USS West Virginia (BB-48)

* 1920s
* 1940s

The ***USS West Virginia (BB-48)*** is the fourth dreadnought battleship of the *Colorado*-class, though because *USS 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*-class design, but with a significantly more powerful main battery of eight 16-inch (406 mm) guns in twin-gun turrets.

*West Virginia* herself 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 badly needed when World War II broke out. She would be present for the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and along with the majority of other battleships present, would be sunk in place. She was later salvaged and extensively rebuilt, which took almost two years.

She later took part in the battles of Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. She would be present for the Surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, being the only battleship to see both the beginning and end of World War II for the United States. Shortly afterward, she participated in Operation: Magic Carpet, carrying soldiers and sailors from Hawaii to the mainland United States before being deactivated in 1946.

In 1958, she would be purchased by the state of Georgia and opened as a war memorial three years later in the city of Savannah in said state. Her name would live on through both the nuclear Ohio-class submarine USS West Virginia (SSBN-736), and the later Arizona-class battleship, USS West Virginia (BBGN-75)

## History

Main Article: USS West Virgina

**Museum Ship**

In 1959, the ship would be purchased by the state of Georgia for use as a war memorial. She would arrive in Savannah in late 1960, and fully open in 1963 as the ‘‘*USS West Virgina Museum and Memorial*’’. In 1992, the museum would be visited by Will Tipton, whom would later become a member of the US Army. The ship would come up in discussion when Tipton, his fellow soldier Thomas Wilson, 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.

## Gallery

West Virgina in the 1920sWest Virgina during the Attack on Pearl HarborWest Virgina sunk next to USS California (only her superstructure lies above the water)West Virgina enroute to refit after Pearl Harbor (Note the removed weapon emplacements and smaller citadel).West Virgina after 1943 refit.West Virgina in a mobile dry dock after the Battle of Leyte Gulf.West Virgina and USS Idaho providing fire support during the Battle of Okinawa.
## Trivia

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

## Appearances

* *The Greatest Generation*  (first appearance)

* *Return of the Relic*  (mentioned)

* *Book One: An Uplifting War* (first mentioned)