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USS South Dakota (BB-57)

USS South Dakota (BB-57) was the lead vessel of the four South Dakota-class fast battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1930s. The first American battleships designed after the Washington treaty system began to break down in the mid-1930s, the South Dakotas were able to take advantage of a treaty clause that allowed them to increase the main battery to 16-inch (406 mm) guns. However, congressional refusal to authorize larger battleships kept their displacement close to the Washington limit of 35,000 long tons (35,562 t). A requirement to be armored against the same caliber of guns as they carried, combined with the displacement restriction, resulted in cramped ships. Overcrowding was exacerbated by wartime modifications that considerably strengthened their anti-aircraft batteries and significantly increased their crews.

For other ships with the same name, see USS South Dakota.

South Dakota saw extensive action during World War II; immediately upon entering service in mid-1942, she was sent to the south Pacific to reinforce Allied forces waging the Guadalcanal campaign. The ship was damaged in an accidental grounding on an uncharted reef, but after completing repairs she returned to the front, taking part in the Battle of Santa Cruz in October and the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November. During the latter action, electrical failures hampered the ability of the ship to engage Japanese warships and she became the target of numerous Japanese vessels, sustaining over two-dozen hits that significantly damaged her superstructure but did not seriously threaten her buoyancy. South Dakota returned to the United States for repairs that lasted into 1943, after which she was briefly deployed to strengthen the British Home Fleet, tasked with protecting convoys to the Soviet Union.


In mid-1943, the ship was transferred back to the Pacific, where she primarily operated with the fast carrier task force, contributing her heavy anti-aircraft armament to its defense. In this capacity, she took part in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in late 1943 and early 1944, the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign in mid-1944, and the Philippines campaign later that year. In 1945, she participated in the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and bombarded Japan three times. Following the end of the war in August 1945, she took part in the initial occupation of the country before returning to the United States in September. She later moved to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where she was laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until 1962, when she was sold for scrap.

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"South Dakota (BB-57)"

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"South Dakota (BB-57) 1943-44"

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"South Dakota II (BB-57) 13 May 1945 – 7 September 1969"

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ISBN

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ISBN

Friedman, Norman (1985). U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.  978-0-87021-715-9.

ISBN

Hornfischer, James D. (2011). . New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-80670-0.

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

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"Life Aboard "Battleship X": The USS South Dakota in World War II"

Mooney, James L., ed. (1976). Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Historical Sketches—Letters R through S. Vol. VI. Washington DC: Department of the Navy.  769806180.

OCLC

Morison, Samuel Eliot (1956). The Atlantic Battle Won. May 1943 – May 1945. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Vol. X (2001 reprint ed.). Edison: Castle Books.  978-0-7858-1311-8.

ISBN

Rajtar, Steve & Franks, Frances Elizabeth (2010). War Monuments, Museums and Library Collections of 20th Century Conflicts: A Directory of United States Sites. McFarland: Jefferson.  978-1-4766-1237-9.

ISBN

(2005). Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8.

Rohwer, Jürgen

Terzibaschitsch, Stefan (1977). Battleships of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Munich: J.F. Lehmanns Verlag.  978-0-517-23451-8.

ISBN

. history.navy.mil. Naval History and Heritage Command. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.

"Willard Park"

Wilmott, H. P. (2015). The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.  978-0-253-01901-1.

ISBN

Lundgren, Robert (2008). "Question 39/43: Loss of HIJMS Kirishima". Warship International. XLV (4): 291–296.  0043-0374.

ISSN

of USS South Dakota at NavSource Naval History

Photo gallery

. YouTube (Motion Picture). The City of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 2006. Archived from the original on 25 June 2012.

Battleship X - The USS South Dakota

Media related to USS South Dakota (BB-57) at Wikimedia Commons


43°32′36″N 96°45′46″W / 43.54333°N 96.76278°W / 43.54333; -96.76278