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NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive

BB-42 USS IDAHO
1942 - 1945

Radio Call Sign: November - Alpha - Victor - Xray
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1919 - 1926
1927 - 1934
1935 - 1941
Post War - Scrapping

New Mexico Class Battleship: Displacement 32,000 Tons, Dimensions, 624' (oa) x 97' 5" x 31' 1" (Max). Armament 12 x 14"/50 22 x 5"/51, 8 x 3"/50 2 x 21" tt. Armor, 13 1/2" Belt, 18" Turrets, 3 1/2" +2" Decks, 16" Conning Tower. Machinery, 32,000 SHP; Geared Turbines, 4 screws. Speed, 21 Knots, Crew 1084.

Operational and Building Data: Laid down by New York Shipbuilding, Camden, N.J., April 5, 1915. Launched January 25, 1917. Commissioned December 18, 1917.
Fate: Decommissioned 3 July, 1946 and was placed in reserve until sold for scrap 24 November, 1947 to Lipsett Inc., of New York City.
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BB-42 Idaho195k Looking aft of the Idaho (BB-42), in January 1942.USN photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels.
BB-42 Idaho257k Amidships view of the gun directors and stack of the Idaho (BB-42) at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA. Jan. 1942.USN photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels.
BB-42 Idaho224kLooking fwd. from stern. Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA. 3 Jan. 1942.USN photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels.
BB-42 Idaho1.6mLooking aft from above. Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA. Jan. 1942. The ship in the left background is definitely a Brooklyn class (CL-40 / 49). (which one I can't say, and I looked at our photos and those on NavSource cruiser pages without any luck, but the ship has to be Brooklyn (CL-40), Philadelphia (CL-41), Savannah (CL-42) or Nashville (CL-43), since the other ships of the type were in the Pacific at the time.
My money would be on it being Savannah based on the camouflage. Photos of the other Atlantic Brooklyn's taken in the spring of 1942 show them wearing a modified Measure 12 camo but the scallops of the lighter gray along top of the hull are all much deeper than depicted in this photo. I have not found any photo of Savannah wearing this camo dated around the time of the Norfolk photo be it does not stretch credulity too much to believe if the other 3 Atlantic Fleet Brooklyn's are all wearing Measure 12 during this time then the Savannah would be also and as the pattern in this photo does not match any of the other 3 ships ergo... The problem with this line of reasoning - DNFS put the Savannah in Recife, Brazil 10 days after the date cited on the photo although a similar problem exists for all the Atlantic Brooklyn's. 		USN photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels. Photo i.d. courtesy of Ronald J. Nash. Text i.d. courtesy of Charles Haberlein Jr. (USNHC) & Chris Hoehn.
BB-42 Idaho80kPort bow close up of Idaho (BB-42) in Norfolk Navy Yard before she went out to the Pacific War, 3 Jan. 1942. USN photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels.
BB-42 Idaho191k Idaho (BB-42) firing main battery, May 1942. USN photo courtesy of Joseph Macdonald.
BB-42 Idaho117kThe Idaho (BB-42) at Pearl Harbor, August 1942. She conducted additional battle exercises in California waters and out of Pearl Harbor until October 1942, when she entered Puget Sound Navy Yard to be re-gunned. Photo courtesy of Joseph Macdonald. Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
BB-42 Idaho268k Marines on the Idaho (BB-42) in 1942 on station at their 20 millimeter guns. Photo courtesy of Joseph Macdonald.
BB-42 Idaho168kSignal flags flutter from Idaho's (BB-42) mast as she makes her way through Puget Sound in Dec. 1942. Photo courtesy of Joseph Macdonald.
BB-42 Idaho301kIdaho's (BB-42) forward main turret is trained to starboard during battle exercises when she entered Puget Sound Navy Yard to be re-gunned. Upon completion of this work Idaho again took part in battle exercises, and sailed 7 April 1943 for operations in the bleak Aleutians. Photo courtesy of Joseph Macdonald. Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
BB-42 Idaho420kStern view of the Idaho (BB-42) on trials in Puget Sound in Dec. 1942. Photo courtesy of David Buell. BuShips #39760.
Task Group 51133kPhoto of Task Group 51, the Attu force, May 1943.
Pennsylvania (BB-38) in the foreground with the battleships Idaho (BB-42) and Nevada (BB-36) in the background. The Nassau (CVE-16) is pictured astern of the Pennsylvania and provided air cover for the occupation of Attu Island from 11 through 20 May. 		Photograph courtesy of Ray Daves via Fabia Pena & Carol Edgemon Hipperson author of Radioman: An Eyewitness Account of Pearl Harbor & World War II in the Pacific(Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martins Press, 2008). Text courtesy of DANFS.
BB-38 Pennsylvania672kAttu Invasion Force at anchor in Cold Harbor, Alaska. May 1943. There were 3 Battleships present for the Attu Operation: Idaho (BB-42), Pennsylvania (BB-38) and Nevada (BB-36), while for the Kiska operation the Nevada had been replaced by the Tennessee (BB-43).
The Nevada (moored next to Aux and 2 flush decker DD's) had her top reduced to a single cylindrical structure and carried her Mk 37 directors in tandem with the fore mount being centered atop the bridge and the after mount being much lower and located where the Main tripod mast had originally stood and that mast being much reduced in height was moved to just aft the funnel with fire control station still atop it. To prevent the fire control crew from being smoked out the funnel was extended to the level of the base of the fore fire control station. Also she did not receive her search radars until she got to Norfolk after Attu. Between the director and the funnel extension, a view from the angle of this photo would easily hide the tripod nature of the mast. Operating on the assumption that the picture was taken at Cold Bay in 1943 this is a portion of the Attu Invasion force and therefore the other BB must be the Idaho.
Now lets look at the ship in the foreground. There were ony 4 ships assigned to the Attu Invasion equipped with closed dual mount 5"/38 shown; the 3 BB's and the Santa Fe (CL-60). We have accounted for 2 of these ships leaving only Pennsylvania and Santa Fe. The only other clearly define able object is the 40mm gun director tub to the right of the picture (under the weather shield). This appears to me to be the starboard side aft-most 5" gun mount on the Pennsylvania as the 40mm directors near the 5" turrets on the Santa Fe all seem to be mounted higher that the 5" gun not on the same level.
As this all started by looking at the Auxiliary, so lets go there next. Though the Navy made use of 8 or 9 commercial cargo ships for this operation, the ship in the photo seems to be carrying a pennant number on her bow which makes her a Navy ship. The arrangement of the king posts, height of the funnel and the contour of the deck line convinces me that she is a Cimmeron class Oilier (probably why she is sharing her berth with so many others (note the 2 flushdeckers on her port side). This would make her either the Platte (AO-24) or the Guadelupe (AO-32).
Carol listed the the ship at the far left and the far right as flushdecker DD's. The ship to the left is head(stern?)-on to the camera and can not be identified and the copy of the photo I received was blurred along the right and left edges making the left most ship indistinguishable; if it is a flush decker I can't tell but probably not. The DD's assigned to this operation were a mix of Farragut's, Porter's, Benson's and a single Gleaves class. Most of the active Flushdeckers serving as escorts were in the guarding merchant convoys across the back water's of the war or were converted to other uses. In the case of Attu there were a total of 6 assigned; not one of them as destroyers. Included were a High Speed Destroyer Transport, Kane (APD-18), a Destroyer Seaplane Tender, Williamson (AVD-2), 2 Destroyer Mine Layers, Sicard (DM-21) and Pruitt (DM-22) (assigned as landing craft control vessels) and 2 Destroyer Mine Sweepers, Chandler (DMS-9) and Long (DMS-12). Which of these are nested nest to the Oiler I can't say, not enough detail, but this at least cuts the the possibilities down a great deal.
There is another ship in the picture that is difficult to make out. It is a pale silhouette in the middle background and appears to be PG-51 Charleston.		Photograph courtesy of Ray Daves via Fabia Pena & Carol Edgemon Hipperson author of Radioman: An Eyewitness Account of Pearl Harbor & World War II in the Pacific(Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martins Press, 2008). Photo i.d. & text courtesy of Chris Hoehn, Ron Reeves,& Aryeh Weterhorn.
SS 158 62k The S-47 (SS-158) off San Francisco, CA., 7 September 1943, following overall. A platform has been added to her conning tower for a single 20-millimeter antiaircraft gun; her gun deck gun is a manually-operated dual-purpose 3-inch 50-caliber. Mounted just ahead of her periscopes is an SJ surface-search and torpedo-control radar. The small tripod forward of the deck gun supports an early type of underwater listening equipment. S-47 displays no identification except her national ensign, and wears dull black wartime submarine finish.
In the left background is the characteristic silhouette of a New Mexico class (BB-40 / 42) battleship. Both the Mississippi (BB-41) & Idaho (BB-42) were there at the time, with the Idaho arriving that day.
US Navy photo # NH 42192, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.
BB-42 Idaho106k Idaho's (BB-42) band in 1943. This photo was contributed by Joe MacDonald, whose father, Ralph MacDonald served as a drummer in the ship's band from 1942-45. Photo courtesy of Joseph Macdonald.
BB-42 Idaho350k Adak, Alaska on 11 August 1943 during the Kiska campaign. Crew is mustered on the quarterdeck as Rear Admiral H. F. Kingman awards the Distinguished Flying Cross to Idaho's (BB-42) pilot Lt. Harris O. Torgerson for heroic deeds while flying at Attu. Cleveland class light cruiser in the background is Sante Fe (CL-60). USN photo courtesy of Joseph Macdonald.
BB-42 Idaho98kPhotographed from Natoma Bay (CVE-62), shortly after the conclusion of the Gilberts Campaign, Sept - Dec. 1943. The three battleships, in an anchorage protected by anti-torpedo nets, are (from left to right): Idaho (BB-42); New Mexico (BB-40); and Mississippi (BB-41).USNHC # 80-G-275940, now in the collections of the National Archives.
BB-42 Idaho106kThe Idaho (BB-42), New Mexico (BB-40) Mississippi (BB-41) at Pearl Harbor sometime after 5 December 1943. All three battleships then proceeded with the Marshall Islands assault force 12 January 1944. Photo courtesy of Joseph Macdonald. Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
BB-40 & 42 381k New Mexico (BB-40) & Idaho (BB-42) 7 December 1943, at Pearl Harbor. Note the anti-torpedo net in the foreground. Official USN Photograph # 4-ORD-085-16, courtesy of David Buell.
BB-42 Idaho482k Next on the Pacific timetable was the invasion of the Marshalls, and the veteran battleship arrived off Kwajalein early 31 January 1944 to soften up shore positions. Again she hurled tons of shells into Japanese positions until 5 February, when the outcome was one of certain victory. USN photo courtesy of David Buell. Text courtesy of DANFS.
BB-42 Idaho62kIdaho (BB-42) in Espiritu Santo floating dry dock ASBD-1 on 15 August 1944. Idaho was the first battleship to ever enter a floating drydock. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho85kPortside stern view of the Idaho (BB-42) in Espiritu Santo floating dry dock ASBD-1 on 15 August 1944.Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho227kIdaho (BB-42) entering Espiritu Santo floating dry dock ASBD-1 on 15 August 1944 for repairs to her "blisters". Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho158kStern view of the Idaho (BB-42) in Espiritu Santo floating dry dock ASBD-1 on 15 August 1944.USN photo courtesy of David Buell.
BB-42 Idaho66kOctober, 1944 photo of the Idaho (BB-42) anchored at Puget Sound Navy Yard just prior to her refit.USN photo.
BB-42 Idaho138k Close up views of port side showing the 5"/38 caliber single enclosed mounts added to the Idaho (BB-42) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in late 1944. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho60k Close up views of starboard side showing the 5"/38 caliber single enclosed mounts added to the Idaho (BB-42) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in late 1944. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho103kThe Idaho (BB-42) is shown in it's final configuration.
This photo was taken by Edwin Elden Schroeder, a Seaman First Class in the 5th gunnery division on the Idaho.
He was a sight setter on gun 3 on the starboard side for a time during his tour, which began in December 1944, and ended May 1946.		 Edwin E. Schroeder S1C/USN.
BB-42 Idaho153k Port side view of the Idaho (BB-42) as refitted and on post-refit trials on 2 January 1945.USN photo.
BB-42 Idaho441kBow view port side of the Idaho (BB-42) at Puget Sound, 2 January 1945. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald. Text courtesy of Mike Green.
BB-42 Idaho589k The Idaho (BB-42) after her final refit at Puget Sound Navy Yard that took place from 22 October 1944 - 1 January 1945. At this time her open mounted 5"/25 guns were replaced with ten enclosed 5"/38 weapons”. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald. Text courtesy of Mike Green.
BB-42 Idaho170k After final refit with single 5"/38 caliber guns. Picture taken 2 January 1945 in Puget Sound, Washington, while ship was on post refit trials.USN photo.
BB-42 Idaho112k Idaho (BB-42) 7 Jan 1945 Puget Sound, WA, Speed 12 Knots. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
Iwo Jima76k Photo taken from Vicksburg (CL-86) of the battleships Idaho (BB-42), Tennessee (BB-43), and New York (BB-34) (on right), during the bombardment of Iwo Jima, Feb 1945. Courtesy of modelwarships.com & submitted by Joesph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho55k Idaho (BB-42) bombarding Iwo Jima, prior to the landings there, circa 16-19 February 1945. Heavy cruiser in the right distance is probably Chester (CA-27). Photographed from Nevada (BB-36). Official U.S. Navy Photograph # 80-G-303822.
BB-42 Idaho58kA painting by the artist Wayne Scarpaci entitled "By Dawn's Early Light".
At dawn on the second day of the Iwo Jima operation depicts the Idaho (BB-42) bombarding Mt. Suribachi. The aircraft are SB2C's from VB 17 Yorktown (CV-10) . In the background is the Nevada (BB-36). 		Drawing courtesy of artbywayne.com
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BB-42 Idaho63kAll of Idaho's (BB-42) guns are trained on Iwo Jima, circa late February 1945.Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho72kBombarding Iwo Jima, circa late February 1945.USNHC # NH 92509.
BB-42 Idaho41kOperating off Iwo Jima, February 1945.USN photo.
BB-40 New Mexico 70k Idaho (BB-42) at sea with two other battleships and an amphibious force command ship (AGC), probably at the time of the Iwo Jima or Okinawa operations, circa February-April 1945. Battleship in the center background is Idaho (BB-42). The one further to the left is Tennessee (BB-43). Official U.S. Navy Photograph,USNHC # 80-G-K-3706, now in the collections of the National Archives.
BB-42 Idaho121kSitting among circling landing craft, the Idaho (BB-42) takes up her assigned bombardment station, off Okinawa as the invasion begins. The Idaho was flagship of Bombardment Unit 4 and had been hitting Japanese shore batteries and installations for almost a month before this April 1, 1945 photo.USN photo.
BB-42 Idaho81kFireing the 14"/50 guns of Turret Three at nearly point-blank range, during the bombardment of Okinawa, 1 April 1945.Official U.S. Navy Photograph,USNHC # 80-G-K-3844, now in the collections of the National Archives.
BB-42 Idaho86kBombarding Okinawa with her 14"/50 main battery guns, 1 April 1945.Official U.S. Navy Photograph,USNHC # 80-G-K-3829, now in the collections of the National Archives.
BB-42 Idaho49kBombarding Okinawa with her 14"/50 main battery guns, 1 April 1945.Official U.S. Navy Photograph, USNHC # 89368, now in the collections of the National Archives.
BB-40 New Mexico 245k Where there is smoke, there must be fire: Starboard broadside view of the New Mexico (BB-40) or Idaho (BB-42) underway with company and lots of anti-aircraft fire in the offering. USN photo courtesy of David Buell.
Photo i.d. courtesy of David C. Nilsen, CTR USA, TRADOC.
BB-42 Idaho75k Idaho (BB-42) as seen from the Texas (BB-35) about to be hit by a kamikaze on 12 April 1945 off Okinawa. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho22k Damage from a kamakaize attack on the Idaho (BB-42) on 12 April 1945 off Okinawa. Photo from WW II Damage Reports, courtesy of NavSea / dcfp.navy.mil.
BB-42 Idaho104k View of her main 14"/50 and 40 mm taken onboard in 1945 either during Iwo Jima or Okinawa campaigns. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho74k View of one of her portside 5"inch mounts & 40 mm taken onboard in 1945 either during Iwo Jima or Okinawa campaigns. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
BB-42 Idaho552kIdaho (BB-42) just before entering a floating drydock. This was either in April 1945 at Guam or July 1945 at Leyte. Those were the only two times the Idaho entered a floating drydock in 1945. Photo courtesy of Joseph MacDonald.
Photo added 03/26/12.
BB-42 Idaho81k Idaho (BB-42) in the floating drydock ABSD-3, August 1945.Courtesy of hazegray.org.
USS IDAHO BB-42 History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry
(Located On The Hazegray & Underway Web Site, This Is The Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Contact Name: Mr. David Graham
Address: PO Box 711247, San Diego, CA, 92171-1247
Phone: None Listed
E-mail: None

Note About Contacts.

The contact listed, Was the contact at the time for this ship when located. If another person now is the contact, E-mail me and I will update this entry. These contacts are compiled from various sources over a long period of time and may or may not be correct. Every effort has been made to list the newest contact if more than one contact was found.

Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway Battleship Pages By Andrew Toppan.
ussidaho.com By David Roye
Back To The Main Photo IndexBack To The Battleship Photo Index Page

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