page_title: USS West Virginia (BB-48)
section_title: Prewar career
hierarchical_section_title: USS West Virginia (BB-48) / Service history / Prewar career
caption_attribution_description: USS West Virginia (BB-48) Photo #: 80-G-1027204 In San Francisco Bay, California, circa 1934. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Cropped from original image other West Virginia photos
context_page_description: USS West Virginia (BB-48) was the fourth dreadnought battleship of the Colorado class, though because Washington was cancelled, she was the third and final member of the class to be completed. The Colorado class proved to be the culmination of the standard-type battleship series built for the United States Navy in the 1910s and 1920s; the ships were essentially repeats of the earlier Tennessee design, but with a significantly more powerful main battery of eight 16-inch guns in twin-gun turrets. West Virginia was built between her keel laying in 1920 and her commissioning into the Navy in 1923. The ship spent the 1920s and 1930s conducting routine training exercises, including the typically-annual Fleet Problems, which provided invaluable experience for the coming war in the Pacific.
  West Virginia was moored in Battleship Row on the morning of 7 December 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II. Badly damaged by torpedoes, the ship sank in the shallow water but was later refloated and extensively rebuilt over the course of 1943 and into mid-1944.
context_section_description: The keel for West Virginia was laid down at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia on 12 April 1920. While under construction, she received the hull number BB-48 on 17 July. Her completed hull was launched on 17 November 1921 and she was commissioned on 1 December 1923. West Virginia was to have been the fourth member of the class, but her sister ship Washington was cancelled due to the Washington Naval Treaty that was signed in 1922. Captain Thomas J. Senn was the ship's first commander. On entering service, she began sea trials and a shakedown cruise, followed by repairs at Newport News. She then sailed north to the New York Navy Yard for further alterations. She then steamed south to Hampton Roads, and while en route her steering gear malfunctioned. She underwent an overhaul there to correct the problem and she got underway again on 16 June 1924; while cruising through Lynnhaven Channel at 10:10, the telegraphs for the engine room and steering compartment lost power, rendering the ship unmaneuverable. Senn had to use voice tubes to communicate with the engine room, ordering the port engines to full power and the starboard to stop in an attempt to steer the ship away from the shore. But West Virginia drifted in the channel and ran aground, though she was not damaged in the accident. A subsequent inquiry into the incident faulted incorrect navigational data that exaggerated the size of the navigable part of the channel, exonerating Senn and the ship's navigator.
  On 30 October, West Virginia became the flagship for the Commander, Battleship Divisions, Battle Fleet. The ship spent the 1920s conducting routine training exercises and maneuvers with the fleet, punctuated by periodic overhauls; each year's training schedule culminated in the major Fleet Problems that tested operational and strategic doctrine that proved to be critical in the operations conducted against Japan during World War II. These operations took place in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as far north as Alaska and as far south as Panama. In 1925, while Captain Arthur Japy Hepburn commanded the ship, her gunners scored first place during a competition for short range shooting. West Virginia won the Battle Efficiency ribbon that year as well. Later in 1925, the fleet conducted joint Army-Navy maneuvers in Hawaii to test the defenses of the islands before embarking on a major cruise to visit Australia and New Zealand. West Virginia won Battle Efficiency ribbons in 1927, 1932, and 1933. During Fleet Problem X in March 1930, West Virginia was "bombed" by aircraft from the aircraft carrier Lexington. In Fleet Problem XI, held the following month, she and the battleship Tennessee accidentally engaged the carrier Saratoga, a fellow member of the "black" fleet, mistaking her for the "blue" fleet carrier Lexington. The simulated friendly fire cost "black" fleet their carrier and led to calls for improved communication between ships and better ship identification training.
  In the early 1930s, the ship underwent a minor modification. Her battery of 3-inch anti-aircraft guns were replaced with 5-inch /25 cal. guns and .50-caliber machine guns were installed on her fore and main masts. She also received aircraft catapults on her quarterdeck and atop the rear superfiring turret. During Fleet Problem XIV in February 1933, West Virginia and the battleship Arizona were "damaged" in a surprise attack by "black" fleet submarines. Plans to modernize West Virginia dated to the mid-1930s, when the navy considered modifying the ship extensively; the Bureau of Construction and Repair planned to add anti-torpedo bulges that would have restored a considerable amount of buoyancy to the hull, raising her 20 in (510 mm) at the cost of an additional 2,000 long tons (2,000 t) displacement. The work was not carried out, and in 1937 further plans to modernize West Virginia, her sister ships, and the two Tennessee-class ships, were considered. The proposed modifications included new boilers and fire control equipment and the previously suggested bulges. Further de
caption: West Virginia in San Francisco Bay, c. 1934
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