title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The Zaian confederation of Berber tribes in Morocco fought a war of opposition against the French between 1914 and 1921. Resident-General Louis-Hubert Lyautey sought to extend French influence eastwards through the Middle Atlas mountains towards French Algeria. This was opposed by the Zaians, led by Mouha ou Hammou Zayani. The war began well for the French, who quickly took the key towns of Taza and Khénifra. Despite the loss of their base at Khénifra, the Zaians inflicted heavy losses on the French.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: With the outbreak of the First World War, France withdrew troops for service in Europe, and they lost more than 600 in the Battle of El Herri. Over the following four years, the French retained most of their territory despite the Central Powers' intelligence and financial support to the Zaian Confederation and continual raids and skirmishes reducing scarce French manpower.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: After Armistice with Germany in November 1918, significant forces of tribesmen remained opposed to French rule. The French resumed their offensive in the Khénifra area in 1920, establishing a series of blockhouses to limit the Zaians' freedom of movement. They opened negotiations with Hammou's sons, persuading three of them, along with many of their followers, to submit to French rule. A split in the Zaian Confederation between those who supported submission and those still opposed led to infighting and the death of Hammou in Spring 1921. The French responded with a strong, three-pronged attack into the Middle Atlas that pacified the area. Some tribesmen, led by Moha ou Said, fled to the High Atlas and continued a guerrilla war against the French well into the 1930s.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Sultan Yusef's reign, from 1912 to 1927, was turbulent and marked with frequent uprisings against Spain and France. The most serious of these was a Berber uprising in the Rif Mountains, led by Abd el-Krim, who managed to establish a republic in the Rif. Though this rebellion began in the Spanish-controlled area in the north, it reached the French-controlled area. A coalition of France and Spain finally defeated the rebels in 1925. To ensure their own safety, the French moved the court from Fez to Rabat, which has served as the capital ever since.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Amid the backlash against the Berber Decree of 16 May 1930, crowds gathered in protest and a national network was established to resist the legislation. Dr. Susan Gilson Miller cites this as the "seedbed out of which the embryonic nationalist movement emerged." In December 1934, a small group of nationalists, members of the newly formed Moroccan Action Committee (, – CAM), proposed a Plan of Reforms () that called for a return to indirect rule as envisaged by the Treaty of Fes, admission of Moroccans to government positions, and establishment of representative councils. The moderate tactics used by the CAM to obtain consideration of reform – including petitions, newspaper editorials, and personal appeals to French.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: During World War II, the badly divided nationalist movement became more cohesive, and informed Moroccans dared to consider the real possibility of political change in the post-war era. The Moroccan Nationalist Movement () was emboldened by overtures made by Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States during the 1943 Anfa Conference during World War II, expressing support for Moroccan independence after the war. Nationalist political parties based their arguments for Moroccan independence on such World War II declarations as the Atlantic Charter.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: However, the nationalists were disappointed in their belief that the Allied victory in Morocco would pave the way for independence. In January 1944, the Istiqlal Party, which subsequently provided most of the leadership for the nationalist movement, released a manifesto demanding full independence, national reunification, and a democratic constitution. Sultan Muhammad V had approved the manifesto before its submission to the French resident general Gabriel Puaux, who answered that no basic change in the protectorate status was being considered.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In the late 1940s and early 1950s, with political and nonviolent efforts proving futile, the Moroccan struggle for independence became increasingly violent, with massacres, bombings, and riots, particularly in the urban and industrial center, Casablanca.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In 1947, Sultan Muhammad V planned to deliver a speech in what was then the Tangier International Zone to appeal for his country's independence from colonialism and for its territorial unity.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In the days leading up to the sultan's speech, French colonial forces in Casablanca, specifically Senegalese "Tirailleurs" serving the French colonial empire, carried out a massacre of working class Moroccans. The massacre lasted for about 24 hours from 7–8 April 1947, as the "tirailleurs" fired randomly into residential buildings in working-class neighborhoods, killing 180 Moroccan civilians. The conflict was instigated in an attempt to sabotage the Sultan's journey to Tangier, though after having returned to Casablanca to comfort the families of the victims, the Sultan then proceeded to Tangier to deliver the historic speech, in the garden of the Mendoubia palace.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The assassination of the Tunisian labor unionist Farhat Hached by "La Main Rouge"—the clandestine militant wing of French intelligence—sparked protests in cities around the world and riots in Casablanca from 7–8 December 1952. Approximately 100 people were killed. In the aftermath of the riots, French authorities arrested Abbas Messaadi, who would eventually escape, found the Moroccan Liberation Army, and join the armed resistance in the Rif.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In 1953, Thami El Glaoui attempted to orchestrate a coup against Sultan Muhammad V with the support of the French protectorate. The 1953 Oujda revolt broke out ten days after his "electoral" campaign passed through the city.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The general sympathy of the sultan for the nationalists had become evident by the end of the war, although he still hoped to see complete independence achieved gradually. By contrast, the residency, supported by French economic interests and vigorously backed by most of the colonists, adamantly refused to consider even reforms short of independence. Official intransigence contributed to increased animosity between the nationalists and the colonists and gradually widened the split between the sultan and the resident general.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Muhammad V and his family were transferred to Madagascar in January 1954. His replacement by the unpopular Mohammed Ben Aarafa, whose reign was perceived as illegitimate, sparked active opposition to the French protectorate both from nationalists and those who saw the sultan as a religious leader. By 1955, Ben Aarafa was pressured to abdicate; consequently, he fled to Tangier where he formally abdicated.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The French executed 6 Moroccan nationalists in Casablanca on 4 January 1955. The aggressions between the colonists and the nationalists increased from 19 August – 5 November 1955, and approximately 1,000 people died


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Later on, faced with a united Moroccan demand for the sultan’s return, on a great scale, rising violence in Morocco, and the deteriorating situation in Algeria, Muhammad V was returned from exile on 16 November 1955, and declared independence on 18 November 1955. In February 1956 he successfully negotiated with France to enforce the independence of Morocco, and in 1957 took the title of King.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In late 1955, Muhammad V successfully negotiated the gradual restoration of Moroccan independence within a framework of French-Moroccan interdependence. The sultan agreed to institute reforms that would transform Morocco into a constitutional monarchy with a democratic form of government. In February 1956, Morocco acquired limited home rule. Further negotiations for full independence culminated in the French-Moroccan Agreement signed in Paris on 2 March 1956. On 7 April of that year France officially relinquished its protectorate in Morocco. The internationalized city of Tangier was reintegrated with the signing of the Tangier Protocol on 29 October 1956. The abolition of the Spanish protectorate and the recognition of Moroccan independence by Spain were negotiated separately and made final in the Joint Declaration of April 1956. Through these agreements with Spain in 1956 and 1958, Moroccan control over certain Spanish-ruled areas was restored, though attempts to claim other Spanish possessions through military action were less successful.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In the months that followed independence, Muhammad V proceeded to build a modern governmental structure under a constitutional monarchy in which the sultan would exercise an active political role. He acted cautiously, having no intention of permitting more radical elements in the nationalist movement to overthrow the established order. He was also intent on preventing the Istiqlal Party from consolidating its control and establishing a one-party state. In August 1957, Muhammad V assumed the title of king.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The French minted coinage for use in the Protectorate from 1921 until 1956, which continued to circulate until a new currency was introduced. The French minted coins with denomination of francs, which were divided into 100 centimes. This was replaced in 1960 with the reintroduction of the dirham, Morocco's current currency.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The Algeciras Conference gave concessions to the European bankers, ranging from a newly formed State Bank of Morocco, to issuing banknotes backed by gold, with a 40-year term. The new state bank was to act as Morocco's Central Bank, but with a strict cap on the spending of the Sherifian Empire, with administrators appointed by the national banks that guaranteed the loans: the German Empire, United Kingdom, France and Spain.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Hubert Lyautey established the Native Policy Council (), which oversaw colonial rule in the protectorate.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Under the protectorate, Moroccans were prevented from attending large political gatherings. This was because colonial forces deemed they might "hear things beyond their capacity to understand."


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: French authorities also forbade Arabic-language newspapers from covering politics, which sparked claims of censorship. Under the French protectorate, entire articles were censored from the Istiqlal Party's Arabic "Al-Alam" newspaper, which was printed with blocks of missing text.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: A French postal agency had sent mail from Tangier as early as 1854, but the formal beginning of the system was in 1892, when the Sultan of Morocco Hassan the first established the first organized state owned postal service called Sharifan post, by opening several post offices throughout the country. This initiative aimed to limit the foreign or local private postal services. After the establishment of the protectorate in 1912, the offices issued postage stamps of France surcharged with values in pesetas and centimos, at a 1–1 ratio with the denominations in French currency, using both the Type Sage issues, and after 1902, Mouflon issue inscribed "MAROC" (which were never officially issued without the surcharge). In 1911, the Mouflon designs were overprinted in Arabic.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The first stamps of the protectorate appeared 1 August 1914, and were just the existing stamps with the additional overprint reading "PROTECTORAT FRANCAIS". The first new designs were in an issue of 1917, consisting of 17 stamps in six designs, denominated in centimes and francs, and inscribed "MAROC".


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Morocco had from 1912–1935 one of the largest gauge networks in Africa with total length of more than 1,700 kilometres. After the treaty of Algeciras where the representatives of Great Powers agreed not to build any standard gauge railway in Morocco until the standard gauge Tangier–Fez Railway being completed, the French had begun to build military gauge lines in their part of Morocco.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: French colonialism had a lasting impact on society, economy, language, culture, and education in Morocco. There are also lingering connections that have been described as neocolonial. As a francophone former colony of France in Africa, Morocco falls into the cadre of "Françafrique" and "la Francophonie". In 2019, 35% of Moroccans speak French—more than Algeria at 33%, and Mauritania at 13%.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: There are approximately 1,514,000 Moroccans in France, representing the largest community of Moroccans outside of Morocco. The INSEE announced that there are approximately 755,400 Moroccan nationals residing in France as of October 2019, representing 20% of France's immigrant population.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The former Residence-general, designed for Lyautey by architect Albert Laprade and completed in 1924, is now the seat of the Moroccan Ministry of Interior.


title: MARPAT

text: MARPAT (short for Marine pattern) is a multi-scale camouflage pattern in use with the United States Marine Corps, designed in 2001 and introduced from late 2002 to early 2005 with the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform (MCCUU), which replaced the Camouflage Utility Uniform. Its design and concept are based on the Canadian CADPAT pattern. The pattern is formed of small rectangular pixels of color. In theory, it is a far more effective camouflage than standard uniform patterns because it mimics the dappled textures and rough boundaries found in natural settings. It is also known as the "digital pattern" or "digi-cammies" because of its micropattern (pixels) rather than the old macropattern (big blobs).


title: MARPAT

text: The United States government has patented MARPAT, including specifics of its manufacture. By regulation, the pattern and items incorporating it, such as the MCCUU and ILBE backpack, are to be supplied by authorized manufacturers only and are not for general commercial sale, although imitations are available such as "Digital Woodland Camo" or "Digital Desert Camo".


title: MARPAT

text: MARPAT was also chosen because it distinctively identifies its wearers as Marines to their adversaries, while simultaneously helping its wearers remain concealed. This was demonstrated by a Marine spokesman at the launch of MARPAT, who stated: "We want to be instantly recognized as a force to be reckoned with. We want them to see us coming a mile away in our new uniforms." As such, the U.S. Marine Corps restricts use of the camouflage, preventing its use in most other divisions of the United States military with the exception of some elements of the U.S. Navy.


title: MARPAT

text: MARPAT was designed by Timothy O'Neill, Anabela Dugas, Kenneth G. Henley, John Joseph Heisterman, Jr., Luisa DeMorais Santos, Gabriel R. Patricio, and Deirdre E. Townes.


title: MARPAT

text: The concept of using miniature swatches of color as opposed to large splotches is not new. In World War II, German troops used various patterns similar to the current German "Flecktarn", which involved similar small dabs of color on a uniform to provide camouflage.


title: MARPAT

text: The Canadian Forces originally developed the pattern called CADPAT, on which MARPAT was based. Timothy O'Neill's USMC design team in charge of this process, initially with the assistance of Kenneth G. Henley and then John Joseph Heisterman, Jr. (both active duty U.S. Marine Scout Snipers), went through over 150 different camo patterns before selecting three samples that met their initial objectives. These were two versions of tigerstripe and an older design of Rhodesian Brushstroke. The influence of tigerstripe can still be seen in the final MARPAT. These three samples were then reconstructed using new shapes and unique color blends that would allow a more effective uniform in a great range of environments.


title: MARPAT

text: The new patterns were then field tested in different environments, day and night, with night vision and various optics. MARPAT did exceptionally well in their wet uniform test when viewed with night vision while illuminated with IR, where normally patterns appear as a solid. The MARPAT patent lists U.S. Army research into fractal pattern camouflage as the basis for MARPAT.


title: MARPAT

text: The MARPAT pattern was chosen in a run-off against seven other patterns at the USMC Scout Sniper Instructor School.


title: MARPAT

text: Preliminary development of MARPAT began in April 2000, with field testing of the pattern and the MCCUU beginning in 2001. The patent for the MARPAT pattern was filed on 19 June 2001, whereas the patent for the MCCUU uniform was filed on 7 November 2001. Early prototypes of the MARPAT desert pattern from 2001 featured grey, whereas the finished product did not.


title: MARPAT

text: In 2001, Marine Forces Pacific Lt. Gen. Frank Libutti and Sgt. Maj. Stephen Mellinger were the first Marines to publicly wear the uniform before the uniform made its official debut at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on 17 January 2002. In February 2003, MARPAT-patterned helmet covers began to be produced. The replacement of the BDU and DCU by the MCCUU was completed on 1 October 2004, a year ahead of the original requirement date set in 2001 of 1 October 2005.


title: MARPAT

text: The MARPAT uniform was officially fielded as standard issue to the officer candidates of OCC-181 at MCB Quantico and the recruits of 3rd BN Mike Company at MCRD San Diego in late 2002;It continues to be the USMC's standard issue uniform pattern to date.


title: MARPAT

text: In all, the MARPAT development process from concept to completion took 18 months, the fastest time for a U.S. military-developed camouflage pattern to be produced.


title: MARPAT

text: Different ratios and variations of colors were tested before final candidate patterns were actually printed to textile for field trials. A modified version of Vietnam War–era tiger stripe also made it to final trials but was eliminated due to MARPAT being superior in all environments. The purpose of the digitized pattern is to create visual "noise" and prevent the eye from identifying any visual templates. Thus, the pattern is intended to not register as any particular shape or pattern that could be distinguished.


title: MARPAT

text: There were initially three MARPAT patterns tested: Woodland, Desert, and Urban. While keeping the rights for Urban, only the Woodland and Desert patterns were adopted by the Marine Corps for general issue, replacing the U.S. Woodland pattern and the U.S. Three-Color Desert pattern. Webbing and equipment worn with MARPAT Woodland and MARPAT Desert is produced in Coyote Brown, a mid-tone color common to both the woodland and desert patterns. Although a digital snow pattern has also been adopted on cold-weather training over-garments, this uses a different pattern from the Canadian company Hyperstealth.


title: MARPAT

text: Authentic MARPAT material is distinguishable by a miniature "Eagle, Globe, and Anchor" emblem incorporated into the pattern above the letters "USMC", in both the woodland and desert patterns.


title: MARPAT

text: The United States Army used the same shapes in designing its Universal Camouflage Pattern, which uses a much paler three-color scheme of sage green, grey and sand for use on the Army Combat Uniform. After major questions about its effectiveness arose, the Army adopted the "Scorpion W2" Operational Camouflage Pattern in 2015, which was fully phased in by 2019.


title: MARPAT

text: The United States Air Force designed its own Airman Battle Uniform (ABU) using a standard tiger stripe pattern and slight variation on the color scheme of ACU. It was also phased out by the OCP uniform by 2021.


title: MARPAT

text: The United States Navy announced approval for a digital "BDU-style" work uniform in late 2008. The Navy Working Uniform (NWU) was chosen by surveyed sailors for consistency and longer life, while the blue-grey-black Type I pattern was designed for aesthetic purposes rather than camouflage to disguise them at sea. In January 2010, the Navy began considering new Navy Working Uniform patterns modified from MARPAT, with a Type II desert pattern and Type III woodland pattern. The Woodland pattern was actually an earlier coloration of the MARPAT scheme, not adopted following USMC trials. These patterns are overall darker than their respective MARPAT equivalents, modified with different color shades. They were introduced because the blue and grey Type I pattern was not meant for a tactical environment (the Battle Dress Uniform in M81 woodland and Desert Camouflage Uniform were still used for this purpose until the Type II and III patterns were introduced). Backlash from Marines, including an objection from former Commandant Conway, led to restrictions when NAVADMIN 374/09 was released: Type II pattern is restricted to Naval Special Warfare personnel while deployed, while the NWU Type III is the standard shore working uniform for all Naval personnel effective 1 October 2019. The blue and grey Type I uniform was discontinued .


title: MARPAT

text: ARMPAT, an Armenian version of the MARPAT pattern, is currently used by the Armenian Armed Forces, and the Artsakh Defense Army. It has the same design as the MARPAT, but with different color sets.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: USS "Washington" (BB-56) was the second and final member of the of fast battleships, the first vessel of the type built for the United States Navy. Built under the Washington Treaty system, "North Carolina"s design was limited in displacement and armament, though the United States used a clause in the Second London Naval Treaty to increase the main battery from the original armament of nine guns to nine guns. The ship was laid down in 1938 and completed in May 1941, while the United States was still neutral during World War II. Her initial career was spent training along the East Coast of the United States until after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, bringing the United States into the war.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: "Washington" was initially deployed to Britain to reinforce the Home Fleet, which was tasked with protecting convoys carrying supplies to the Soviet Union. She saw no action during this period, as the German fleet remained in port, and "Washington" was recalled to the US in July 1942 to be refitted and transferred to the Pacific. Immediately sent to the south Pacific to reinforce Allied units fighting the Guadalcanal campaign, the ship became the flagship of Rear Admiral Willis Lee. She saw action at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on the night of 14–15 November in company with the battleship and four destroyers. After "South Dakota" inadvertently drew heavy Japanese fire by sailing too closely to Admiral Nobutake Kondō's squadron, "Washington" took advantage of the Japanese preoccupation with "South Dakota" to inflict fatal damage on the Japanese battleship and the destroyer , while avoiding damage herself. "Washington"s attack disrupted Kondō's planned bombardment of U.S. Marine positions on Guadalcanal and forced the remaining Japanese ships to withdraw.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: From 1943 onward, she was primarily occupied with screening the fast carrier task force, though she also occasionally shelled Japanese positions in support of the various amphibious assaults. During this period, "Washington" participated in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in late 1943 and early 1944, the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign in mid-1944, and the Philippines campaign in late 1944 and early 1945. Operations to capture Iwo Jima and Okinawa followed in 1945, and during the later stages of the Battle of Okinawa, "Washington" was detached to undergo an overhaul, though by the time it was completed, Japan had surrendered, ending the war. "Washington" then moved to the east coast of the US, where she was refitted to serve as a troop transport as part of Operation Magic Carpet, carrying a group of over 1,600 soldiers home from Britain. She was thereafter decommissioned in 1947 and assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, where she remained until 1960 when she was stricken from the naval register and sold for scrap the next year.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The "North Carolina" class was the first new battleship design built under the Washington Naval Treaty system; her design was bound by the terms of the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936, which added a restriction on her main battery of guns no larger than . The General Board evaluated a number of designs ranging from traditional battleships akin to the "standard" series or fast battleships, and ultimately a fast battleship armed with twelve 14-inch guns was selected. After the ships were authorized, however, the United States invoked the escalator clause in the treaty that allowed an increase to guns in the event that any member nation refused to sign the treaty, which Japan refused to do.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: "Washington" was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . Her standard displacement amounted to and increased to at full combat load. The ship was powered by four General Electric steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. Rated at , the turbines were intended to give a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . She carried three Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes for aerial reconnaissance, which were launched by a pair of aircraft catapults on her fantail. Her peace-time crew numbered 1,800 officers and enlisted men, but the crew swelled to 99 officers and 2,035 enlisted during the war.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 16 in /45 caliber Mark 6 guns guns in three triple-gun turrets on the centerline, two of which were placed in a superfiring pair forward, with the third aft. The secondary battery consisted of twenty /38 caliber dual purpose guns mounted in twin turrets clustered amidships, five turrets on either side. As designed, the ship was equipped with an anti-aircraft battery of sixteen guns and eighteen .50-caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, but her anti-aircraft battery was expanded greatly during her career.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The main armored belt was thick, while the main armored deck was up to thick. The main battery gun turrets had thick faces, and they were mounted atop barbettes that were protected with the same thickness of steel. The conning tower had thick sides. The ship's armor layout had been designed with opponents equipped with 14-inch guns in mind, but since the treaty system broke down just before construction began, her design could not be revised to improve the scale of protection to defend against heavier guns. Despite this shortcoming, the "North Carolina" class proved to be more successful battleships than the better-armored but very cramped .


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: "Washington" received a number of upgrades over the course of her career, primarily consisting of radar and a new light anti-aircraft battery. The ship received three Mark 3 fire-control radar sets for the main battery, four Mark 4 radars for the secondary guns, a CXAM air-search radar, and an SG surface-search radar. During her early 1944 refit, she received an SK air-search radar in place of the CXAM and a second SG radar; her Mark 3 radars were replaced with more advanced Mark 8 sets, though she retained one of the Mark 3s as a backup. Her Mark 4 radars were later replaced with a combination of Mark 12 and Mark 22 sets. In her final refit in August and September 1945, she had an SK radar forward, an SR air-search set aft, and an SG radar in both positions. A TDY jammer was installed on her forward fire control tower.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: "Washington"s 1.1 in battery was replaced with forty Bofors guns in ten quadruple mounts in April 1943, and in August, the number of guns had increased to sixty in fifteen quadruple mounts. Her original light battery of eighteen .50-cal machine guns was decreased to twelve and twenty Oerlikon autocannon in single mounts were installed in early 1942. In June, she had her .50-cal battery increased to twenty-eight barrels, but by September, all were replaced in favor of a uniform battery of forty 20 mm cannon. During the April 1943 refit, her anti-aircraft armament was increased to a total of sixty-four 20 mm cannon. A year later, in April 1944, she lost one of the single mounts in favor of an experimental quadruple 20 mm mount. In November 1944, the ship was slated to have the battery reduced to 48 barrels, but this never happened and instead, in early 1945, she had eight single mounts replaced with eight twin mounts, bringing her final 20 mm battery to seventy-five guns.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The keel for "Washington" was laid down on 14 June 1938 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Her completed hull was launched on 1 June 1940, and after completing fitting-out work, she was commissioned into the fleet on 15 May 1941. She began builder's sea trials on 3 August, but like her sister ship , she suffered from excessive vibration while running at high speed from her original three-bladed screws. Tests with "North Carolina" produced a workable solution (though the problem was never fully corrected): two four-bladed screws on the outer shafts and two five-bladed propellers on the inboard shafts. Tests continued during her shakedown cruise and subsequent initial training, which were conducted along the East Coast of the United States, as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. She conducted high speed tests in December, during which she failed to reach her designed speed due to the vibration problems.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: During this period, the United States was still neutral during World War II. "Washington" frequently trained with "North Carolina" and the aircraft carrier , with "Washington" serving as the flagship of Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox Jr., the commander of Battleship Division (BatDiv) 6, part of the Atlantic Fleet. Her initial working up training continued into 1942, by which time the country had entered the war as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and Germany's subsequent declaration of war. Modifications to the ship's screws continued as late as February 1942, but these also proved unsuccessful.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: With the country now at war, "Washington" was assigned as the flagship of Task Force (TF) 39, still under Wilcox's command, which departed for Britain on 26 March. The unit, which included "Wasp" and the heavy cruisers and , were to reinforce the British Home Fleet based in Scapa Flow. The Home Fleet had been weakened by the need to detach units, particularly Force H, to take part in the invasion of Madagascar, and the American battle group was needed to help counter the German battleship and other heavy surface units based in occupied Norway. The next day, while crossing the Atlantic, Wilcox was swept overboard. "Tuscaloosa" and a pair of destroyers searched for the admiral, and "Wasp" sent aircraft aloft to assist the effort, but lookouts on the destroyer spotted him, face down in the water, having already drowned. The search was called off and the task force continued on to its destination. Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen, aboard "Wichita", took command of the unit, which was met at sea by the British cruiser on 3 April. The ships arrived in Scapa Flow two days later, where it came under the command of Admiral John Tovey, the commander of the Home Fleet.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: For the rest of the month, "Washington" and the other American ships were occupied with battle practice and familiarization training with the Home Fleet to prepare the different countries' ships for joint operations. TF 39 was redesignated TF 99 in late April, "Washington" still serving as the flagship. The ships embarked on their first operation on 28 April to conduct a sweep for German warships ahead of the supply convoy PQ 15 to the Soviet Union. The ships of TF 99 operated with elements of the Home Fleet, including the battleship and the carrier . During the operation, "King George V" accidentally rammed and sank the destroyer ; "Washington" was following too closely to avoid the wreckage, and as she passed over the sinking destroyer, "Punjabi"s depth charges exploded. The shock from the blast damaged some of "Washington"s radars and fire-control equipment and caused a small leak in one of her fuel tanks. "King George V" had to return to port for repairs, but "Washington" and the rest of TF 99 remained at sea until 5 May. The ships stopped at Hvalfjörður, Iceland, where they took on supplies from the supply ship .


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The ships remained in Iceland until 15 May, when they got underway to return to Scapa Flow, arriving there on 3 June. The next day, Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark, the Commander of Naval Forces Europe, visited the ship and made her his temporary headquarters. On 7 June, King George VI came aboard to inspect "Washington", and after Stark left she resumed escorting convoys in the Arctic; these included convoys QP 12, PQ 16, and PQ 17. The first two occurred at the same time, with QP 12 returning from the Soviet Union while PQ 16 carrying another load of supplies and weapons. "Washington", "Victorious", and the battleship provided distant support but was not directly engaged by the German U-boats and aircraft that raided PQ 16; QP 12 largely evaded German attention and passed without significant incident.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The PQ 17 operation resulted in disaster when reconnaissance incorrectly reported "Tirpitz", the heavy cruisers , , and "Lützow", and nine destroyers to be approaching to attack the convoy, when in reality the Germans were still off the coast of Norway, their progress having been hampered by several of the vessels running aground. The reports of German heavy units at sea prompted the convoy commander to order his ships to scatter, which left them vulnerable to U-boats and "Luftwaffe" attacks that sank twenty-four of the thirty-five transport ships. While in Hvalfjörður on 14 July, Giffen moved his flag back to "Wichita" and "Washington", escorted by four destroyers, got underway to return to the United States. She arrived in Gravesend Bay on 21 July and moved to the Brooklyn Navy Yard two days later for an overhaul.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: After completing the refit, "Washington" got underway on 23 August, bound for the Pacific with an escort of three destroyers. She passed through the Panama Canal on 28 August and arrived in Nukuʻalofa in Tonga on 14 September. There, she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Willis Lee, then the commander of BatDiv 6 and Task Group (TG) 12.2. On 15 September, "Washington" sailed to meet the ships of TF 17, centered on the carrier ; the ships thereafter operated together and went to Nouméa in New Caledonia to begin operations in support of the campaign in the Solomon Islands. The ships, based out of Nouméa and Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides, covered convoys bringing supplies and reinforcements to the marines fighting on Guadalcanal into early November.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: During one of these convoy operations in mid-October, "Washington", a pair of cruisers, and five destroyers provided distant support but were too far away to take part in the Battle of Cape Esperance on the night of 11–12 October. Shortly thereafter, "Washington" was transferred to TF 64, the surface combatant force assigned to the Guadalcanal area, still under Lee's command. At this time, the unit also included one heavy and two light cruisers and six destroyers. Over the course of 21–24 October, Japanese land-based reconnaissance aircraft made repeated contacts with TF 64 as a Japanese fleet approached the area, but in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands that began on the 25th, the Japanese concentrated their air attacks on the American carriers of TF 17 and 61. On 27 October, the Japanese submarine attempted to torpedo "Washington" but missed.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: By early November, the US fleet had been reduced considerably in offensive power; the carriers "Wasp" and "Hornet" had been sunk, leaving just the carrier , "Washington", and the new battleship as the only capital ships available to Allied forces fighting in the campaign. "Washington" joined the other two ships in TF 16, which also included the heavy cruiser , and nine destroyers. The ships sortied on 11 November to return to the fighting off Guadalcanal. The cruiser and two more destroyers joined them the following day. On 13 November, after learning that a major Japanese attack was approaching, Halsey detached "South Dakota", "Washington", and four of the destroyers as Task Group 16.3, again under Lee's command. "Enterprise", her forward elevator damaged from the action at Santa Cruz, was kept to the south as a reserve and to prevent the sole operational American carrier in the Pacific from being lost. The ships of TG 16.3 were to block an anticipated Japanese bombardment group in the waters off Guadalcanal.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: As Lee's task group approached Guadalcanal, his Japanese counterpart, Admiral Nobutake Kondō steamed to meet him with his main bombardment force, consisting of the fast battleship , the heavy cruisers and , and a destroyer screen. While en route, TG 16.3 was re-designated as TF 64 on 14 November; the ships passed to the south of Guadalcanal and then rounded the western end of the island to block Kondō's expected route. Japanese aircraft reported sighting Lee's formation, but identification of the ships ranged from a group of cruisers and destroyers to aircraft carriers, causing confusion among the Japanese commanders. That evening, American reconnaissance aircraft spotted Japanese warships off Savo Island, prompting Lee to order his ships to general quarters. The four destroyers were arrayed ahead of the two battleships. The American task force, having been thrown together a day before, had not operated together as a unit, and both of the battleships had very limited experience shooting their main battery, particularly at night.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: At around 23:00 on 14 November, the leading Japanese destroyers in a screening force commanded by Shintarō Hashimoto sent ahead of Kondō's main force spotted Lee's ships and turned about to warn Kondō, while "Washington"s search radar picked up a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer at about the same time. The ships' fire control radars then began tracking the Japanese vessels and Lee ordered both of his battleships to open fire when ready. "Washington" fired first with her main battery at 23:17 at a range of while her secondary guns fired star shells to illuminate the targets, followed shortly by "South Dakota". One of the Japanese destroyers, , revealed her position by opening fire on the American destroyer screen, allowing "Washington" to target her, inflicting serious damage that disabled her propulsion machinery and started a major fire.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: Shortly thereafter, at about 23:30, an error in the electrical switchboard room knocked out power aboard "South Dakota", disabling her radar systems and leaving the ship all but blind to the Japanese vessels approaching the force. By this time, Hashimoto's ships had inflicted serious damage on the American destroyer screen; two of the destroyers were torpedoed (one of which, , survived until the following morning) and a third was destroyed by gunfire. "Washington" was now left essentially alone to engage the Japanese squadron, though they had yet to actually detect her presence. While "Washington"s captain, Glenn B. Davis, kept his ship on the disengaged side of the flaming wrecks of the destroyer screen, "South Dakota" was forced to turn in front of one of the burning destroyers to avoid a collision, which backlit her to the Japanese ships, drawing their fire and allowing "Washington" to engage them undisturbed.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: At 23:35, "Washington"s SG radar detected Kondō's main force and tracked them for the next twenty minutes. At 23:58, "South Dakota"s power was restored and her radar picked up the Japanese ships less than ahead. Two minutes later, the leading Japanese ship, "Atago", illuminated "South Dakota" with her search lights and the Japanese line promptly opened fire, scoring twenty-seven hits. "Washington", still undetected, opened fire, allocating two of her 5-inch guns to engage "Atago" and two to fire star shells, while the rest joined her main battery in battering "Kirishima" at a range of . "Washington" scored probably nine 16-inch hits and as many as forty 5-inch hits, inflicting grievous damage. "Kirishima" was badly holed below the waterline, her forward two turrets were knocked out, and her rudder was jammed, forcing her to steer in a circle to port with an increasing starboard list.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: "Washington" then shifted fire to "Atago" and "Takao", and though straddled the former, failed to score any significant hits; the barrage nevertheless convinced both cruisers to turn off their search lights and reverse course in an attempt to launch torpedoes. At 00:13, the two cruisers fired a spread of sixteen Long Lance torpedoes at "Washington", then about away, though they all missed. At 00:20, Lee turned his sole surviving combatant (he had ordered the surviving destroyers to disengage earlier in the engagement, and "South Dakota"s captain, having determined that his ship had been damaged sufficiently to prevent her from taking further action, decided to break off as well) to close with Kondō's cruisers. "Atago" and "Takao" briefly engaged with their main batteries and the former launched three more torpedoes, all of which missed. Kondō then ordered the light forces of his reconnaissance screen to make a torpedo attack, but Hashimoto's ships were far out of position and were unable to comply. Rear Admiral Raizō Tanaka, who was escorting a supply convoy to Guadalcanal and had thus far not participated in the action, detached two destroyers to aid Kondō. When these ships arrived on the scene, Lee ordered "Washington" to turn to reverse course at 00:33 to avoid a possible torpedo attack from the destroyers.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: Tanaka's two destroyers closed to launch their torpedoes while "Washington" was disengaging, prompting her to take evasive maneuvers. While withdrawing to the south, Lee kept "Washington" far west of the damaged American warships so that any Japanese vessels pursuing him would not be drawn onto the damaged vessels. An hour later, Kondō cancelled the bombardment and attempted to contact "Kirishima", but after failing to receive a response, sent destroyers to investigate the crippled battleship. She was found burning furiously, still turning slowly to port as progressively worsening flooding disabled her boilers. At 03:25, she capsized and sank; by this time, "Ayanami" had also been abandoned and sank as a result of the damage inflicted by "Washington". By 09:00, "Washington" had formed back up with "South Dakota" and the destroyers "Benham" and to withdraw from the area. In addition to blocking Kondō's planned bombardment, Lee had delayed Tanaka's convoy late enough that the transports could not unload under cover of darkness, and so they were forced to beach themselves on the island, where they were repeatedly attacked and badly damaged by aircraft from "Enterprise" and Henderson Field, field artillery, and the destroyer later that morning.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: "Washington" returned to screening the carriers of TF 11——and TF 16—"Enterprise"—while "South Dakota" departed for repairs. By late November, Lee's command was reinforced by "North Carolina", followed later by the battleship . These battleships were grouped together as TF 64, still under Lee's command, and they covered convoys to support the fighting in the Solomons into the next year. These operations included covering a group of seven transports carrying elements of the 25th Infantry Division to Guadalcanal from 1 to 4 January 1943. During another of these convoy operations later that month, Lee's battleships were too far south to be able to reach the American cruiser force during the Battle of Rennell Island. "Washington" remained in the south Pacific until 30 April, when she departed Nouméa for Pearl Harbor. On the way, she joined the ships of TF 16. The ships arrived on 8 May.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: For the next twenty days, "Washington" operated as the flagship of TF 60, which conducted combat training off the coast of Hawaii. On 28 May, she went into dry dock at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for repairs and installation of new equipment. This included a new set of screws that again failed to remediate the vibration problems. Once this work was completed, she resumed training exercises in the area until 27 July, when she got underway with a convoy bound for the south Pacific. For the voyage, she was attached to TG 56.14, and on arriving in the area was detached on 5 August to proceed independently to Havannah Harbor at Efate in the New Hebrides, which she reached two days later. "Washington" spent the next two months conducting tactical training with the carrier task forces in the Efate area in preparation for upcoming campaigns in the central Pacific.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: Now part of TG 53.2, which included three other battleships and six destroyers, "Washington" got underway on 31 October. The ships met TG 53.3, centered on the carriers "Enterprise", , and , the next day, for extensive training exercises that lasted until 5 November. The groups then dispersed and "Washington" left with escorting destroyers for Viti Levu in the Fiji Islands, which she reached on 7 November.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: "Washington", still Lee's flagship, sortied on 11 November in company with the ships of BatDivs 8 and 9, and four days later they joined TG 50.1, centered on the carrier . The fleet proceeded on to the Gilbert Islands, where marines were preparing to land on Tarawa. The carriers of TF 50 launched their strikes on 19 November, continuing into the next day as the marines went ashore on Tarawa and Makin. The attacks continued through 22 November, when the fleet steamed to the north of Makin to patrol the area. On 25 November, the groups of TF 50 were reorganized and "Washington" was transferred to TG 50.4, along with the carriers and and the battleships "South Dakota" and .


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: From 26 to 28 November, the carrier groups operated off Makin to cover the landing of troops and supplies on the island. Japanese aircraft attacked the groups on 27 and 28 November, but they inflicted little damage on the American ships. On 6 December, with the fighting in the Gilberts over, "Washington" was detached to create TG 50.8 along with "North Carolina", "South Dakota", "Alabama", "Indiana", and , covered by "Bunker Hill", "Monterey", and eleven destroyers. The battleships were sent to bombard the island of Nauru two days later, thereafter returning to Efate on 12 December. The ships remained there only briefly before departing on 25 December for gunnery training with "North Carolina" and four destroyers. The ships returned to port on 7 January 1944, at which time "Washington" was assigned to TG 37.2, along with "Bunker Hill" and "Monterey". The ships got underway on 18 January, bound for the next target in the campaign: the Marshall Islands.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The ships stopped briefly in Funafuti in the Ellice Islands on 20 January before departing three days later to meet the rest of what was now TF 58; the unit, which comprised the fast carrier task force, had been created under the command of Rear Admiral Marc Mitscher on 6 January. "Washington"s unit was accordingly re-numbered as TG 58.1. Having arrived off the main target at Kwajalein by late January, "Washington" screened the carriers while they conducted extensive strikes on the island and neighboring Taroa. On 30 January, "Washington", "Massachusetts", and "Indiana" were detached from the carriers to bombard Kwajalein with an escort of four destroyers. After returning to the carriers the next day, the battleships resumed guard duty while the carriers resumed their air strikes.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: While patrolling off the island in the early hours of 1 February, "Indiana" cut in front of "Washington" to go refuel a group of destroyers, causing the latter to ram the former and significantly damaging both ships. "Washington" had some of bow plating torn from her bow, causing it to collapse. The two vessels withdrew to Majuro for temporary repairs; "Washington"s crumpled bow was reinforced to allow her to steam to Pearl Harbor on 11 February for further temporary repairs. After arriving there, she was fitted with a temporary bow before continuing on to the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington, for permanent repairs. Another new set of screws was installed and in April, "Washington" conducted vibration tests that revealed a partial solution: the ship could now steam at high speed without significant issues, but vibration was still excessive at speeds between . Once the work was completed, the ship joined BatDiv 4 and took on a group of 500 passengers before departing for Pearl Harbor. She arrived there on 13 May and disembarked the passengers and proceeding back to the fleet at Majuro. On arrival on 7 June, she resumed her service as now-Vice Admiral Lee's flagship.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: Shortly after "Washington" arrived, the fleet got underway to begin the assault on the Mariana Islands; the carriers struck targets on Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Rota, and Pagan to weaken Japanese defenses before ground forces went ashore. At the time, she was assigned to TG 58.7, which consisted of seven fast battleships, was distributed between the four carrier task groups. On 13 June, "Washington" and several other battleships were detached to bombard Saipan and Tinian before being relieved by the amphibious force's bombardment group the next day. On 15 June, the fast carrier task force steamed north to hit targets in the Volcano and Bonin Islands, including Iwo Jima, Chichi Jima, and Haha Jima. At the same time, marines stormed the beaches on Saipan; landing was a breach of Japan's inner defensive perimeter that triggered the Japanese fleet to launch a major counter-thrust with the 1st Mobile Fleet, the main carrier strike force.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: Ozawa's departure was observed by the American submarine ; other submarines, including and , tracked the Japanese fleet as it approached, keeping Admiral Raymond Spruance, the Fifth Fleet commander, informed of their movements. As the Japanese fleet approached, "Washington" and the rest of TF 58 steamed to meet it on 18 June, leading to the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19–20 June. "Washington" and the other battleships, with four cruisers and thirteen destroyers, were deployed some west of the carrier groups to screen the likely path of approach. The Japanese launched their aircraft first, and as they probed the American fleet's defenses, "Washington" and "North Carolina" were the first battleships to open fire on the attacking Japanese aircraft. During the action, which was fought primarily by the carriers, the US fleet inflicted serious losses on the Japanese, destroying hundreds of their aircraft and sinking three carriers.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: With the 1st Mobile Fleet defeated and withdrawing, "Washington" and the rest of TF 58 returned to the Marianas. She continued to screen the carriers during the Battle of Guam until 25 July, when "Washington" steamed with the carriers of TG 58.4 to raid the Palau Islands. The attacks lasted until 6 August, when "Washington", "Indiana", "Alabama", the light cruiser , and escorting destroyers were detached as TG 58.7 to proceed to Eniwetok. After arriving there on 11 August, the ships refueled and replenished ammunition and other supplies, remaining there for most of the month. On 30 August, the task group got underway with the rest of the fast carrier strike force, which by now had been transferred to Third Fleet command and renumbered TF 38. At this time, "Washington" was assigned to TG 38.3. The ships sailed first south to the Admiralty Islands and then west, back to the Palaus. There, the carriers began a series of strikes from 6 to 8 September on various targets in the Palaus; "Washington" contributed her heavy guns to the bombardment of Peleliu and Anguar before the marines assaulted both islands later that month.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: On 9 and 10 September, task groups 38.1, 38.2, and 38.3 left the Palaus to raid Japanese airfields on Mindanao in the southern Philippines, part of the standard practice to neutralize nearby positions that could interfere with the upcoming assault on the Palaus. Finding few Japanese forces on the island, the carriers shifted north to the Visayas in the central Philippines from 12 to 14 September. The carrier groups then withdrew to refuel at sea before returning to the Philippines to attack airfields on Luzon from 21 and 22 September before making further attacks on installations in the Visayas on 24 September. The carrier groups then proceeded north to make a series of strikes on airfields in Okinawa, Formosa, and Luzon in preparation for the upcoming invasion of the Philippines.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: TF 38 embarked on the raids to isolate the Philippines and suppress the units of the 1st Air Fleet on 6 October; "Washington" remained Lee's flagship, attached to TG 38.3. The first operation was a major strike on Japanese air bases on the island of Okinawa on 10 October. The next day, the ships of TG 38.3 refueled at sea before joining the other three task groups for major raids on Formosa that took place from 12 to 14 October. As the fleet withdrew the next day, it defended itself against heavy Japanese air attacks, though the ships of TG 38.3 were not directly engaged as the Japanese attacks concentrated on task groups 38.1 and 38.4. On the 16th, a submarine reported observing a Japanese squadron consisting of three cruisers and eight destroyers searching for damaged Allied warships, and TG 38.3 and TG 38.2 steamed north to catch them, but the aircraft were only able to locate and sink a torpedo boat.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: On 17 October, the two task groups withdrew to the south to cover the invasion of Leyte with the rest of TF 38, the same day that elements of Sixth Army went ashore; the raids on Luzon continued into 19 October. By this time, "Washington" had been reassigned to TG 38.4, screening "Enterprise", the fleet carrier , and the light carriers and . On 21 October, TG 38.4 withdrew to refuel, during which time they also covered the withdrawal of ships that had been damaged during the Formosa raid, which were still on their way to Ulithi. TG 38.4 was recalled to Leyte the next day.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The landing on Leyte led to the activation of Operation Shō-Gō 1, the Japanese navy's planned riposte to an Allied landing in the Philippines. The plan was a complicated operation with three separate fleets: The 1st Mobile Fleet, now labeled the Northern Force under Jisaburō Ozawa, the Center Force under Takeo Kurita, and the Southern Force under Shōji Nishimura. Ozawa's carriers, by now depleted of most of their aircraft, were to serve as a decoy for Kurita's and Nishimura's battleships, which were to use the distraction to attack the invasion fleet directly. Kurita's ships were detected in the San Bernardino Strait on 24 October, and in the ensuing Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, American carrier aircraft sank the powerful battleship , causing Kurita to temporarily reverse course. This convinced Admiral William F. Halsey, the commander of Third Fleet, to send the fast carrier task force to destroy the 1st Mobile Fleet, which had by then been detected. "Washington" steamed north with the carriers, and on the way Halsey established TF 34, under Lee's command, consisting of "Washington" and five other fast battleships, seven cruisers, and eighteen destroyers.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: On the morning of 25 October, Mitscher began his first attack on the Northern Force, initiating the Battle off Cape Engaño; over the course of six strikes on the Japanese fleet, the Americans sank all four carriers and damaged two old battleships that had been converted into hybrid carriers. Unknown to Halsey and Mitscher, Kurita had resumed his approach through the San Bernardino Strait late on 24 October and passed into Leyte Gulf the next morning. While Mitscher was occupied with the decoy Northern Force, Kurita moved in to attack the invasion fleet; in the Battle off Samar, he was held off by a group of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts, TU 77.4.3, known as Taffy 3. Frantic calls for help later that morning led Halsey to detach Lee's battleships to head south and intervene.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: However, Halsey waited more than an hour after receiving orders from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, to detach TF 34; still steaming north during this interval, the delay added two hours to the battleships' voyage south. A need to refuel destroyers further slowed TF 34's progress south. Heavy resistance from Taffy 3 threw Kurita's battleships and cruisers into disarray and led him to break off the attack before "Washington" and the rest of TF 34 could arrive. Halsey detached the battleships and as TG 34.5 to pursue Kurita through the San Bernardino Strait while Lee took the rest of his ships further southwest to try to cut off his escape, but both groups arrived too late. The historian H. P. Wilmott speculated that had Halsey detached TF 34 promptly and not delayed the battleships by refueling the destroyers, the ships could have easily arrived in the strait ahead of Center Force and, owing to the marked superiority of their radar-directed main guns, destroyed Kurita's ships.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: After the battle, the units of TF 38 withdrew to Ulithi to replenish fuel and ammunition for further operations in the Philippines. The carrier task forces got underway again on 2 November for more strikes on the airfields on Luzon and the Visayas that continued until 14 November, when they withdrew again to Ulithi, arriving there three days later. On 18 November, Lee exchanged flagships with Rear Admiral Edward Hanson, the commander of BatDiv 9, who had used "South Dakota" as his flagship. At the same time, "Washington" was transferred to TG 38.3, in company with "South Dakota" and "North Carolina". The ships sortied on 22 November for gunnery training while the carriers conducted strikes independently against targets in the Philippines over the next three days. She arrived back in Ulithi on 2 December, where the crew made repairs and loaded ammunition and stores for future operations.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The units of TF 38 got underway again on 11 December for more attacks on Luzon to suppress Japanese aircraft as the amphibious force prepared for its next landing on the island of Mindoro in the western Philippines. The raid lasted from 14 to 16 December, and while the fleet withdrew to refuel on 17 December, Typhoon Cobra swept through the area, battering the fleet and sinking three destroyers. The damage inflicted on the fleet delayed further support of ground troops for two days and the continuing bad weather led Halsey to break off operations; the ships arrived back in Ulithi on 24 December.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: On 30 December, the fleet got underway to make preparatory strikes for the landing on Luzon; "Washington" remained with TG 38.3 for the operation. The carriers struck Formosa again on 3 and 4 January 1945; after refueling at sea on 5 January, the carriers struck kamikazes massed at airfields on Luzon on 6 and 7 January to neutralize them before the invasion of Lingayen Gulf. Further attacks on Formosa and Okinawa followed on 9 January. The next day, the carrier groups entered the South China Sea, where it refueled and then struck targets in French Indochina on the assumption that significant Japanese naval forces were present, but only merchant ships and a number of minor warships were caught and sunk there. During these raids, other elements of the Allied fleet invaded Lingayen Gulf on Luzon.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: In February, she escorted carriers during attacks on the Japanese island of Honshu to disrupt Japanese air forces that might interfere with the planned invasion of Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. Fifth Fleet had re-assumed command of the fast carrier task force by this point, and "Washington" was now part of TG 58.4. The fleet sortied from Ulithi on 10 February, and after conducting training exercises off Tinian on the 12th, refueled at sea on 14 February and continued on north to launch strikes on the Tokyo area two days later. The raids continued through 17 February and the next day, the fleet withdrew to refuel and TG 58.4 was sent to hit other islands in the Bonin chain to further isolate Iwo Jima. During the preparatory bombardment for that attack, "Washington", "North Carolina", and the heavy cruiser were detached from the task group to reinforce TF 54, the assault force for the invasion; she remained on station during the marine assault and provided fire support as they fought their way across the island through 22 February. The next day, the carrier groups reassembled and refueled on 24 February for further operations against the Japanese mainland.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: After leaving Iwo Jima, the fleet resumed air attacks on the Home Islands to prepare for the next amphibious assault on Okinawa in the Ryukus. The first of these, on 25 and 26 February, hit targets in the Tokyo area, followed by another attack on Iwo Jima the next day. The fleet refueled on 28 February and on 1 March raided Okinawa, thereafter returning to Ulithi on 4 March. While in Ulithi, the fleet was reorganized and "Washington" was transferred to TG 58.3. The fleet sortied on 14 March for additional attacks on Japan; the ships refueled on 16 March on the way and they launched their aircraft two days later to hit targets in Kyushu. The attacks continued into the next day, causing significant damage to Japanese facilities on the island and sinking or damaging numerous warships. The task groups withdrew to refuel and reorganize on 22 March, as several carriers had been damaged by kamikaze and air attacks.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: On 24 March, "Washington" bombarded Japanese positions on Okinawa as the fleet continued to pummel defenses before the invasion. By this time, "Washington" had been transferred to TG 58.2. Carrier raids on the Home Islands and the Ryukus continued after landing on Okinawa on 1 April. While operating off the island, the fleet came under heavy and repeated kamikaze attacks, one of the largest of which took place on 7 April in concert with the sortie of the battleship . "Washington" was not damaged in these attacks, however, which were largely defeated by the carriers' combat air patrols. On 19 April, the battleship again closed with Okinawa to bombard Japanese positions as the Marines fought their way south. "Washington" remained off the island until late May, when she was detached for an overhaul. She proceeded first to San Pedro Bay, Leyte, arriving there on 1 June, before departing for Puget Sound on 6 June. While crossing the Pacific, she stopped in Guam and Pearl Harbor before finally arriving in Bremerton on 23 June. Her refit continued into September, by which time Japan had surrendered on 15 August and formally ended the war on 2 September.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: After completing her refit in September, "Washington" conducted sea trials, followed by a short period of training while based in San Pedro, Los Angeles. She then got underway for the Panama Canal and on 6 October joined TG 11.6 on the way, thereafter passing through the canal and steaming north to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. She arrived there on 17 October and took part in Navy Day celebrations on 27 October. Slated to take part in Operation Magic Carpet, the sea-lift operation to bring American service members home, "Washington" went into the shipyard in Philadelphia to be modified to carry additional personnel. Additional space was provided by substantially reducing the crew, to 84 officers and 835 enlisted men; with the war over, the ship's weapons needed no gun crews. The work was completed by 15 November, when she got underway for Britain. She arrived in Southampton on 22 November. "Washington" embarked a contingent of Army personnel totaling 185 officers and 1,479 enlisted men and then re-crossed the Atlantic to New York, where she was decommissioned on 27 June 1947.


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: She was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, based in New York, where she remained through the 1950s. Beginning already in 1946, the Ships Characteristics Board authorized the removal a number of the 40 mm guns from the "North Carolina" and "South Dakota" class battleships that had been decommissioned. These guns were then installed on the s when they were reactivated for the Korean War. "Washington" and the other battleships had their 20 mm batteries removed entirely by October 1951. The Navy considered modernizing "Washington" and "North Carolina" in May 1954, which would have provided an anti-aircraft battery of twelve guns in twin turrets. The ships' slow speed prevented them from effectively serving with the carrier task forces and the Navy determined that a speed of would be necessary. To achieve this, the power plant would have to provide at the current displacement; even removing the aft turret and using that magazine space for additional boilers would not have produced the necessary power. By removing all of the belt armor, the ship would have only required to reach the desired speed, but the aft hull would have had to have been significantly rebuilt to accommodate the larger screws that would have been required. The Navy considered the possibility of removing the ships' current propulsion system altogether and replacing it with the same type as used in the "Iowa"s, which were capable of , but there was not enough room to fit the larger system. To reach the same speed, "Washington" would have needed to have all side armor and all three turrets removed in addition to a power plant capable of .


title: USS Washington (BB-56)

text: The cost of the project, estimated at around $40 million per ship, was deemed to be prohibitively expensive and so the project was abandoned. The ship remained in the inventory until 1 June 1960, when the ship was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. She was sold for scrap on 24 May 1961. "Washington" was towed to the Lipsett Division of Luria Brothers and broken up thereafter.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Invasions of the British Isles have occurred throughout history. Various sovereign states within the territorial space that constitutes the British Isles have been invaded several times, including by the Romans, by the Germanic peoples, by the Vikings, by the Normans, by the French, and by the Dutch.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: By around 12,000 BC, during the Mesolithic, Western Hunter Gatherers had started to repopulate Britain at the end of the Younger Dryas. A study by Brace et al. (2019) found evidence of a substantial replacement of this population ca. 4,000 BC, with the introduction of agriculture by Early European Farmers from continental Europe. According to the authors, "the transition to farming in Britain occurred with little introgression from resident foragers – either during initial colonization or throughout the Neolithic." This scenario has been questioned by British archaeologist Julian Thomas, who proposes a two-stage model of Neolithization, with the later second stage resulting in a more significant population transfer than the first.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Starting around 2400 BC, the Bell Beaker complex arrived in Britain, probably from the lower Rhine, an archaeological culture characterised by a new bell-shaped pottery style, and grave goods that included copper daggers and items associated with metallurgy and archery. The spread of this complex introduced high levels of Yamnaya-related ancestry from the Pontic-Caspian steppe into Britain, resulting in the "replacement of approximately 90% of Britain's gene pool within a few hundred years".


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: An earlier study by Cassidy et al. (2015) notes a "great wave of change" at the end of the Neolithic in Ireland, including the introduction of copper mines, metallurgy, tool and weapon production, and distinctive Food Vessel pottery. Their genetic study found that three Bronze Age individuals from Rathlin Island ca. 2026–1534 BC (calibrated) also carried significant levels of Yamnaya-related ancestry, in contrast to the preceding Neolithic population, suggesting a population turnover which the authors propose "invites the possibility of accompanying introduction of Indo-European, perhaps early Celtic, language."


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Before the Romans came to Britain, and with them the advent of written records of the region, the majority of Britain was Celtic. How and when these peoples arrived in the British Isles is a matter of much conjecture; see Celtic settlement of Great Britain and Ireland for more details. The 11th-century "Lebor Gabála Érenn" describes successive invasions and settlements of Ireland by a variety of Celtic and pre-Celtic peoples; how much of it is based on historical fact is debated.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In 55 BC, Celtic Britain was invaded by the Romans under Julius Caesar. Caesar's two invasions did not conquer Britain but established it as a major trading partner of Rome.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: A century later, a botched attempt to conquer Britain was made under the emperor Caligula. Caligula's uncle and successor, Claudius, was the first emperor to oversee a successful invasion. He used as an excuse the pleas for help that came from the Atrebates, Celtic allies of Rome, and landed an army near present-day Richborough. The initial landings were unopposed, and the Celts delayed in responding to the invasion. When, under their leaders Caratacus and Togodumnus, they did, they were too late and were defeated in several battles, most notably that of the River Medway.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Claudius arrived himself, bringing up to 38 war elephants with him. When the Celts were finally defeated and Caratacus forced to flee to Wales, Claudius returned to Rome.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In the early AD 60s, the Celtic tribal queen Boudicca led a bloody revolt against Roman rule. While the governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was pursuing a campaign on the isle of Anglesey, Boudicca, angered by maltreatment at the hands of the Romans, urged her people to rise up. They did, and marched on Camulodonum (now Colchester), where many former Roman soldiers had settled.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The Romans in Camulodonum were massacred after a brief fight. Meanwhile, the Legio IX Hispana (Ninth Legion) had been sent south from Lindum (now Lincoln) to put down the revolt. It failed to arrive in time, and, when it encountered the Celts, was annihilated. The battle, however, may have enabled Governor Suetonius to arrive in Londinium (London) with a small Roman army. Despite the pleas of the civil officials, Suetonius marched out of the city with his troops, knowing that any stand would be disastrous. Boudicca sacked London and pushed on to Verulamium (now St. Albans), which was also razed. Suetonius had gathered a large enough army, however, to do battle on the Roman road Watling Street. Boudicca was defeated, and Roman rule was restored to Britain.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In Sub-Roman Britain, the Scoti of Ireland raided and colonized the western Scottish and Welsh coastlines. Welsh legend holds that Gwynedd was established by Cunedda Wledig and his family, who invaded from the Old North, variously understood as Pictland or the Romanized tribes around York or Hadrian's Wall.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: As the Roman Empire declined, its hold on Britain loosened. By AD 410, Roman forces had been withdrawn, and small, isolated bands of migrating Germans began to invade Britain. There seems to have been no large "invasion" with a combined army or fleet, but the tribes, notably the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, quickly established control over modern-day England.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The peoples now called the 'Anglo-Saxons' largely came from Jutland and northern Germany, first landing in Eastern Britain. There are few records existing that account this migration, and those that were written come mainly from the Mediterranean area or were created long after the event. There were a small number of Anglo-Saxons already living in Britain before the Roman withdrawal in AD 408. The majority of these served in the army and helped the Romans fight Saxon pirates who raided the southern and eastern coasts of Britain from the 3rd century onwards. Following the collapse of Roman rule, the British rulers seemed to have hired the Saxons as mercenaries to counter the threat of invasions from the Picts in the first half of the fifth century. The Picts became less of a threat, but the mercenaries stayed and, realising their strength, rebelled. This encouraged the sea borne migration that subsequently followed and continued into the 6th century.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Viking raids began in England in the late 8th century, primarily on monasteries. The first monastery to be raided was in 793 at Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast, and the first recorded raid being at Portland, Dorset in 789; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle described the Vikings as "heathen men". Monasteries and minster churches were popular targets as they were wealthy and had valuable objects that were portable. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 840 says that Æthelwulf of Wessex was defeated at Carhampton, Somerset, after 35 Viking ships had landed in the area.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: According to Norse Sagas, in 865 the legendary Viking chief Ragnar Lodbrok fell into the hands of King Ælla of Northumbria. Ælla allegedly had Ragnar thrown into a snake pit. It is said that Ragnar's enraged sons, taking advantage of political instability in England, recruited the Great Heathen Army, which landed in the Kingdom of East Anglia that year. There is no proof that this legend has any basis in history; however, it is known that several of the Viking leaders grouped their bands together to form one great army that landed in the kingdom of East Anglia to start their attempted conquest of England in 866.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In 867 the great army went north and captured York, but Ælla, together with support from the other English kingdoms, attempted to retake the city. He was unsuccessful; the annals for the year says that Ælla was killed during the battle, but according to legend he was captured by the Vikings, who executed or Blood Eagle him as punishment for Ragnar's murder.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: By the late 9th century, the Vikings had overrun most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that constituted England at the time. However, Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington in 878. The resultant treaty gave the Danes control of northern and eastern England, with Alfred and his successors controlling Wessex. But the whole of England was unified with Norway and Denmark in the eleventh century, during the reign of the Danish king Cnut the Great.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: When Cnut died, however, he was succeeded by the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor. Edward managed to reign until his death in 1066, when he was succeeded by the powerful Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson. Harold's accession, however, was not unanimously embraced. To the north, the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada invaded England. In the late summer of 1066, the invaders sailed up the Ouse before advancing on York. Outside the city they defeated a northern English army led by Edwin, Earl of Mercia and his brother Morcar, Earl of Northumbria at the Battle of Fulford on 20 September. On hearing of the northern army's defeat Harold Godwinson marched the southern army north and met and defeated Hardrada at Stamford Bridge.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: While Godwinson was busy up north, William the Bastard (later to be known as William the Conqueror), landed his army in Sussex, intent on seizing the throne of England.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Harold Godwinson was shipwrecked at Ponthieu in 1064 and taken captive by Guy I (or "Wido" according to the Bayeux Tapestry), the Count of Ponthieu. It is alleged that William (Duke of Normandy), discovering that Harold had been taken captive, sent messengers ordering Count Guy to hand over his prisoner. William persuaded Harold to support William's claim to the throne of England. Harold was forced to swear an oath of support for William. After the ceremony it was revealed that the box on which Harold had made his oath contained holy relics, making the promise especially binding.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: When Harold was crowned king of England, William was angered by Harold's accession, and set about gathering an invasion army.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: William, having gathered together an army and a fleet to transport it, landed in Pevensey Bay in the late summer of 1066. Harold, having just defeated Hardrada in the north, marched his troops back south, where, exhausted, they encountered William near Hastings.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: During the battle that followed, William's forces suffered heavy casualties but managed to rout Harold's infantry. However, Harold and his housecarls stood firm, despite a torrent of arrows shot at them by William's archers. Soon after Harold was hit by an arrow and killed, the housecarls were overwhelmed by William's victorious soldiers. William was crowned in London by the Archbishop of York, then set about restructuring the English government and imposing the feudal system on the nobility.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: William's rule was not yet secure and a number of revolts against the Normans took place, notably in the North of England and East Anglia. A large Danish army arrived in England in 1069 to support an uprising in the North. In the winter of the same year William marched his army from Nottingham to York with the intention of engaging the rebel army. However, by the time William's army had reached York the rebel army had fled. As the Danes had nowhere suitable to stay for the winter, on land, they decided to go back to their ships in the Humber Estuary. They were reinforced in 1070 by a fleet from Denmark and sailed "en-masse" to East Anglia where they raided the area. However, William met with the Danish army and it was agreed that if he made payment to them then they would go home to Denmark, without a fight.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Rebellions continued to occur in various parts of the country. William sent earls to deal with problems in Dorset, Shrewsbury and Devon while he dealt with rebels in the Midlands and Stafford.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Edgar Ætheling, the last remaining male member of the English royal family, fled to Scotland, in 1068, seeking protection from their king, Malcolm III of Scotland. Edgar sought Malcolm's assistance in his struggle against William.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Malcolm married the Ætheling's sister, Margaret, in 1071. The marriage of Malcolm to Edgar's sister profoundly affected the history of both England and Scotland. The influence of Margaret and her sons brought about the anglicization of the Lowlands and also provided the Scottish king with an excuse for forays into England which he could claim were to redress the wrongs against his brother-in-law.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The formal link between the royal house of Scotland and Wessex was an obvious threat to William, who marched up to Scotland in 1072 to confront the Scottish king. The two kings negotiated the "Treaty of Abernethy" (1072), where Malcolm became William's vassal, and one of the conditions of the agreement was the expulsion of Edgar Ætheling from the Scottish court.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: When the English King Richard I was mortally wounded during fighting against the French in 1199, his brother John succeeded him. John continued the war against King Philip II of France, whose forces overran much of the English territory in France, including Normandy.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: After John's second attempt to invade France failed, his nobles forced him to agree to the Magna Carta in 1215. However, the king disregarded the charter's contents, and the barons rose up against him and appealed to the heir to the French throne, the future Louis VIII, to replace John as king.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The first French troops arrived in November 1215, with 240 knights and a similar number of infantry following in January 1216. In May 1216 Louis himself arrived with his army and moved quickly to capture London. There was little resistance when the prince entered London and at St Paul's Cathedral, Louis was proclaimed King with great pomp and celebration in the presence of all of London. Even though he was not crowned, many nobles, as well as King Alexander II of Scotland (1214–1249), gathered to give homage.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The French took a number of castles in Southern England including Winchester in June, Chichester and Reigate Castles, and began a major siege of Dover Castle. John died in October and was succeeded by his son, Henry and Louis' support began to wane as barons who had grievances with John took the opportunity to make peace with the new king. The French abandoned the siege of Dover Castle in November but the campaign continued in the south-east. In early 1217, the focus shifted northwards, culminating in a major French defeat at the Battle of Lincoln in May. The defense of England was led by Sir William Marshal, who was also one of King Henry III's regents. In August, a fleet carrying French reinforcements was defeated off Sandwich. Louis realised that the cause was lost and in September 1217 signed the Treaty of Kingston, leaving the country later that month.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The war, and the invasion, left England with few territories in France but with the Norman Plantagenet dynasty still on the throne.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Shortly after their conquest of England in 1066, the Normans invaded Wales. Although, the Welsh reversed much of the Normans' initial advance, the Marcher lords continued to occupy significant parts of the country.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: By the 13th century the Welsh principality of Gwynedd posed a significant threat both to the Marcher lords and to the King of England. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Gwynedd, secured the recognition of the title "Prince of Wales" from Henry III with the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. Later however, a succession of disputes, including the imprisonment of Llywelyn's wife Eleanor, daughter of Simon de Montfort, culminated in the first invasion by Edward I.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: As a result of military defeat, the Treaty of Aberconwy exacted Llywelyn's fealty to England in 1277. Peace was short lived and, with the completion in 1282 of the Edwardian conquest, the rule of the Welsh princes permanently ended. With Llywelyn's death and his brother prince Dafydd's execution, the few remaining Welsh lords did homage for their lands to Edward I.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Anglo-Scottish relations were generally poor throughout the Late Middle Ages. Edward I's attempts to become feudal overlord of Scotland after the death of Alexander III in 1286 led to a long struggle for Scottish independence. Significantly, in 1295 it led to a long running alliance with France, later known as the Auld alliance. Warfare between the English and the French would therefore provide a strategic context of many of the major Scottish invasions of England, in particular in 1346, 1385 and 1513. French troops were also involved in the Scottish invasion of England in 1464 on the side of the Lancastrians, during the Wars of the Roses.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In May 1385, a French force led by admiral Jean de Vienne sailed from Sluys to Leith in Scotland. It consisted of at least 1,000 men-at-arms plus servants and crossbowmen, and carried 50,000 gold francs as gifts for the Scots nobility A joint attack on the North of England was planned but there was considerable disharmony between the Scots and French contingents. Eventually a joint force invaded England in July and succeeded in taking the castle at Wark. However, an English relief army was approaching and the Franco-Scottish force fell back before them to Edinburgh, which was burned by the English on 11 August. Admiral de Vienne led his men on a counterattack on the English West March, launching an assault on Carlisle on 7 September. The assault failed and the French force fell back into Scotland harried by English forces. De Vienne returned to Edinburgh hoping to over winter but morale among his army was failing and many determined to return home to France, despite the lateness of the season.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In 1508, a warden of the Scottish East March was murdered by an English Northumbrian. Taking advantage of the political crisis caused by this incident, the French king, whose nation was at war with the English king, Henry VIII, convinced James IV of Scotland to invade his southern neighbour.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Since King Henry was in France campaigning, Queen Catherine of Aragon organized an English army and placed it under the command of the elderly Earl of Surrey. The army marched north and met James' forces at Flodden. James surprised the English by leading his centre in a wild charge against Surrey's, but the English stood fast and repulsed the Scots, unhorsing and killing James. The battle ended in an English victory.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: There were numerous French and Castilian raids on the English coast during the Hundred Years' War, particularly during the period 1374–1380. Few of these had the scale, or purpose, of invasions. Perhaps the closest was the overrunning of the Isle of Wight by a French fleet commanded by Jean de Vienne in August 1377. However, Jean de Vienne joined forces with Castilian Admiral Fernando Sánchez de Tovar and both armies conducted serious ground operations in Kent and Sussex, plundering Rye, defeating Sussex's levies led by the Earl of Arundel at Lewes, and eventually sacking and burning Hastings and Gravesend.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In March 1338, a French force landed in Jersey, intent on capturing the island. Although the island was overrun, the main fortification in the island, Gorey Castle, remained in English hands. The French remained until September, when they sailed off to conquer Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. In 1339 the French returned, allegedly with 8,000 men in 17 Genoese galleys and 35 French ships. Again they failed to take the castle and, after causing damage, withdrew. The English were able to recapture Guernsey in October 1340 but the French held out in Castle Cornet until 1345.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In July 1373, Bertrand du Guesclin overran Jersey and besieged Mont Orgueil. His troops succeeded in breaching the outer defences, forcing the garrison back to the keep. The garrison came to an agreement that they would surrender if not relieved by Michaelmas and du Guesclin sailed back to Brittany, leaving a small force to carry on the siege. Fortunately for the defenders, an English relief fleet arrived in time.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The French did not succeed in capturing Jersey during the Hundred Years' War, but did capture Mont Orgueil in the summer of 1461, allegedly as part of a secret deal between Margaret of Anjou and Pierre de Brézé to gain French support for the Lancastrian cause. The island was held by the French until 1468, when Yorkist forces and local militia were able to recapture the castle.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: From December 1385, Charles VI of France began to prepare for an invasion of England, assembling ships in the Low Countries and Brittany. Preparations continued all through the spring and summer of 1386, with the assembly of large quantities of stores, equipment and men. Amongst the stores assembled was a large prefabricated wooden fort, 3,000 paces long, with walls 20 ft (6m) high. The English responded by raising forces of men-at-arms and archers, who were stationed on the coast from the Humber to Cornwall. Originally intending to attack in August, Charles put back the date to October, and early in the month joined his fleet in Flanders. However, he was persuaded by his admiral, the Duke of Berry, to postpone the attack to the following year. A smaller-scale expedition was planned for the summer of 1387 but it came to nothing.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In July 1404, Owain Glyndŵr signed a treaty with the French by which they recognised him as Prince of Wales. This led to a French expeditionary force landing in South Wales in February 1405 to support Glyndŵr's forces. In August these were reinforced by a further expedition of 2,500 men. The combined army campaigned in Pembrokeshire, destroying Haverfordwest and capturing Carmarthen. According to the French historian Monstrelet, they then invaded England and for eight days faced the English army of Henry IV at Woodbury Hill. No battle however occurred and the Franco-Welsh force returned to Wales. Although some of the French returned home in November, most overwintered. Attempts were made to bring French reinforcements in 1406 but these were intercepted by the English fleet. The remaining French troops were withdrawn sometime during the year.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In October 1398, Henry Bolingbroke was exiled for ten years by Richard II. In February 1399, Henry's father, John of Gaunt, died, and in March 1399, Richard declared that Henry's inheritance was forfeit and that he was a traitor, permanently banished from the realm. Then, in what was to prove a major strategic error, Richard proceeded with his army to Ireland. This gave Henry the opportunity to return to England and, on 4 July 1399, he landed with a small force at Ravenspur. From there, he marched into the Lancastrian heartlands of Yorkshire, building his forces. At Bridlington, he was joined by the Earl of Northumberland and his son Henry Percy. The army marched southwards and on 20 July reached Leicester. Meanwhile, Richard's regent, Edmund, Duke of York had raised an army and was in Hertfordshire. The Duke of York had little desire to fight, however, and detaching himself from the army, met Henry at Berkeley Castle on 27 July. Henry then marched his army to Bristol, where Richard's major supporters had gathered to await his return from Ireland. The castle rapidly surrendered and Richard's chief counselors were promptly executed.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In the meantime, Richard had returned from Ireland, landing in Milford Haven in South Wales. However, fearing a plot, he abandoned his army and fled to North Wales, where he had stronger support. However, support was not forthcoming and at the beginning of August, Henry and his army were at Chester while Richard with a few men held Conway Castle. Henry sent a force under the Earl of Northumberland to capture Richard, which they did by a trick on 15 August. Richard was taken to London and on 29 September was forced to abdicate. On 30 September Henry was proclaimed king at Westminster Hall, the first of the Lancastrian kings.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: England was spared invasion during the Hundred Years' War against France and Castile, but it was plagued by 32 years (1455–1487) of civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. The Lancastrian branch of the House of Plantagenet, which had overthrown the direct royal line in 1399, was embroiled in fighting against the Yorkist wing of the dynasty.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The Lancastrian king, Henry VI, was deposed twice during the wars and was murdered after the second deposition. He was replaced by the Yorkist claimant, Edward IV, who ruled until his death. He was succeeded by his young son, Edward V, who, along with his brother, was placed in the Tower of London, where he disappeared under suspicious circumstances. The main benefactor of Edward's disappearance was the boys' regent and uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who was then crowned king.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: In exile in Brittany, Henry Tudor, a distant relation of the Lancastrians, gathered a small, mainly mercenary army and mounted an invasion of Wales in 1485. Welshmen, Lancastrians, and disaffected Yorkists rallied behind Tudor, whose forces encountered Richard and the royal army at Bosworth Field on 22 August. Richard was killed during the fighting, and his forces lost the battle.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: Tudor was crowned king as Henry VII, and, after defeating Yorkist rebels in 1487, established the House of Tudor as the sole English ruling dynasty.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The pretender Perkin Warbeck made three attempts to invade England. The first, on 3 July 1495, occurred at Deal. Warbeck had arrived on a fleet of ships provided by Maximillian I. An advanced force of supporters and Flemish mercenaries was put ashore to attempt to raise local rebellion. Local forces however, defeated the landing party, killing 150 and capturing 163. Warbeck himself did not land.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The second invasion came in September 1496. Warbeck had been received in Scotland in January 1496 and James IV supported him in an invasion of England later in the year. Unfortunately for the invaders, there was again no local support for Warbeck and the invaders soon returned across the border.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The third, and most successful, invasion took place in Cornwall in September 1497. In May and June 1497, there had been a revolt against Henry VII in Cornwall. This had been suppressed following the rebels' defeat at Blackheath. However, there was still sufficient dissatisfaction that when Warbeck arrived with a small force, he was accepted by many locals as Richard IV and soon raised a force of up to 8,000 rebels. With this army, he besieged Exeter. The fighting, over two days, was bloody, with the rebels making assaults on North and East gates. One or both gates were penetrated but the attackers were driven out after fierce street fighting. 300–400 rebels are alleged to have been killed during the attack. With the failure of the attack, the rebel army withdrew to Taunton. By this time, however, a royal army was approaching and the morale of the rebels began to crack. Warbeck fled on 21 September but was captured at Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: A Spanish force composed of three companies of arquebusiers and four galleys ("Nuestra Señora de Begoña", "Salvador", "Peregrina" and "Bazana") from the fleet commanded by Pedro de Zubiaur, and led by Carlos de Amesquita raided the southwestern coast of Cornwall, where they routed a militia force under Francis Godolphin in Penzance. The Spanish fleet sacked and set on fire the towns of Mousehole, Penzance, Newlyn and Paul. One French merchant ship en route to England and three English ships at Penzance were sunk.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English battleships at a time when most were virtually unmanned and unarmed, laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At the time, the fortress of Upnor Castle and a barrier chain called the "Gillingham Line" were supposed to protect the English ships.


title: Invasions of the British Isles

text: The Dutch, under nominal command of Willem Joseph van Ghent and Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, over several days bombarded and captured the town of Sheerness, sailed up the Thames estuary to Gravesend, then sailed into the River Medway to Chatham and Gillingham, where they engaged fortifications with cannon fire, burned or captured three capital ships and ten more ships of the line, and captured and towed away the flagship of the English fleet, HMS Royal Charles.