Doing some research for the Essex book this weekend and I came across details that I feel are worth noting.
North Carolina was at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for repair and overhaul from May 9 to June 28, 1945. During this time two new radars were installed. One was a SCR-720 (the same radar mounted on the P-61 Black Widow) and the other was a SC-5, which was an improved SC-2 (following the improved SC-3 and SC-4) ordered as a stop gap until the new SR radar was ready for the fleet. The SCR-720 was mounted on the front of the forward stack and looks similar to the radar domes we know today. The SC-5 was on the mainmast (aft) and was *tilted back* 35 degrees from horizontal.
Both were a measure to improve air search overhead due to the onslaught of kamikaze attacks. North Carolina reported that performance was excellent for the SC-5 and "disappointing" for the SCR-720, due to interference from superstructure, lack of IFF, and an extremely wide target indication bearing (I suspect due to it's genesis as an airborne radar).
You can see the SCR-720 radar "dome" on top of the forward stack along with the tilted SC-5 radar
here on her
Navsource page as well as evidence that the SC-5 was
still mounted in June of 1946 while the SCR-720 was not.
So, in summary, anyone wanting to build a WWII BB-55 North Carolina from June until the end of the war might take these two radars and their appearance into consideration.
_________________
Tracy White -
Researcher@Large"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-
Barbara Tuchman