USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

History

USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is an Iowa-class battleship built for the United States Navy (USN) in the 1940s and is currently a museum ship. Completed in 1944, the ship was assigned to the Pacific Theater during World War II, where she participated in the Philippines campaign and the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The battleship shelled the Japanese home islands shortly before the end of the war in September 1945. During the Korean War, Wisconsin shelled North Korean targets in support of United Nations and South Korean ground operations, after which she was decommissioned. She was reactivated in 1986; after a modernization program, she participated in Operation Desert Storm in January – February 1991.

Wisconsin was last decommissioned in September 1991 after spending a total of 14 years in active service. In that time, the ship earned six battle stars for service in World War II and Korea, as well as a Navy Unit Commendation for service during the January/February 1991 Gulf War. Wisconsin was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 17 March 2006, and was later donated for permanent use as a museum ship. As of 2026, Wisconsin is a museum ship operated by Nauticus in Norfolk, Virginia.

Text from Wikipedia: USS Wisconsin (BB-64), CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Wars and campaigns

From Wikidata (CC0).

Key dates

1. 1938
   The ship was authorized by Congress in 1938 and ordered on 12 June 1940 with the hull number BB-64.
2. 1945
   Their designed crew numbered 117 officers and 1,804 enlisted men, and greatly increased by the end of the war in 1945.
3. 1945
   TF 38 attacked Japanese airfields in Formosa, Okinawa, and the Sakishima Islands with TG 38.2 tasked to cover southern Formosa and the Pescadore Islands beginning on 3 January 1945 to destroy aircraft that the Japanese had concentrated there to attack any amphibious landings on Luzon Island.
4. 1946
   Over the weeks that ensued, the battleship visited Valparaíso, Chile, from 1–6 November; Callao, Peru, from 9–13 November; Balboa, Canal Zone, from 16 to 20 November; and La Guaira, Venezuela, from 22 to 26 November, before returning to Norfolk on 2 December 1946.
5. 1953
   After a month of routine maintenance Wisconsin departed Norfolk on 9 September 1953, bound for the Far East.
6. 1956
   Wisconsin resumed her midshipman training on 9 July 1956.
7. 1986
   As part of President Ronald Reagan's Navy Secretary John F. Lehman's effort to create a "600-ship Navy," Wisconsin was reactivated 1 August 1986, a precommissioning unit (PCU) crew established, and the ship moved under tow to the Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, Louisiana, to commence pre-recommissioning workups.
8. 1991
   Wisconsin remained in the Persian Gulf after the cease-fire took effect, and returned home on 28 March 1991.
9. 2009
   On 14 December 2009, the US Navy officially transferred Wisconsin to the city of Norfolk, ending the requirement for the ship to be preserved for possible recall to active duty.

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Records that place someone aboard this ship

A ship history doesn't name everyone who served. These records do:

• Navy muster rolls, 1939–1949 (National Archives guide)
• Deck logs: how to get them (Naval History and Heritage Command)
• Crew lists research guide (NHHC)
• Search the National Archives Catalog for “USS Wisconsin (BB-64)”

More history

• National Park Service
• Naval History and Heritage Command (DANFS)
• Wikipedia: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)