The United States entered the war with a number of old, slow battleships commissioned between 19, which were primarily used for shore bombardment and to support amphibious landings. They had been designed to fight gun duels against large surface vessels, but those encounters rarely occurred in World War II. Soon aircraft carriers and submarines became the navy’s primary offensive weapons, while battleships were relegated to a secondary role. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, however, had dramatically changed the situation.
Navy’s only active battleship–just a decade after the navy had considered battleships to be its foremost fighting ships. The midshipmen belonged to all three categories.īy 1950, the Missouri was the U.S. The guard mentioned that Churchill was fond of navy men, Americans, and young people. An amazed bodyguard told them privately that the British statesman had been much more hospitable to them than to many of his famous visitors. Churchill had been even more obliging than that, taking the three young midshipmen on a tour of the grounds and then presenting them with books, cigars, and wine. They wanted to shake the hand of the former British prime minister. The Missouri had visited England during that cruise, and Royal and two classmates had been brash enough to go to Chartwell, Winston Churchill’s country home. Royal was wearing the gold bars of a commissioned officer, a step up from the previous year when he had served on the same ship as a midshipman on a training cruise. The tall, slim Texan had recently graduated from the United States Naval Academy and reported for duty on board the most famous warship in the world, the USS Missouri. Life was exciting for 23-year-old Ensign Lee Royal in the summer of 1950. USS Missouri: Served in World War II and Korean War Close
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