page_title: USS Washington (BB-56)
section_title: Later operations
hierarchical_section_title: USS Washington (BB-56) / Service history / Pacific operations / Philippines campaign / Later operations
caption_attribution_description: View of the USS Washington in the Puget Sound Navy Yard, shortly after the damage from the collision with the USS Indiana was repaired. Box: 19LCM, BB-55 to BB-56; Folder: H / BS 63997 - 64004 BS 63999; 19-N-63999
context_page_description: USS Washington (BB-56) was the second and final member of the North Carolina class 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 14 in guns to nine 16 in 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.
  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.
context_section_description: 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.
  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. 
  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.
caption: Washington anchored at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in April 1944
exif: {}