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BB-58 USS INDIANA
Keel Laying & Shakedown / 1938 - 1942

Radio Call Sign: November - Echo - November - Sierra

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Off to War / 1942 - November 1944
December 1944 - Victory in the Pacific
1946 - 1963


South Dakota Class Battleship: Displacement 35,000 Tons, Dimensions, 680' (oa) x 108' 2" x 36' 2" (Max). Armament 9 x 16"/45 20 x 5"/38AA, 12 x 1.1" 12 x 0.5", 3 AC. Armor, 12 1/4" Belt, 18" Turrets, 1 1/2" +6" +1/3" Decks, 15" Conning Tower. Machinery, 130,000 SHP; Westinghouse Geared Turbines, 4 screws. Speed, 27 Knots, Crew 1793.

Operational and Building Data: Laid down by Newport News, Shipbuilding, Newport News VA., November 20 1939. Launched November 21 1941. Commissioned April 30 1942. Decommissioned September 11 1947. Stricken June 1 1962.
Fate: Sold, October 23 1963 and broken up for scrap.
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BB-57 South Dakota 76k Hull test model for the South Dakota class (BB-57 - 60) battleships. Hull model number 3536, photographed at the Experimental Model Basin, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., in 1938. Note the widely spaced skegs, supporting the outboard propeller shafts, that were a unique feature of this battleship class. Copied from the Bureau of Ships monograph "United States Battleship Designs for World War II", dated 1 June 1946. USNHC # NH 93908, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.
BB-59 Massachusetts248kPart 1 of "16 Gun Turret General Arangement Plan View # 78541-143 for Massachusetts (BB-59), dated 6 Oct. 1941. USN photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels.
BB-59 Massachusetts248kPart 2 of "16 Gun Turret General Arangement Plan View # 78541-143 for Massachusetts (BB-59), dated 6 Oct. 1941. USN photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels.
BB-58 Indiana161kIndiana (BB-58) under construction at Newport News, Shipbuilding, Newport News VA., several months before her launching. USN photo courtesy of Pieter Bakels.
BB-58 Indiana 145k Indiana (BB-58) sliding down the ways at Newport News, Shipbuilding, Newport News VA., 21 November 1941. Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
BB-58 Indiana 601k The Indiana (BB-58) is almost waterborne as she slides down the ways at Newport News, Shipbuilding, Newport News VA., 21 November 1941. International News Photo courtesy of David Buell. Photo added 08/31/08.
BB-58 Indiana 813k View of the ship's stern, showing her twin outboard skegs, with five-bladed propellers at their after ends. Four-bladed inboard propellers are faintly visible, with the ship's twin rudders directly aft of them. Taken in drydock at the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia, 13 March 1942. Text courtesy of photo USNHC # NH 93910, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Photo courtey of Pieter Bakels.
BB-58 Indiana 787k Photo show the "skeg" hull form that all the fast battleships had. The Indiana (BB-58) and her sisters were unique in the fact that their skegs were on the outside of the hull and contained their outer propeller shafts. Text courtesy of photo USNHC # NH 93909, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Photo courtey of Pieter Bakels.
BB-58 Indiana 959k Port side view of the outer propeller shafts of the Indiana (BB-58) in drydock at the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia, 13 March 1942. Photo courtey of Pieter Bakels.
BB-58 Indiana 112k View of the Indiana's (BB-58) forward 16"/45 guns, taken at Newport News, Virginia, on 30 April 1942, the day of her commissioning. Note anchor chains and capstains, armored conning tower and Mark 38 main battery director atop her superstructure. Fire control radar antennas have not yet been fitted atop her gun directors. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, USNHC # NH 80-G-6692, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.
BB-58 Indiana 111k Indiana (BB-58) as completed. It is a Newport News Shipbuilding photo taken by the company at the ship's completion. Her lines are clean and planes, 20mm and 40mm guns, and radars aren't yet installed. Courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding.
BB-58 Indiana 43k As completed in 1942. Good view of ship's boats and boat cranes. USN photo.
BB-58 Indiana 99k Norfolk, Virginia on 20 May 1942. Note her rudimentary bridge, with an enclosed gallery below it. The object atop her conning tower is a spotting glass; it was ultimately replaced by a Mark 27 radar. Slits in the fire control tower were for battle lookouts. USN photo. Text courtesy of U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman.
BB-58 Indiana 118k Norfolk, Virginia on 20 May 1942 basically as completed. USN photo.
BB-58 Indiana 92k Underway, off Norfolk, Virginia, on 15 August 1942. A good detail shot of the main and secondary battery arrangement, 20mm A.A. mounts at the bow, and her superstructure arrangement. USN photo.
BB-58 Indiana 142k 8 September 1942 at Hampton Roads, Virginia. USN photo.
BB-58 Indiana 106k Sept. 1942 photo of the Indiana (BB-58) wearing a "fake bow" off of "A-turret". Official U.S. Navy Photograph, courtesy of the The Floating Drydock by Thomas F. Walkowiak.

USS INDIANA BB-58 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: USS Indiana BB-58 Reunion Association
John W. Ensley, Secretary & Treasurer
Address:6528 Georgetown Lane
Fort Wayne, IN 46815-4310
Phone: 219-493-3291
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.
USS Indiana BB-58 Home Port By Benjamin M. Givens Jr.

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