Washington (BB 56) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 16 text:

previously designed. In spite of the Mold navyw attitude of disdain toward the possibility of aircraft inflicting heavy damage on a battleship tl1e officers and 1nen of the Washiiigton held a less optimistic attitude and proceeded to insure the ship with the best trained gunners in the fleet. Completed a year and a half early. l' llHSlllllgI llc: up. Sf .crd Q 7 LMS , -..g i ii

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The keel of the WaS111l1gt0l1 was laid at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on June 14, 1938. On June 1, 1940, she slid down the ways, and was commissioned on May 15, 1941, by Miss Virginia Marshall, a direct descendant of Chief Justice Marshall. All of the skill of a traditionally fine yard, the best materials, and the care of those charged with her construction produced a ship excelled by none and equalled by few. Under the command of her first skipper. Captain H. H. J. Benson. she represented a fitting tribute to those who designed a11d built her and since then, tested in battle and storm, she has justified l1er builderas skill and care. Extensive shakedown operations occupied the rest of the Summer and Fall following commissioning. A state of national emergency existed and shaking down was a serious business. And then Pearl Harbor!! It was no longer just a state of national emergency: it was WAR. The Washington and North Carolina departed together from Norfolk to pre- pare for battle with gunnery trials in the Gulf of Mexico. These southern waters witnessed a magnificent spectacle as the new battleships unleashed the potential power concealed beneath the steel plates of their gun mounts. The nine sixteen-inch rifles fired a heavier projectile than any Down the ways. -

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