North Carolina (also called a Showboat) was the lead ship of North Carolina-class battleships. She was the first of ten fast battleships built by the US that entered service during WWII. She took part in every major naval offensive in the Pacific Theater of Operations and her primary role was to protect the aircraft carriers. On 15 September 1942 despite suffering a torpedo hit (making a hole 18 by 32 foot) on her port side it was still possible to achieve a speed of 25 knots!
She was launched on June 13th, 1940 and commissioned into service on April 9th, 1941. The USS North Carolina was 222.1 meters long and had a displacement of 44,377 short tons fully loaded. She could reach a speed of 26 knots (48 km/h).
North Carolina is the most decorated American battleship of WWII with 15 battle stars and is now a museum ship kept at the seaport of Wilmington, N.C.
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