Mystery Ships Silhouettes
(Answers!)

Did you come up with BB36 - USS Nevada?

Amazingly, all three mystery ships are indeed the USS Nevada, in her various configurations through two world wars. Let's take a look again...

Mystery Ship #1

BB36 - USS Nevada (1920)

BB35 - USS Texas (1918)

The USS Texas pictured above is typical of American battleships in World War I. The tall "birdcage masts" were installed to provide a high position from which to observe the shell splashes from the fall of shot. Mounted on these masts were searchlight platforms, and "range clocks" to help other ships in the battle line with their gunnery. Pictured above is the USS Texas and the USS Nevada as they appeared just after World War I. Although they both look similar above, and both ships had ten 14" guns, they were radically different designs. The Texas had five turrets holding two guns apiece. The Nevada had three guns in the outside turrets, and two guns in each of the turrets closest to amidships. But, perhaps more significant, the USS Nevada was the first battleship in the US Navy to use "all or nothing" armor - a new concept that was then adopted for all subsequent battleships.

Distinctive Features of these two ships:
Tall "birdcage masts" with very shallow spotting tops
Searchlights mounted on the "birdcage masts"
No superstructure between the bridge and aft turrets
Casemate guns mounted below the main deck in the hull
Large boat handling crane amidships
Minimal superstructure

Mystery Ship #2

BB36 - USS Nevada (1938)

BB39 - USS Arizona (1941)

The image of USS Arizona, with her large tripod masts and massive spotting towers crumpled and surrounded by smoke is perhaps one of the most famous photographs of World War II. It is a hard image to forget. Pictured above are the USS Arizona and the USS Nevada. Actually, these two ships are quite similar in design, although the Arizona has three guns in all four of her turrets, and therefore is equipped with twelve guns versus the Nevada's ten. Both ships were at Pearl Harbor on December 7^th, 1941, but had radically different fates. The Arizona was perhaps the most tragic of the battleship stories that day; her forward magazine exploded, and she sank with great loss of life. She was the only battleship sunk at Pearl Harbor not to be raised. The Nevada, on the other hand, has perhaps the most heroic of the battleship stories from that day. Damaged by the first wave of Japanese attackers, she was able to get up steam and get underway in an attempt to break out into the open sea. However, the second wave inflicted enough damage to cause her to sink as well. Her captain, not wanting to block the shipping channel, ran her aground.

Distinctive Features of these two ships:
Tripod masts mounting large, enclosed spotting rooms
Casemate guns mounted above the main deck of the hull
A large crane at the stern for handling the ships floatplanes
Two rows of portholes along the hull
A catapult mounted atop X turret
Single funnel separated from the bridge

Mystery Ship #3

BB36 - USS Nevada (1945)

BB43 - USS Tennessee (1945)

BB59 - USS Massachusetts (1945)

The role of the battleship had changed during World War II. Now, with the advent of Naval Aviation, battleships were no longer expected to slug it out with the enemy. Instead, one of their most important roles was in providing anti-aircraft fire to protect other fleet units. Ships of this era abandoned the casemate guns that were good only against surface targets and adopted dual purpose guns in staggered turrets that could be elevated to engage aircraft. Superstructures were trimmed to a minimum and kept very compact so as to not interfere with the anti-aircraft fire. Pictured above is the USS Nevada along side the USS Massachusetts and USS Tennessee. Although the profiles are similar, the Massachusetts of the South Dakota class was more than twenty years newer than the two pre-Washington Treaty battleships pictured here, and had little in common with them. The South Dakota class had three turrets instead of four, and adopted 16" guns instead of 14" guns as in the other two ships pictured here. In the illustrations above, the Nevada and Tennessee are hardly recognizable as the ships that first saw service in 1916 and 1920 respectively. The Massachusetts, however, is virtually identical to her appearance when she first saw service in the Atlantic in 1942. Although the Tennessee looks very similar to the South Dakota class as pictured here, when launched she appeared more like the USS Texas and USS Nevada of the First World War, complete with a minimum superstructure and "birdcage masts."

Distinctive Features of these three ships:
Few portholes in the hull
Very compact superstructures
A single funnel (slanted top) trunked into the bridge structure
Gun control directors mounted fore, aft, and on the sides
Dual Purpose Anti-Aircraft Guns (5"/38) mounted in twin turrets on staggered levels
Large numbers of smaller Anti-Aircraft Guns

Why the Mystery?

Was I deliberately trying to trick you, by having the USS Nevada being all three mystery ships, and yet looking very different every time? You bet I was - to illustrate a point. When looking at old photographs of ships, they can be very difficult to identify, since some ships radically changed their appearance over the years. Let's take a look again at the USS Nevada at three different times in her life side-by-side.

1920
1938
1945

Notice the difference in secondary guns, superstructure, cranes, and even hull shape. About all that remained the same on the Nevada were the number and arrangement of main armament turrets, and the location and number of funnels - the Nevada retained a single funnel throughout her career, although her entire powerplant was replaced. However, other battleships had multiple funnels combined into a single larger funnel, or changed the number of their main armament turrets, too. So identifying a particular ship is often very difficult indeed.

In short, battleships can radically change over time. Not only appearance, but armor protection, dimensions (including beam and length), armament, speed, cruising range, and of course, total displacement. So, when reporting statistics on a ship, it is important to mark the point in that ships history for when those statistics are valid. When battleships can serve their countries over a period of twenty, thirty, or even fifty years, they can accumulate incredible histories. It is unfortunate that so few of these vessels remain today.