF 38 
destroyed 72 enemy aircraft on the ground and smashed industrial 
sites in the Tokyo area. So little was the threat from the 
dwindling Japanese air arm that the Americans made no attempt 
whatever to conceal the location of their armada which was 
operating off her shores with impunity.

On the 16th, WISCONSIN again unlimbered her main battery, 
hurling 16-inch shells shoreward at the steel mills and oil 
refineries at Muroran, Hokkaido. Two days later, she wrecked 
industrial facilities in the Hitachi Miro area, on the coast of 
Honshu, northeast of Tokyo itself. During that bombardment, 
British battleships of the Eastern Fleet contributed their heavy 
shellfire. By that point in the war, Allied warships were able 
to shell the Japanese homeland almost at will.

Task Force 38's planes subsequently blasted the Japanese naval 
base at Yokosuka, and put one of the two remaining Japanese 
battleships- the former fleet flagship NAGATO out of action. On 
24 and 25 July, American carrier planes visited the Inland Sea 
region, blasting enemy sites on Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. 
Kure then again came under attack. Six major fleet units were 
located there and badly damaged, marking the virtual end of 
Japanese sea power.

Over the weeks that ensued, TF 38 continue its raids on Japanese 
industrial facilities, airfields, and merchant and naval 
shipping. Admiral Halsey's airmen visited destruction upon the 
Japanese capital for the last time on 13 August 1946. Two days 
later, the Japanese capitulated. World War II was over at last.

WISCONSIN, as port of the occupying force, arrived at Tokyo Bay 
on 6 September, three days after the formal surrender occurred 
on board the battleship MISSOURI (BB-63). During WISCONSIN's 
brief career in World War II, she had steamed 105,831 miles 
since commissioning; had shot down three enemy planes; had 
claimed assists on four occasions; and had fueled her screening 
destroyers on some 250 occasions.

Shifting subsequently to Okinawa, the battleship embarked 
homeward-bound GI's on 22 September, as part of the "Magic ' 
Carpet" operation staged to bring soldiers, sailors, and marines 
home from the far-flung battlefronts of the Pacific. Departing 
Okinawa on 23 September, WISCONSIN reached Pearl Harbor on 4 
October, remaining there for five days before she pushed on for 
the west coast on the last leg of her state-side bound voyage. 
She reached San Francisco on 15 October.

Heading for the east coast of the United States soon after the 
start of the new year, 1946, WISCONSIN transited the Panama 
Canal between 11 and 13 January and reached Hampton Roads, Va., 
on the 18th. Following a cruise south to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 
the battleship entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for overhaul. 
After repairs and alterations that consumed the summer months, 
WISCONSIN sailed for South American waters.

Over the weeks that ensued, the battleship visited Valparaiso, 
Chile, from 1 to 6 November; Callao, Peru, from 9 to 13 
November; Balboa, Canal Zone, from 16 to 20 November; and La 
Guajira, Venezuela, from 22 to 26 November, before returning to 
Norfolk: on 2 December 1946.

WISCONSIN spent nearly all of 1947 as a training ship, taking 
naval reservists on two-week cruises through-out the year. Those 
voyages commenced at Bayonne, N.J,, and saw visits conducted at 
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Panama Canal Zone. While underway 
at sea, the ship would perform various drills and exercises 
before the cruise would end where it had started, at Bayonne. 
During June and July of 1947, WISCONSIN took Naval Academy 
midshipmen on cruises to northern European waters.

In January 1948, WISCONSIN joined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at 
Norfolk, for inactivation. Placed out of commission, in reserve 
on 1 July 1948 WISCONSIN was assigned to the Norfolk group of 
the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

Her sojourn in "mothballs," however, was comparatively brief 
because of the North Korean invasion of South Korea in late June 
1950. WISCONSIN was recommissioned, on 3 March 1951, Capt. 
Thomas Burrowes in command. After shakedown training, the 
revitalized battleship conducted two midshipmen training 
cruises, taking the officers-to-be to Edinburgh, Scotland; 
Lisbon, Portugal; Halifax, Nova Scotia; New York City; and 
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before she returned to Norfolk.

WISCONSIN departed Norfolk on 25 October 1951, bound for the 
Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal on the 29th and reached. 
Yokosuka, Japan, on 21 November. There, she relieved NEW JERSEY 
(BB-62) as flagship for Vice Admiral H. M. Martin, Commander, 
7th Fleet.

On the 26th, with Vice Admiral Martin and Rear Admiral F. P. 
Denebrink, Commander, Service Force, Pacific, embarked, 
WISCONSIN departed Yokosuka for Korean waters to support the 
fast carrier operations of TF 77. She left the company of the 
carrier force on 2 December and, screened by the destroyer 
WILTSIE (DD-716), provided gunfire support for the Republic of 
Korea (ROK) Corps in the Kasong-Kosong area. After disembarking 
Admiral Denebrink on 3 December at Kangnung, the battleship 
resumed station on the Korean "bombline," providing gunfire 
support for the American 1st Marine Division. WISCONSIN's 
shellings accounted for a tank, two gun emplacements, and a 
building. She continued her gunfire support task for the 1st 
Marine Division and 1st ROK Corps through 6 December, accounting 
for enemy bunkers, artillery positions, and troop 
concentrations. On one occasion during that time, the battleship 
received a request for call-fire support and provided three 
starshells for the 1st ROK Corps, illuminating a communist 
attack that was consequently repulsed with considerable enemy 
casualties.

After being relieved on the gunline by the heavy cruiser ST. 
PAUL (CA-78) on 6 December, WISCONSIN retired only briefly from 
gunfire support duties. She resumed them, however, in the 
Kasong-Kosong area on 11 December screened by the destroyer 
TWINING (DD-540). The following day, 12 December, saw the 
embarkation in WISCONSIN of Rear Admiral H. R. Thurber, 
Commander, Battleship Division 2. The admiral came on board via 
helicopter, incident to his inspection trip in the Far East.

The battleship continued naval gunfire support duties on the 
"bombline," shelling enemy bunkers, command posts, artillery 
positions, and trench systems through 14 December. She departed 
the "bombline" on that day to render special gunfire support 
duties in the Kojo area blasting coastal targets in support of 
United Nations (UN) troops ashore. That same day, she returned 
to the Kasong-Kosong area. On the 15th, she disembarked Admiral 
Thurber by helicopter. The next day, WISCONSIN departed Korean 
waters, heading for Sasebo to rearm.

Returning to the combat zone on the 17th, WISCONSIN embarked 
United States Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan on the 18th. 
That day, the battleship supported the 11th ROK invasion with 
night illumination fire that enabled the ROK troops to repulse a 
communist assault with heavy enemy casualties. Departing the 
"bombline" on the 19th, the battleship later that day 
transferred her distinguished passenger, Senator Ferguson, by 
helicopter to the carrier VALLEY FORGE (CV-45).

WISCONSIN next participated in a coordinated air-surface 
bombardment of Wonsan to neutralize pre-selected targets. She 
shifted her bombardment station. to the western end of Wonsan 
harbor, hitting boats and small craft in the inner swept channel 
during the afternoon. Such activities helped to forestall any 
communist attempts to assault the friendly-held islands in the 
Wonsan area. WISCONSIN then made an anti-boat sweep to the 
north, utilizing her 5-inch batteries on suspected boat 
concentrations. She then provided gunfire support to UN troops 
operating at the "bombline" until three days before Christmas 
1951. She then rejoined the carrier task force.

On 28 December, Francis Cardinal Spellman-on a Korean tour over 
the Christmas holidays-visited the ship, coming on board by 
helicopter to celebrate Mass for the Catholic members of the 
crew. The distinguished prelate departed the ship by helicopter 
off Pohang. Three days later, on the last day of the year, 
WISCONSIN put into Yokosuka.

WISCONSIN departed that Japanese port on 8 January 1952 and 
headed for Korean waters once more. She reached Pusan the 
following day and entertained the President of South Korea, 
Syngman Rhee, and his wife, on the 10th. President and Mrs. Rhee 
received full military honors as they came on board, and he 
reciprocated by awarding Vice Admiral Martin the ROK Order of 
the Military Merit.

WISCONSIN returned to the "bombline" on 11 January and, over the 
ensuing days, delivered heavy gunfire support for the 1st Marine 
Division and the 1st ROK Corps. As before, her primary targets 
were command posts, shelters, bunkers, troop concentrations and 
mortar positions. As before, she stood ready to deliver; call-
fire support as needed. One such occasion occurred; on 14 
January when she shelled enemy troops in the open at the request 
of the ROK 1st Corps.

Rearming at Sasebo and once more joining TF 77 off the coast of 
Korea soon thereafter, WISCONSIN resumed support at the 
"bombline" on 23 January. Three days later, she shifted once 
more to the Kojo region, to participate in a coordinated air and 
gun strike. That same day, the battleship-returned to the 
"bombline" and shelled the command post and communications 
center for the 15th North Korean Division during call-fire 
missions for the 1st Marine Division.

Returning to Wonsan at the end of January, WISCONSIN bombarded 
enemy guns at Hodo Pando before she was rearmed at Sasebo. The 
battleship rejoined TF 77 on 2 February and the next day, 
blasted railway buildings and marshaling yards at Hodo Pando and 
Kojo before rejoining TF 77. After replenishment at Yokosuka a 
few days later, she returned to the Kosong area and resumed 
gunfire support. During that time, she destroyed railway bridges 
and a small shipyard besides conducting callfire missions on 
enemy command posts, bunkers, and personnel shelters, making 
numerous cuts on enemy trench lines in the process.

On 26 February, WISCONSIN arrived at Pusan where Vice Admiral 
Shon, the ROK Chief of Naval Operations; United States 
Ambassador J. J. Muccio; and Rear Admiral Scott-Montcrief, Royal 
Navy, Commander, Task Group 95.12, visited the battleship. 
Departing that South Korean port the following day, WISCONSIN 
reached Yokosuka on 2 March. A week later, she shifted to Sasebo 
to prepare to return to Korean waters.

WISCONSIN arrived off Songjin, Korea, on 15 March 1952 and 
concentrated her gunfire on enemy railway transport. Early that 
morning, she destroyed a communist troop train trapped outside 
of a destroyed tunnel. That afternoon, she received the first 
direct hit in, her history, when one of four shells from a 
communist 155-millimeter gun battery struck the shield of a 
starboard 40-millimeter mount. Although little material damage 
resulted, three men were injured. Almost as if the victim of a 
personal affront, WISCONSIN subsequently blasted that battery to 
oblivion with a 16-inch salvo before continuing her mission. 
After lending a hand to support once more the 1st Marine 
Division with her heavy rifles, the battleship returned to Japan 
on 19 March.

Relieved as flagship of the 7th Fleet on 1 April by sistership 
IOWA (BB-61), WISCONSIN departed Yokosuka, bound for the United 
States. En route home, she touched briefly at Guam, where she 
took part in the successful test of the Navy's largest floating 
dry-dock on 4 and 5 April, marking the first time that an IOWA-
class battleship had ever utilized that type of facility. She 
continued her homeward-bound voyage, via Pearl Harbor, and 
arrived at Long Beach, Calif., on l9 April, She then sailed for 
the east coast; her destination: Norfolk.

Early in June 1962, WISCONSIN resumed her role as a training 
ship, taking midshipmen to Greenock, Scotland; Brest, France; 
and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before returning to Norfolk. She 
departed Hampton Roads on 25 August and participated in a North 
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercise, Operation 
"Mainbrace" which commenced at Greenock and extended as far 
north as Oslo, Norway. After her return to Norfolk, WISCONSIN 
underwent an overhaul in the naval shipyard there. She then 
engaged in local training evolutions until 11 February 1953, 
when she sailed for Cuban waters for refresher training. She 
visited Newport, R.I., and New York City before returning to 
Norfolk late in April.

Following another midshipman's training cruise to Rio de 
Janeiro, Brazil; Port-of-Spain, Trinidad; and Guantanamo Bay, 
WISCONSIN put into the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 4 August for a 
brief overhaul. A little over a month later, upon conclusion of 
that period of repairs and alterations, the battleship departed 
Norfolk on 9 September, bound for the Far East.

Sailing via the Panama Canal to Japan, WISCONSIN relieved NEW 
JERSEY (BB-62) as 7th Fleet flagship on 12 October. During the 
months that followed, WISCONSIN visited the Japanese ports of 
Kobe, Sasebo, Yokosuka, Otaru, and Nagasaki. She spent Christmas 
at Hong Kong and was ultimately relieved of flagship duties on 1 
April 1954 and returned to the United States soon thereafter, 
teaching Norfolk, via Long Beach and the Panama Canal, on 4 May 
1954.

Entering the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 11 June, WISCONSIN 
underwent a brief overhaul and commenced a midshipman training 
cruise on 12 July. After revisiting Greenock, Brest, and 
Guantanamo Bay, the ship returned to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard 
for repairs. Shortly thereafter, WISCONSIN participated in 
Atlantic Fleet exercises as flagship for Commander, 2d Fleet. 
Departing Norfolk in January 1955, WISCONSIN took part in 
operation "Springboard," during which time she visited Port-au-
Prince, Haiti. Then, upon returning to Norfolk, the battleship 
conducted another midshipman's cruise that summer, visiting 
Edinburgh; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Guantanamo Bay before 
returning to the United States.

Upon completion of a major overhaul at the New York Naval 
Shipyard, WISCONSIN headed south for refresher training in the 
Caribbean, later taking part in another "Springboard" exercise. 
During that cruise, she again visited Port-au-Prince and added 
Tampico, Mexico, and Cartagena, Colombia, to her list of ports 
of call. She returned to Norfolk on the last day of March 1955 
for local operations.

Throughout April and into May, WISCONSIN operated locally off 
the Virginia capes. On 6 May, the battleship collided with the 
destroyer EATON (DDE-510) in a heavy fog; WISCONSIN put into 
Norfolk with extensive damage to her bow and, one week later, 
entered drydock at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. A novel expedient 
speeded her repairs and enabled the ship to carry out her 
scheduled midshipman training cruise that summer. A 120-ton, 68-
foot long section of the bow of the uncompleted battleship 
KENTUCKY was transported by barge, in one section, from New 
Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp., Newport News, Va., 
across Hampton Roads to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Working 
round-the clock, WISCONSIN's ship's force and shipyard personnel 
completed the operation which grafted the new bow on the old 
battleship in a mere 16 days. On 28 June 1956, the ship was 
ready for sea.

Embarking 700 NROTC midshipmen, representing 52 colleges and 
universities throughout the United States, WISCONSIN departed 
Norfolk on 9 July, bound for Spain. Reaching Barcelona on the 
20th, the battleship next called at Greenock and Guantanamo Bay 
before returning to Norfolk on the last day of August. That 
autumn, WISCONSIN participated in Atlantic Fleet exercises off 
the coast of the Carolinas, returning to port on 8 November 
1956. Entering the Norfolk Naval Shipyard a week later, the 
battleship underwent major repairs that were not finished until 
2 January 1957.

After local operations off the Virginia capes from 3 to 4 
January and from the 9th to the 11th, WISCONSIN departed Norfolk 
on the 16th, reporting to Commander, Fleet Training Group, at 
Guantanamo Bag. Breaking the two-starred flag of Rear Admiral 
Henry Crommelin, Commander, Battleship Division 2, WISCONSIN 
served as Admiral Crommelin's flagship during the ensuing shore 
bombardment practices and other exercises held off the isle of 
Culebra, Puerto Rico, from 2 to 4 February 1957. Sailing for 
Norfolk upon completion of the training period, the battleship 
arrived on 7 February.

The warship conducted a brief period of local operations off 
Norfolk before she sailed, on 27 March, for the Mediterranean. 
Reaching Gibraltar on 6 April, she pushed on that day to 
rendezvous with TF 60 in the Aegean Sea. She then proceeded with 
that force to Xeros Bay, Turkey, arriving there on 11 April for 
NATO Exercise "Red Pivot."

Departing Xeros Bay on 14 April, she arrived at Naples four days 
later, After a week's visit-during which she was visited by 
Italian dignitaries-WISCONSIN conducted exercises in the eastern 
Mediterranean. In the course of those operational training 
evolutions, she rescued a pilot and crewman who survived the 
crash of a plane from the carrier FORRESTAL (CVA-59). Two days 
later, Vice Admiral Charles R. Brown, Commander, 6th Fleet, came 
on board for an official visit by high-line and departed via the 
same method that day. WISCONSIN reached Valencia, Spain, on 10 
May and, three days later, entertained prominent civilian and 
military officials of the city.

Departing Valencia on the 17th, WISCONSIN reached Norfolk on 27 
May. On that day, Rear Admiral L. S. Parks relieved Rear Admiral 
Crommelin as Commander, Battleship Division 2. Departing Norfolk 
on 19 June, the battleship, over the ensuing weeks, conducted a 
midshipman training cruise through the Panama Canal to South 
American waters. She transited the canal on 26 June; crossed the 
equator on the following day; and reached Valparaiso, Chile, on 
3 July. Eight days later, the battleship headed back to the 
Panama Canal and the Atlantic.

After exercises at Guantanamo Bay and off Culebra, WISCONSIN 
reached Norfolk on 5 August and conducted local operations that 
lasted into September. She then participated in NATO exercises 
which took her across the North Atlantic to the British Isles. 
She arrived in the Clyde on 14 September and subsequently 
visited Brest, France, before returning to Norfolk on 22 
October.

WISCONSIN's days as an active fleet unit were numbered, and she 
prepared to make her last cruise. On 4 November 1967, she 
departed Norfolk with a large group of prominent guests on 
board. Reaching New York City on 6 November, the battleship 
disembarked her guests and, on the 8th, headed for Bayonne, 
N.J., to commence pre-inactivation overhaul.

Placed out of commission at Bayonne on 8 March 1968, WISCONSIN 
joined the "Mothball Fleet" there, leaving the United States 
Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896. 
Subsequently taken to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, WISCONSIN 
remained there with her sistership IOWA into 1981.

WISCONSIN earned five battle stars for her World War II service 
and one for Korea.

Transcribed and edited by:
Larry W. Jewell
jewell@mace.cc.purdue.edu