Battleship Indiana steaming in under the Golden Gate Bridge in San-Francisco
1946
Photographic print, 9 7/8" x 4 3/8"
Courtesy of Lt. Curtis Drury, USNR
The keel for the Indiana, second ship of the class, was laid at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia, on November 1939. The ship was launched on 21 November 1941 and commissioned on 30 April 1942. The Indiana began combat operations on November 9, 1942. She replaced the South Dakota at Guadalcanal after topside damage sent that ship to the U.S. for repairs. Operations in the Guadalcanal area were confined to gunfire support missions. During the bombardment of Tarawa in November 1943, she destroyed her first enemy aircraft. In 1947, the Indiana was put on reserve at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She was stricken from the Navy List on 1 June 1962, sold for $418,387 on 6 September 1963, and scrapped in 1964.