Stuff You Should Know
USS Washington was a North Carolina-class battleship laid down on June 14, 1938 and launched on June 1, 1940. It was commissioned on May 15, 1941 under Capt. Howard H. J. Benson’s with the hull number BB-56 and served in the US Navy for 6 years until it was decommissioned on June 27, 1947. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 1,880 men on board and had the main missions in Southampton, Bremerton, Pearl Harbor, Leyte, the Philippines, Iwo Jima or Okinawa. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy Register on June 1, 1960 and subsequently sold for scrapping. For the services brought to the country during the World War II, USS Washington received 13 battle stars.