Tag Archives: USS Idaho (BB-42)

Third Battlewagon SSN this Year

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The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of the Submarine Force’s newest hunter-killer, the future USS Idaho (SSN 799), from Electric Boat on 15 December.

And with that, the Navy List is looking very 1944ish.

The future USS Idaho (SSN 799) on builders trials 251215-N-N2201-002

Idaho is the 26th Virginia-class submarine co-produced by EB and HII-Newport News Shipbuilding through a long-standing teaming arrangement. It is the 14th delivered by EB and is the eighth of 10 Block IV-configured attack submarines.

The future USS Idaho is the fifth Navy ship to be named for the state of Idaho. The first was a wooden-hulled storeship commissioned in 1866. The last was Battleship No. 42, which was commissioned in 1919 and received seven battle stars for service in World War II, then ignobly sold for scrap in 1947.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 83900 

USS Idaho (BB-42) ship’s company posed on the after deck and after 14 gun turrets, circa 1938. Note Curtiss SOC-3 Seagull floatplanes, of Observation Squadron Three, atop the Turret # 3 catapult and on deck to port of the turrets. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.Catalog #: NH 83900

She joins the fifth (completed) U.S. Navy vessel named for the Bay State, the future USS Massachusetts (SSN 798), which was delivered to the service from Newport News on 21 November.

Future USS Massachusetts (SSN 798) on builder’s acceptance trials. 251008-N-MQ094-002

The last and most famous to carry the name thus far (BB-59) was commissioned in 1942 as a South Dakota-class fast battleship, earning 11 battle stars for exceptional service in WWII from Casablanca to Okinawa before being decommissioned in 1947. She remained in the Reserve Fleet until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in June 1962 and continues to serve as a floating museum.

USS Massachusetts underway somewhere in the Pacific (1943)

While Idaho and Massachusetts are set to be commissioned in 2026, the current USS Iowa (SSN 797) was commissioned in April.

Sailors attached to the fast-attack submarine USS Iowa man the newly commissioned sub during a ceremony in Groton, Conn., April 5, 2025. The Iowa operates under Submarine Squadron 4, which provides fast-attack submarines that are ready, prepared, and committed to meet the unique challenges of undersea combat and deployed operations in unforgiving environments across the globe. Navy Chief Petty Officer Joshua Karsten

The last Iowa, the famed class-leading fast battleship BB-61, which was christened on 27 August 1942, was only stricken from the NVR on 17 March 2006 and endures as a floating museum at Los Angeles, the only West Coast battlewagon.

USS Iowa (BB-61) off Pearl Harbor, en route to the U.S. at the end of her Korean War combat tour. The photograph is dated 28 October 1952. Note the ship’s hull number (61) and U.S. Flag painted atop her forward turrets. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 44536

If only Jesse Barrett “Oley” Oldendorf’s grandson were SUBRON commander…

Going home

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How about this great period Kodachrome of the New Mexico class battleship USS Idaho (BB-42) steaming through the Panama Canal with her glad rags flying, en route to the U.S. east coast for epic Navy Day celebrations in October 1945.

National Archives 80-G-K-6572

Commissioned in March 1919, she came too late for the Great War. Idaho only managed to escape being at her traditional home on Pearl’s Battleship Row on December 7, 1941, by being transferred to the Neutrality Patrol in the Atlantic just six months before the Japanese attack.

Headed back to the Pacific, Idaho earned seven battle stars for her World War II service and was present in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on 2 September and was ordered to the East Coast on 7 September, carrying 600 veterans stateside in addition to her crew.

Tough as a two-dollar steak, off Okinawa alone, Idaho fired 2,338 14-inch shells, 6,487 of 5-inch, and another 4,647 of 40mm in NGFS.

Seagulls and Crackerjacks

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USS Idaho (BB-42). Ship’s company posed on the after deck and after 14″/50 cal gun turrets, circa 1938.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 83900

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Vice Admiral Alexander Sharp, USN. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 83900

Note two Curtiss SOC-3 Seagull floatplanes, of Battleship Division Three’s Observation Squadron Three (VO-3), atop the Turret # 3 catapult and on deck to the port of the turrets. The squadron provided four-aircraft dets to not only Idaho but also sisters USS Mississippi (BB-41) and New Mexico (BB-40).

The humble Seagull, although out of production by the time this image was taken and was planned to be replaced by the Vought OS2U Kingfisher and SO3C Seamew, still flew observation and scouting missions (equipped with up to 650-pounds of ordnance) in WWII, one of the few U.S. Navy biplanes to see combat during the conflict.

During WWII, VO-3 wore an insignia using Disney cartoon character “Oswald the Rabbit” riding a shell, a pretty accurate depiction of their role in calling NGFS.

Panama, class of ’21

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“Combined Atlantic and Pacific Fleets in Panama Bay, Jan. 21st 1921,” taken by M.C. Mayberry, of Mayberry and Smith, Shreveport, Louisiana:

Click to big up 1777x529 Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, D.H. Criswell Collection. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 86082-B

Click to big up 1777×529. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, D.H. Criswell Collection. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 86082-B

Among the ships present in this image are (from left to right): USS Stoddert (DD-302), USS Melville (AD-2), USS Texas (BB-35), USS Partridge (AM-16), USS Birmingham (CL-2), USS Arkansas (BB-33), USS Idaho (BB-42), USS Mississippi (BB-41), USS Wyoming (BB-32), USS New York (BB-34), USS New Mexico (BB-40) and USS Pennsylvania (BB-38).