The
keel for
Mississippi was
laid down on 5 April 1915 at the
Newport News Shipbuilding Company of
Newport News, Virginia. She was
launched on 25 January 1917, and after completing
fitting-out work, was commissioned into the
US Navy on 18 December 1917. Then-
Captain Joseph Lee Jayne served as the ship's first commanding officer. After completing
sea trials off Virginia,
Mississippi departed the United States on 22 March 1918 for the
Gulf of Guacanayabo in Cuba, where she conducted further training. From 1919 to 1921,
William A. Moffett served as the ship's commander. On 31 January 1919, she left for another round of training in the Caribbean. Before the start of fleet maneuvers in March,
Mississippi had a flying-off platform built atop her forward superfiring turret, and during the maneuvers that year, she operated a
Hanriot HD.1. The ship launched the aircraft three times during the maneuvers, but as she had no landing facilities, the pilot had to land ashore and then be loaded back onto the platform. Later in the year, she returned to
Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she began a cruise between Boston and New York.
Mississippi was then reassigned to the
Pacific Fleet and she accordingly left the east coast on 19 July. Throughout the 1920s, the ship routinely returned to the Caribbean for winter training exercises. Two of the original fourteen 5-inch/51-caliber guns were removed in 1922. During
Fleet Problem I, held in February 1923,
Mississippi sank the old
pre-dreadnought Coast Battleship No. 4 (formerly ), battering her first with her 5-inch guns at ranges between before firing a salvo of 14-inch shells that struck
Coast Battleship No. 4 amidships and inflicted fatal damage. During the gunnery exercise, spotter aircraft were used for the first time to help direct an American battleship's guns in a major exercise. While conducting gunnery practice off
San Pedro on 12 June 1924, there was an explosion in her forward superfiring Gun Turret No. 2. The resulting fire asphyxiated 44 members of the turret crew. Upon returning to port the gunpowder that was still in Gun No. 5, the remaining gun in the turret, exploded and killed four members of the rescue team. The shell that was in the gun narrowly missed the passenger ship
Yale. This was, at the time, the deadliest peace-time disaster in the Navy's history. She left
San Francisco on 15 April 1925 for
war games held off Hawaii, after which she went on a cruise to Australia, returning to California on 26 September. The ship returned to the east coast in early 1931 for a major modernization at
Norfolk Navy Yard that began on 30 March. This overhaul significantly changed the ship's profile by removing the original fore and aft lattice mast. The former was replaced with a tower. Modernization also included replacement of earlier 3-inch/50 cal
anti-aircraft guns with eight 5-inch/25-caliber guns. Further training exercises followed in September 1933. On 24 October 1934, she passed through the
Panama Canal on her way back to the Pacific Fleet, where she remained through mid-1941, apart from the normal winter cruises in the Caribbean. By this time,
World War II had broken out in Europe, spawning the
Battle of the Atlantic. In response, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the
Neutrality Patrols to protect American shipping. On 7 May 1941, Admiral
Harold Rainsford Stark, the
Chief of Naval Operations, transferred
Mississippi, the battleships and , the
aircraft carrier , four
light cruisers, and two
destroyer squadrons to the Atlantic to reinforce the Neutrality Patrols. On 15 June,
Mississippi arrived back in Norfolk, where she prepared to make her first patrol in the North Atlantic, which consisted of escorting a
convoy from
Newport, Rhode Island, to
Hvalfjordur, Iceland. She began another convoy escort mission on 28 September, also to Iceland.
Mississippi remained there through November to protect American shipping in the area. During this period, she was assigned to the "White Patrol", a special task group, along with the other two battleships and a pair of
heavy cruisers. File:USS Mississippi (BB-41)-NARA-45512536.jpg|
Mississippi anchored off New York City File:NH 43915.jpg|A
Sopwith Camel takes off from
Mississippi, 6 April 1919 File:USS Mississippi.jpg|USS
Mississippi, naval cover with ship's postmark. While at Pearl Harbor the
Mississippis crew celebrated Washington's birthday, 22 February 1941
World War II and
HMAS Shropshire are in the background. On 9 December, two days after the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor,
Mississippi departed Iceland, bound for the
Pacific Theater. She reached San Francisco on 22 January 1942, where she conducted training and escorted convoys along the west coast over the following seven months. Beginning in May 1942, the original 5-inch/51-caliber guns of the secondary battery were removed to make room for anti-aircraft machine guns. On 6 December, she escorted a convoy of
troop ships to
Fiji, returning to Pearl Harbor on 2 March 1943. Her first major combat operation began on 10 May, when she left Hawaii to support the liberation of the
Aleutian Islands. She bombarded
Kiska on 22 July, and the Japanese garrison withdrew from the island a few days later. After the conclusion of the campaign,
Mississippi returned to San Francisco for an overhaul. On 19 October, she left San Pedro to join the invasion fleet that would attack the
Gilbert Islands. During the
Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign on 20 November, while
Mississippi was bombarding
Makin, there was again an explosion in her No. 2 turret, this time killing 43 men. After repairs, she continued on in the campaign, bombarding
Kwajalein on 31 January 1944,
Taroa on 20 February, and
Wotje on 21 February. On 15 March, she shelled Japanese positions at
Kavieng on
New Ireland, before returning to the United States for an overhaul in
Puget Sound. This overhaul increased the number of 5-inch/25 cal guns from eight to fourteen. After returning to the fleet,
Mississippi provided gunfire support for the Marines that went ashore
at Peleliu, bombarding Japanese positions on 12 September, three days before the landing. She remained there, shelling the island for a week, before proceeding on to
Manus, which had recently been taken by American forces. Assigned to the invasion fleet for the Philippines under Rear Admiral
Jesse B. Oldendorf,
Mississippi left Manus on 12 October and arrived off
Leyte on the 19th, when she began the coastal bombardment. During the
Battle of Leyte Gulf, on the night of 24 October,
Mississippi and the rest of the coastal bombardment battleships decisively defeated the Japanese Southern Force under Vice Admiral
Shōji Nishimura in the
Battle of Surigao Strait. During the battle, the Japanese warships failed to detect the American vessels with their radar. Additionally, the narrow strait forced the Japanese to steam in line ahead, while
Mississippi and the other battleships were stationed at the entrance, where they were able to fire full broadsides. As a result, Nishimura was unable to avoid having his
"T" crossed. In the ensuing action, American destroyers inflicted heavy damage on the Japanese force, which was then annihilated by the concentrated fire from the battleships.
Mississippi, which was equipped with older fire control radar, had trouble identifying targets in the darkness, and so fired only one 12-gun salvo, after Oldendorf had given the order to cease fire. This salvo was the last fired in the action, and proved to be the last time a battleship fired its guns at another battleship.
Mississippi remained off Leyte, providing gunfire support until 16 November, when she withdrew to the
Admiralty Islands to make preparations for the next operation. On 28 December, she returned to Leyte, anchoring in
San Pedro Bay. The ship began shelling Japanese positions on the island of
Luzon on 6 January 1945. During the bombardment, a Japanese
kamikaze struck the ship, but she remained on station, bombarding the Japanese defenses, until 10 February, when she withdrew to Pearl Harbor for repairs. She returned to service in time to join the invasion fleet that attacked
Okinawa, arriving off
Nakagusuku Wan on 6 May. She shelled
Shuri Castle, inflicting heavy damage on a major strongpoint in the Japanese defensive line. Another kamikaze (initially identified as a friendly plane) hit the ship on 5 June, but she remained in action off Okinawa until 16 June. In July 1945 she had repairs done in , a floating repair dry dock. After the Japanese government announced it would surrender,
Mississippi steamed to
Sagami Wan,
Honshū, as part of the occupation force, arriving there on 27 August. She was present during the signing of the surrender documents on 2 September in
Tokyo Bay. Four days later, she left Japanese waters, bound for the United States. She reached Norfolk on 27 November.
Postwar career Upon arriving in Norfolk, the ship was converted into a gunnery
training ship, and was assigned the hull number AG-128 on 15 February 1946. In some references her hull number is given as EAG-128. The initially planned armament as a training ship differed somewhat from that actually installed. No. 1 turret was replaced by a twin
6-inch (152 mm)/47-caliber dual-purpose turret, the same as mounted on the light cruisers. No. 2 and No. 3 14-inch turrets were removed, but No. 4 turret was initially retained. Three twin
5-inch (127 mm)/38-caliber dual-purpose mounts, two single
5-inch/54-caliber dual-purpose mounts (as on the aircraft carriers), two twin 3-inch (76 mm)/50-caliber mounts, and two 40 mm Bofors quad mounts were installed. Additional weapons proposed but not equipped included two twin 5-inch/54-caliber mounts and two twin
3-inch/70-caliber mounts, but the twin 5-inch/54 mount (originally for the s) never entered service and the 3-inch/70 mount was not ready until 1956. Also, a triple
8-inch/55-caliber rapid-fire turret as on the heavy cruisers was proposed in place of No. 3 14-inch turret, but this was not equipped. It is unclear if a proposed mixed 20 mm Oerlikon battery of quadruple, twin, and single mounts was installed.
Mississippi was reconstructed at the
Norfolk Naval Shipyard from November 1945 through April 1948. During the yard period she served as the flagship of the
operational development force from 18 March to 15 May 1947, and as the flagship of Battleships-Cruisers Atlantic Fleet (COMBATCRULANT) from 11 June to 14 July 1947. In April 1947 she effectively replaced as an anti-aircraft training ship, with
Wyoming mooring at a pier across from
Mississippi and the bulk of
Wyomings crew "cross-decking" to
Mississippi. After emerging from the reconstruction, she served in the operational development force, carrying out gunnery tests and helping evaluate new weapon systems. The ship had two new
RIM-2 Terrier missile launchers installed in 1952 with No. 4 turret removed, the work being completed on 9 August at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The first test firings of a ship-borne Terrier missile took place on 28–29 January 1953 off
Cape Cod.
Mississippi later tested the
Petrel missile, a radar-homing weapon, in February 1956. On 17 September,
Mississippi was decommissioned at Norfolk, sold for scrap to
Bethlehem Steel on 28 November, and subsequently
broken up. A single 14-inch/50-caliber gun from the ship remains and is located in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. == Notes ==