Rediscovering Resilience – Finding USS Nevada

by Bill Doughty

According to U.S. Naval Institute and "Silver State Dreadnought," "USS Nevada (BB-36) was America's first modern battleship. When her keel was laid in 1912, kings and emperors still ruled much of the world. When she finally slipped beneath the waves in 1948, America was the undisputed global superpower."

Top of the foremast of USS Nevada (BB-36) (SEARCH)

This week the maritime team at SEARCH, a cultural resource management firm, announced discovery of USS Nevada, a warship "viewed as the epitome of American resilience and perseverance," according to a May 11 press release from SEARCH.

While the British Royal Navy had the first "dreadnought" and stayed ahead on developing mammoth battleships early in the century, the United States began catching up with the development of USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and USS Nevada during WWI. 

Crewmen exercising with one of the ship's casemate 5/51 guns, circa 1921. Taken by A.E. Wells, the Nevada's photographer. NHHC

USS Nevada's resilience and toughness are commemorated in a number of books.

John Keegan, in "The First World War" (Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), focuses primarily on British dreadnoughts, but writes, "Oklahoma and Nevada achieved a remarkable compromise between speed, hitting-power and protection."

USS Nevada (BB-36), photographed in 1944. (Naval History and Heritage Command)

According to Philippe Caresse, in his beautiful coffee table book "The Battleships of the Iowa Class: A Design and Operational History,"* USS Nevada and its new 14-inch caliber guns –– along with fifteen other dreadnoughts –– propelled the U.S. Navy to become a leading force on the seas. "The United States emerged from World War I as one of the great naval powers, second only to the Royal Navy."

From an overview of "Silver State Dreadnought: The Remarkable Story of Battleship Nevada" by Stephen M. Younger (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2018): "Nevada was revolutionary for her time: the first 'superdreadnought,' the first U.S. warship to be oil-fired, the first to have a triple-gun main turret, the first to have all-or-nothing armor. In World War I, she was based in Queenstown, Ireland, to provide protection for American convoys bringing troops to Europe. She survived the naval reduction treaties of the 1920s and was rebuilt in 1928 with the latest technology."

By December 7, 1941, the once cutting-edge Nevada was the oldest active battleship in Pearl Harbor on the day the Imperial Japan attacked Oahu. [USS Utah (BB-31/ AG-16) was designated as a target training ship.]

Nevada had a prominent role in the attack. It was the one battleship that attempted to sortie, made it into the channel, and nearly got out of Pearl Harbor before having to beach at Hospital Point, near the harbor entrance.

The attack started as a shock early on a Sunday morning during colors.

"The first 'Kate' torpedo plane raced in so low over Nevada that it shredded the half-hoised ensign with cannon fire," Rear Adm. Edwin T. Layton writes in "And I was There" (Konecky & Konecky, 1985).

Ens. Joseph K. Taussig, Jr., 21, had the forenoon watch that day, and he had been responsible for ensuring the right size flag was flying. Now, with Lt. Cmdr. Francis J. Thomas the senior officer present, Taussig was the acting air defense officer. 

In "Dec. 7 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor" (Wings Books, 1991) Gordon Prange (with Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon) describes early action:

Nevada heads down channel past Navy Yard's 1010 Dock, under air attack.

"The Nevada was preparing to get underway when a torpedo struck her port bow, at about frame 40 ... Taussig was at his battle station when a missile went through his thigh and hit the ballistics computer in front of him. In the shock, Taussig felt no pain. He observed in a detached way that his left foot had lodged under his left armpit. Despite all efforts to remove him to a battle dressing station, 'he refused to leave ... and insisted on continuing his control of the AA battery and the continuation of fire on enemy aircraft.' This promising young officer survived, but he spent the rest of World War II in the hospital recovering from his wounds received at Pearl Harbor."

Prange writes, "Very few ships could retaliate as promptly and effectively as the Nevada."

In "At Dawn We Slept" (Penguin Books, 1981) Prange writes, "Tales of heroism far beyond the call of duty abounded on Nevada, as on every ship in Pearl Harbor." Prange notes, "Nevada had been under partial steam when the first wave struck, and at 0850 the battleship got underway."


He describes the destruction along Battleship Row and out in the harbor:

"By now Pearl Harbor was a hellpit of smoke –– gray, brown, white, lemon yellow, black, and again black –– acrid, foul, mushrooming billows erupting skyward, folding in and opening out like a mass of storm clouds. Out of this pall came a sight so incredible that its viewers could not have been more dumbfounded had it been the legendary Flying Dutchman –– Nevada, heading into the channel, a hole the size of a house in her bow, her torn flag rippling defiance."

The action drew the attackers like murder hornets toward the battleship, away from the tanker USS Neosho (AO-23), which was escaping to Merry Point.

In his "Dec. 7, 1941," part of a Pearl Harbor trilogy, Prange recounts how the slow-moving Nevada attracted attackers as it "doggedly plunged toward escape. The opportunity not only to bag a battleship but to cork the channel made the Nevada the target of a lifetime."

USS Nevada (BB-36) beached and burning after being hit forward by Japanese bombs and torpedoes. The ship's pilothouse area is discolored by fires in that vicinity. The harbor tug Hoga (YT-146) is alongside Nevada's port bow, helping to fight fires on the battleship's forecastle. Note channel marker bouy against Nevada's starboard side. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.

The Sailors aboard Nevada, with help from two tugboats, helped beach the battleship, keeping the critical harbor open. Author Ian Toll describes how the ship's bow was "thrust into a grove of algaroba trees."

In the first chapter of his "Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942" (W.W. Norton & Company, 2012), Ian W. Toll describes the horrific aftermath and a growing resilience:

"Sailors returned to the stricken battleships with galvanized steel buckets, and began the grisly task of collecting the remains of their slain shipmates. 'I recall finding severed knee joints as well as shoulder fragments and torn, burning body torsos, all unidentifiable because of their burned.condition,' remembered Seaman Charles Sehe of the Nevada.
Though the shock of the raid was still fresh in everyone's minds, the survivors made a concerted effort to raise their collective morale. Music helped: on the waterfront at Ford Island, a jukebox blared 'I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire,' and on the battleship Maryland, the ship's band performed on deck while the repair teams worked. The crew of the Nevada agreed on a new nickname: the 'Cheer-Up Ship.' Signs on her deck proclaimed: 'We'll Fight Again' and 'Cheer Up the Cheer-Up Ship.' The crisis tended to bring out the best in the malingerers, the lazy men, even the prisoners in the brig, who were ordered out of their cells and put to work. Everyone pitched in. 'Things were so bad at Pearl Harbor,' Seaman Mason recalled, 'that even the chiefs were working.'"

Hole in the ship's port side from a Imperial Japan Type 91 aerial torpedo.

As a matter of fact, Navy chiefs were among the true heroes of USS Nevada as the Sailors "fought their ship" during the attack.

This is from the extensive U.S. Pacific Fleet Battle Force action report filed Dec. 15, 1941: "Chief Boatswain E. J. Hill, U.S. Navy, killed in action, is deserving of the highest commendation possible to be given for his skill, leadership and courage. At the height of the attack he led his line handling details to the quays, cast off the lines under fire, and then swam back to the ship. Later, while on the forecastle attempting to let go the anchors, he was blown overboard and killed by the explosion of several bombs. His performance of duty and devotion to duty was outstanding."

Chief Hill was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.

The battle force action report described some of the damage: "... It is apparent that the Nevada suffered at least six (6) bomb hits and one torpedo hit. It is possible that as many as ten bomb hits may have been received by the Nevada, as certain damaged areas are of sufficient size to indicate that they were struck by more than one bomb. However, direct evidence is not available to determine the exact number."

Entering Drydock # Two, at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 18 February 1942. Sunk as a result of damage received in the 7 December 1941 Japanese air raid, she was refloated on 12 February 1942. Note oil staining along her hull, marking her waterline while she was sunk. (NHHC

After Sailors, salvage teams and shipyard workers performed miracles, BB-36 was temporarily repaired. The battleship made it to the West Coast in April 1942 to receive "permanent repairs and improvements, including a greatly enhanced anti-aircraft gun battery," according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.

After assisting in the Attu landings in May 1943, Nevada steamed to the Atlantic to provide firepower for the Normandy Invasion in June 1944 and Europe operation in the summer and fall. "The battleship then returned to the Pacific, where she assisted with the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945. Though damaged by a suicide plane on 27 March and by an artillery shell on 5 April, Nevada remained in action off Okinawa until June 1945," according to NHHC.

Forward 14/45 guns of USS Nevada (BB-36) fire on positions ashore, during the landings on Utah Beach, 6 June 1944. (National Archives)

With the end of the war came the end of Nevada's active service as a combat warship, and the resilient unsinkable "Cheer-Up ship" headed back to Hawaii. "She was too old for retention in the post-war fleet, and was assigned to serve as a target during the July 1946 atomic bomb tests at Bikini, in the Marshall Islands," NHHC reports. "That experience left her damaged and radioactive, and she was formally decommissioned in August 1946."

In "Silver State Dreadnought," Stephen Younger writes, “On a sunny day in 1948, Nevada was towed off the coast of Oahu and used for target practice. After five days of pounding by everything the Navy could throw her, Nevada was dispatched by a torpedo.”

Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command Rear Adm. (ret.) Samuel Cox, quoted in the SEARCH press release, said, "USS Nevada serves a reminder that our sailors have a long, terrific tradition; her fighting spirit proved the U.S. Navy remains tough in difficult times. When the circumstances appear to be at their worst, our Navy remains at their best.” Cox gave a keynote address at the commemoration ceremony at the USS Nevada memorial at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 8, 2016.

Allen Bodenlos, then 90, a Pearl Harbor survivor who served on the battleship USS Nevada, salutes during the National Anthem, Dec. 8, 2010. Pearl Harbor survivors gathered with sailors, families and friends at the Nevada Memorial at Hospital Point, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. (Photo by MC2 Mark Logico)

According to SEARCH, USS Nevada was located 65 nautical miles southwest of Pearl Harbor at a depth of over 15,400 feet. "The mission was jointly coordinated between SEARCH’s operations center and one of Ocean Infinity’s vessels, Pacific Constructor. Pacific Constructor set sail for a range of commercial tasks in the Pacific in early 2020, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the global health crisis, the ship has remained at sea on a range of taskings."

British author Ed Nash posted this tribute video of the discovery and brief history of USS Nevada on YouTube:

“The physical reality of the ship, resting in the darkness of the great museum of the sea, reminds us not only of past events but of those who took up the challenge of defending the United States in two global wars,” James Delgado, SEARCH’s senior vice president and the lead maritime archeologist on the mission, said. “This is why we do ocean exploration, to seek out these powerful connections to the past.”


* Caresse's loving tribute to Iowa Class Battleships honors "these marvels of naval technology from another age" with fascinating facts and hundreds of photos. The careers of USS New Jersey (BB-62), USS Iowa (BB-61), USS Missouri (BB-63) and USS Wisconsin (BB-64) –– younger cousins of Nevada –– are standout chapters in this book that explores armament, power and propulsion, technical characteristics, battle honors, and other topics. USS Nevada, once the height of modern maritime innovation, was replaced by newer battleships that became obsolete as naval aviation, other surface ships and submarines played a more prominent role.