USS California (BB-44)

* 1920s
* 1940s
* Camouflaged

The ***USS California (BB-44)*** is the second of two *Tennessee*-class battleships built for the United States Navy between her keel laying in October 1916 and her commissioning in August 1921. The *Tennessee*-class was part of the standard series of twelve battleships built in the 1910s and 1920s, and were developments of the preceding *New Mexico*-class. They were armed with a battery of twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets. *California* was moored in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked the port, bringing the United States into World War II. The ship was moderately damaged by a pair of torpedoes and a bomb, but a fire disabled the ship's electrical system, preventing the pumps from being used to keep the ship afloat. *California* slowly filled with water over the following three days and eventually sank in place. She would be later salvaged and extensively rebuilt, a process that would take almost two years. She would later participate in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaigns, as well as the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, and the Battle of Okinawa.

Post-war, she participated in the return of South African troops from Columbo, back to South Africa. Shortly afterward she traveled to Philadelphia to be deactivated in December 1945, and would be officially decommissioned two months later. In 1959, she would be sold to the county of Solano in California, where she would become a museum and war memorial in the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, where she was built three decades earlier. Her name would live on through both the nuclear *California*-class cruiser *USS California* (CGN-36), and the later *Arizona*-class battleship, *USS California (BBGN-74)*

## History

Main Article: USS California

**1950s**

In 1958, *California* would be purchased by her namesake state, for use as a museum. She would arrive at Vallejo in early 1960 and would be placed outside the Mare Island Naval Shipyard where she was built almost 40 years previously. She would open a year later as the “*Californian Armed Forces Memorial*”.

**Museum Ship**

In 1991, she would be visited by Thomas Wilson while he on a vacation in the area. The ship would come up in discussion when Wilson, his fellow soldier Will Tipton, and Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano were discussing the former pair’s reasons for joining the armed forces, in the aftermath of the Battle of Charleston.

In 1996, following years of neglect via lack of visitors and funding, it was decided to dry-dock the ship. She arrived at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in January of 1997. Placed in the same dry dock was built in, she would spend the next 17 months out of the water, where massive maintenance would be performed which included modifying her torpedo blisters to reduce leakage.

It was then decided to move the ship to San Francisco, as to enable more visitation. She would arrive in November of 1998, joining the already established ‘San Fransisco Maritime Museum’ as a part of their Armed Forces exhibit.

## Gallery

California in the 1920sCalifornia (right) during the Attack on Pearl HarborCalifornia being raised shortly after the attackCalifornia after 1943 refit.California in a mobile dry dock after after colliding with USS Tennessee.California’s main battery of triple 14” guns
## Trivia

* USS California, along with USS West Virgina, were scrapped in the late 1950s in the real world. Here, they were spared the torch to become the only preserved ‘standard type’ dreadnaught battleships.

## Appearances

* *The Greatest Generation*  (first appearance)
* *Book One: An Uplifting War* (first mentioned)