Never Forget...
Struck by seven torpedoes on her port side by Japanese torpedo bombers and hit by two 16" shells modified to be dropped by bombers, USS West Virginia sank into the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. One hundred six members of her crew died in the attack and the ship wasn't raised until May 1942. She was towed to the west coast and underwent extensive repairs and modernization, not returning to service until September 1944.
West Virginia participated during the Battle of Surigao Strait and hit the bridge of the Japanese battleship Yamashiro on her first salvo, helping to knock the enemy battleship out of the action.
In 1945 West Virginia bombarded the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
One of the few bookends of the war in the Pacific, it was fitting for West Virginia to be present in Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.
36-40, F
