Calling all USS North Carolina BB-55 & USS Washington BB-56 fans

[igorp]

OK, another mystery. Take a look on this photo. I can not imagine where it is taken, or a location that shows. I mean on USS Washington. AFAIIK, there was such a lookout post on searchlight platform (here), and also on the rear side of the tower - see my previous post. But this shot simply does not match, so maybe it's not from USS Washington. Any idea will be appreciated.
Igor

[Dick J]

I don't see anything in that photo that is inconsistent with either Washington or North Carolina in early 1942. The tub at the top of the photo is the one on the starboard side of the tower. If you look at the photos of the bridge area, you can see the bridge wing extension just below the tub, an area lacking splinter screens. The photographer would have been on the short extension of the pilothouse level that projects aft of the tower.

[igorp]

Dick, thank you very much again. Hats off to your knowledge. So the photo was taken from the magnetic compass location.
Another small error by trumpy, this bridge wing extension is missing. Bad for me, my bridge is already completed.

[Ian Roberts]

This thread has been invaluable during my feeble attempt at doing justice to BB-55 via a series of "Shipbucket" style drawings. I present them here, in order, and would love to hear any comments, criticism, and corrections from the knowledgeable folks in this thread.

Thanks all - this site truly is a gold mine of useful information!

BB-55 during her shakedown cruise, August of 1941.

BB-55 in summer 1942, before heading to the Solomons

BB-55 during most of 1943, after her November 1942 repair period at Pearl Harbor (where the torpedo hit suffered in the Solomons was patched up)

BB-55 during the latter half of 1943. Note the at-sea applied Measure 32, with uneven lines as it was applied by the crew while underway

BB-55 after the intensive overhaul at Puget Sound, September of 1944

BB-55 in 1945 with Measure 22 camouflage

[David Sandifer]

Wonderful drawings, Colosseum! Have you portside views? I'm particularly interested in Summer 42 and Latter Half 43, and overhead view of Latter Half 43 (with Black, 20-B, and 5-O deck pattern).

[Ian Roberts]

The Shipbucket style traditionally shows only a starboard elevation, but I might give a portside view a shot - there are minor configuration differences that would need to be accounted for, hence why I generally limit the scope of my projects to a starboard elevation only at first. I have actually never drawn a plan view in this scale/style but I might give it a shot later on.

[Tracy White]

BB-55 during her shakedown cruise, August of 1941.

She was in sort-of a modified Measure 2 or Measure 12 during her shakedown, not measure 1. Color photos show Ocean gray on the superstructure, but the hull beneath is most likely still 5-D. If you've got a copy of the Classic Warships BB-55 Warship Pictorial, pay attention to the difference between the stanchions and bits and the turrets and superstructure.

[Ian Roberts]

I had my suspicions about that, but could never confirm... the Snyder & Short website (which I have been told is the "Bible" for ship camouflage), lists both Measure 1 and 2 for BB-55 in 1941. I most unfortunately did not have a copy of the Warship Pictorial publication (have just ordered it in order to revise my drawings).

I had to take the camouflage colors from the Wikipedia article, assuming from the references that they were mostly correct. I actually tried a version of Measure 12 on the ship, but the contrast between the 5-O Ocean Gray superstructure and the 5-L Light Gray mast top was clearly not enough. I am away from my drawing computer at the moment but will post a version with the 5-O coloration as an example. As it stands, the current 5-L is not actually the correct 5-L from the Wikipedia article but rather an approximation I made based on the few color photographs I could find of the ship during its shakedown cruise.

Thanks all for the continued comments!

[Tracy White]

I'm the webmaster for ShipCamouflage and there are definitely errors, plus I have not come up with a good way to list the months that a change took place without completely destroying the ability to have it still look readable, print well, etc.. It's a good starting point, and I'd like to revise it further, but it would take a lot more work than I have the energy and money for at this point.

[Ian Roberts]

Ah, totally understand... well, let me take the time to express my admiration for both Shipcamouflage.com and Researcher@Large... two invaluable online resources!

Once I get back, will post a version of the ship in the correct Measure 2 camouflage.

[Ian Roberts]

Here's the corrected August 1941 version:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/161 ... 941-08.png - I've labeled it "Non-standard Measure 2" in light of Mr. White's observations above.

Thanks all.

[Ian Roberts]

For my own sanity, went ahead and marked up a great photo of BB-56's midshipman cruise to show the light arrangement, radar, and ECM equipment.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/161 ... Labels.jpg

Please let me know if I've made any errors. I'm curious especially about what I've labeled as the NANCY IR beacons - I figured that's what those lights were based on this entry regarding USS Pennsylvania, specifically this photo: http://navsource.org/archives/01/038/013801c.jpg

"NANCY" IR beacons flanking the Fire Control Level atop her tripod Foremast.

I've noticed a similar light on late-war photos of BB-55, though mounted on the whip antenna outriggers abeam the air defense level. Given that they don't look like "fighting lights", I figured it might be a late-war IR innovation - can anyone comment?

[Ian Roberts]

Does anyone have any information on the floatplane squadrons that were assigned to BB-55 and BB-56? Admittedly I don't know where to even begin looking for this information. I'm especially interested in the markings and camouflage colors for the aircraft involved.

[Tracy White]

Any particular time frame? It was a long war.....

[Ian Roberts]

Did the squadrons change regularly? (That question will probably indicate my ignorance of the subject!)

[Tracy White]

Well, I didn't really want to do this, but you left me no choice. However, rather than going through *all* of the weekly reports, I'm going to just sample quarters. It's not abnormal for a ship to change squadrons, but it appears BBs 55 and 56 were pretty stable:

April 1, 1942:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina and Washington) have Observation Squadron Six (VO-6) attached.

July 9, 1942:
BatDiv 4 (North Carolina - Pacific) Observation Squadron Four (VO-4) attached.
BatDiv 6 (Washington - Atlantic) Observation Squadron Six (VO-6) attached.

October 15, 1942:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina and Washington both in the Pacific now and including South Dakota) has VO-6 attached.

January 6, 1943:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina and Washington and including Indiana) has VO-6 attached.

April 3, 1943:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina, Washington and Indiana and Massachusetts) has VO-6 attached.

July 6, 1943:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina and Washington) has VO-6 attached.

October 5, 1943
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina and Washington) has VO-6 attached.

January 5, 1944:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina and Washington) has VO-6 attached.

April 4, 1944:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina, Washington) has VO-6 OS2U-3 attached.

July 4, 1944:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina, Washington) has VO-6 OS2U-3 attached.
(Technically North Carolina has OS2N-1s, but these are Naval Aircraft Factory built OS2U-3s)

October 3, 1944:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina x 2, Washington x 3) has VO-6 OS2U-3 attached.

January 2, 1945:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina x 2, Washington x 3) has VO-6 OS2U-3 attached.

April 7, 1945:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina x 2, Washington x 2, South Dakota x2) has VO-6 OS2U-3 attached.

July 7, 1945:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina x 2, Washington x 2, South Dakota x2) has VO-6 OS2U-3 attached.

August 4, 1945:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina x 2, Washington x 2, South Dakota x2) has VO-6 OS2U-3 attached.

September 7, 1945:
BatDiv 6 (North Carolina x 2, Washington x 3 SC-1, South Dakota x2) has VO-6 SC-1 / OS2U-3 attached.

[Cliffy B]

Alright Tracy, now get the individual aircraft numbers within the squadrons and the Bu numbers!

[Tracy White]

It costs me about a grand to make it out to NARA for a week, if you're volunteering to finance me!

[Cliffy B]

When I win the lottery I'll let you know!

[Ian Roberts]

Tracy comes through for us as always! Excellent information. Now to figure out what the aircraft would have looked like (paint schemes, insignia, etc)...