USS South Dakota, hull number BB-57, was the lead vessel of the four 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 guns. However, congressional refusal to authorize larger battleships kept their displacement close to the Washington limit of . 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.
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.
Design
The South Dakota was ordered in the context of global naval rearmament during the breakdown of the Washington treaty system that had controlled battleship construction during the 1920s and early 1930s. Under the Washington and London treaties, so-called treaty battleships were limited to a standard displacement of and a main battery of guns. In 1936, following Japan's decision to abandon the treaty system, the United States Navy decided to invoke the "escalator clause" in the treaty that allowed displacements to rise to and armament to increase to guns. Congressional objections to increasing the size of the new ships forced the design staff to keep displacement as close to 35,000 LT as possible while incorporating the larger guns and armor sufficient to defeat guns of the same caliber. The ship cost $52.8-million (equivalent to $ million today), making it one of the most expensive American naval ships at the time.
South Dakota was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced as designed and up to at full combat load. The ship was powered by four-shaft General Electric steam turbines and eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at , generating a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . She carried three Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes for aerial reconnaissance, which were launched by a pair of aircraft catapults on her fantail. Her peace time crew numbered 1,793 officers and enlisted men but during the war the crew swelled to 2,500.
The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 16-inch /45 caliber Mark 6 guns in three triple gun turrets on the centerline, two of which were placed in a superfiring pair forward, with the third aft. The secondary battery consisted of sixteen /38 caliber dual purpose guns mounted in twin turrets clustered amidships, four turrets on either side. This was two fewer turrets than her sisters, a reduction in weight and magazine space to accommodate the extra personnel and equipment for her use as a flagship. To compensate for the reduction in medium anti-aircraft firepower, she received light anti-aircraft guns. As designed, the ship was equipped with an anti-aircraft battery of twenty /75 caliber guns and twelve .50-caliber M2 Browning machine guns in single mounts, but she was completed with a battery of seven quadruple Bofors guns, seven quadruple 1.1 in guns, thirty-four Oerlikon autocannon in single mounts, and eight of the .50-cal. guns.
The main armored belt was thick, while the main armored deck was up to thick. The main battery gun turrets had thick faces, and they were mounted atop barbettes that were thick. The conning tower had 16 in thick sides.
Modifications South Dakota received a series of modifications through her wartime career, consisting primarily of additions to her anti-aircraft battery and various types of radar sets. The first addition was the installation of SC air search radar, ordered in 1941, that was fitted in the fore mast. It was later replaced with an SK type set. At the same time, an SG surface search radar was installed on the forward superstructure; a second SG set was added to the main mast after experiences during the Guadalcanal campaign in 1942. During fitting out in 1942, she received a Mark 3 fire control radar, mounted on her conning tower to assist in the direction of her main battery guns and Mark 4 radars for the secondary battery guns. The Mark 3 was quickly replaced with more modern Mark 8 fire control radar, and Mark 4 radars for the secondary battery guns. She later received Mark 12/22 sets in place of the Mark 4s. South Dakota also received a TDY jammer. In 1945, her traditional spotting scopes were replaced with Mark 27 microwave radar sets, and she received an SR air search radar and an SK-2 air search dish.
The ship's light anti-aircraft battery was gradually expanded. In November 1942, eight more .50-cal machine guns were installed and during repairs in late 1942 and early 1943, two of her 1.1 in quadruple mounts were replaced with 40 mm quadruple mounts. By February 1943, all of her 1.1 in guns were removed and thirteen more 40 mm quadruple mounts were added. By this time, her 20 mm battery had been increased to 80 barrels, all in individual mounts. By the end of the war, eight of these had been removed.
Service history
The keel for South Dakota was laid down on 5 July 1939, at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 7 June 1941 and was commissioned into the fleet on 20 March 1942. She was then towed across the river to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and began fitting out; Captain Thomas Leigh Gatch was her first commanding officer. This work was completed by 14 May, and over the next two days she did machinery tests in the Delaware River, followed by more fitting out work that lasted until 3 June. Two days later, she began her shakedown cruise, escorted by four destroyers owing to the threat of German U-boats operating off the east coast of the United States. Over the following two days, she tested her engines at various speeds and test fired her guns to check for structural problems. Training in the area continued until 17 July and the next day, she departed for Hampton Roads, Virginia with four destroyers as escort. From there, she cruised back north to meet the battleship off the coast of Maine before anchoring at Casco Bay on 21 July. There, she engaged in further firing practice before steaming to Philadelphia and being declared ready for active duty on 26 July.
First Pacific deployment As the fighting between American and Japanese forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign intensified, particularly after the Allied defeat at the Battle of Savo Island, Admiral Ernest King, the Chief of Naval Operations, ordered South Dakota, Washington, the light cruiser , and six destroyers to deploy to the south Pacific to reinforce the American fleet there. Rear Admiral (RADM) Willis Lee took command of the ships, designated Battleship Division (BatDiv) 6 on 14 August, hoisting his flag aboard South Dakota. The next day, she got underway escorted by three destroyers, but her progress was delayed by an engine breakdown that necessitated repairs that were completed the following morning. After steaming south through the Caribbean, Lee detached the escorting destroyers, passed through the Panama Canal, and picked up three other destroyers on the Pacific side of the canal.
Later in August, while still en route to the Guadalcanal area, South Dakota rendezvoused with Juneau, the ships proceeding together to Nukuʻalofa, Tongatapu which they reached on 4 September. After refueling there, they left the port on 6 September, but South Dakota was badly damaged when she struck an uncharted reef in the Lahai Passage. Divers from the repair ship inspected the hull and discovered a length of plating had been damaged. Workers from Vestal patched the hull, allowing her to depart for Pearl Harbor on 12 September, where permanent repairs were effected. She joined the aircraft carrier , which had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine south of Guadalcanal, and her escorts for the voyage. Repairs lasted from 23 to 28 September, and the work also included removing the 1.1-inch guns, adding four 40 mm quad mounts and twenty-two 20 mm guns.
After loading ammunition and supplies, South Dakota was pronounced ready for sea on 12 October 1942. She conducted anti-aircraft training through the following day before returning to Pearl Harbor on 14 October. She departed for the south Pacific later that day in company with Task Force 16 (TF), which included the aircraft carrier , with nine escorting destroyers. Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, the South Pacific Area commander, ordered TF 16 to sweep for Japanese naval forces north of the Santa Cruz Islands before turning south-west toward the Solomon Islands to block the Japanese path to Guadalcanal. For the operation, TF 16 was reinforced by TF 17—centered on the carrier —which were combined to form TF 61 under the command of RADM Thomas C. Kinkaid. The force was supported by Lee with TF 64, which comprised Washington, two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and six destroyers.
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
Japanese and American reconnaissance aircraft discovered each other's fleets on 25 October 1942, and South Dakotas crew prepared for a night surface action that night, though the anticipated Japanese attack did not materialize. Japanese reconnaissance aircraft that had spotted Lee's force east of Rennell Island had drawn the Japanese fleet in his direction, away from TF 61. The next morning, aircraft from Enterprise located the Japanese aircraft carriers minutes before a Japanese seaplane located TF 61; both sides immediately launched air strikes, leading to the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. The first Japanese wave struck Hornets group, inflicting serious damage on the carrier and forcing her to withdraw, though South Dakota and Enterprise were left unmolested. Hornets withdrawal allowed the Japanese carriers to concentrate their attacks on Enterprises group.