WORLD WAR 2 IN REVIEW: The War at Sea in View

USS S-25 (SS-130, the future Polish ORP Jastrząb).

USS S-25 (SS-130, the future Polish ORP Jastrząb), Boston shipyard.

Submarine V-3 bow close-up, 11 April 1929. Renamed Bonita in 1931, decommissioned in 1937, and only the imminence of World War II provided a reprieve, in preparation for which she was recommissioned in September 1940.

The Tambor departs San Francisco in December 1943, a month before her fateful tenth war patrol.

USS San Francisco in middle distance.

USS Indiana delivers some 16-inch shells to a manufacturing facility north of Tokyo. Behind her, barely visible, is the Massachusetts, and to the left is a Baltimore class cruiser.

Aerial view of ex-USS Independence at anchor in San Francisco Bay, California, January 1951. There is visible damage from the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.

USS Texas memorial.

USS Lexington (CV-2), top; USS Saratoga (CV-3), with her distinctive funnel stripe; and USS Langley (CV-1) , across the pier from Saratoga. Bremerton, Washington, 11 November 1929.

USS Langley CV-1 in Pearl Harbor, May 1928.

Planes in USS Langley's hangar during the 1920s. The larger plane in the foreground is a Douglas DT torpedo bomber, with its wings removed. Other aircraft are Vought VE-7s of Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2), including Bureau Nos A5936 (marked '2-F-9') and A5938 (marked '2-F-8'). The ship's boats are stowed along the hangar sides.

USS Astoria CA-34 heavy cruiser, Pearl Harbor.

USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) in 1944. The destroyer escort was laid down in Texas in December 1943 and named for coxswain Samuel B. Roberts, who received the Navy Cross posthumously for his actions at Guadalcanal. In June 2022, the Navy confirmed the discovery of the wreckage site the destroyer escort, which sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944. Despite having half as many guns as destroyers, less than a third as many torpedoes and slower, the John C. Butler-class ship known as “Sammie B.” engaged three Japanese battleships, including Yamato, and two Japanese heavy cruisers. These actions during the Battle of Samar by the much smaller American ships successfully protected the U.S. invasion force in its landings at Leyte Gulf against the counter-attacking Japanese fleet. Eighty-nine crew members of Samuel B. Roberts died in the battle. Its commander, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Copeland, said 120 men were rescued. The Battle of Samar, was the last phase of the naval combat in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Leyte Gulf is often considered the largest naval engagement in history. The destroyer escort’s wreckage was discovered at 6,895 meters by Victor Vescovo and his underwater technology company Caladan Oceanic and EYOS Expeditions.

USS Ranger CV-4, the first ship built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier.

The Missouri (BB-63) transfers crew to her sister Iowa (BB-61) in the foreground for a landing party in Japan on 20 August 1945.

Unidentified transport sinking, probably off the coast of Africa, circa 1943.

U.S. Navy fleet, Kerama Rotto, Okinawa, April 1945

June 4, 1942: The U.S. aircraft carrier Yorktown, left, and the other fighting ships of a United States task force in the Pacific, throw up an umbrella of anti-aircraft fire to beat off a squadron of Japanese torpedo planes attacking the carrier during the battle of Midway.

The USS Yorktown is hit on the port side by a torpedo launched from a plane off the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu during the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942.

USS Washington under construction, 1921.

USS Washington (BB-47). Launching, at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, Camden, New Jersey, 1 September 1921. Photographed by the Aero Service Corporation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. USS Colorado (BB-45) is fitting out in the wet basin at the end of the covered shipways building. The two 535-foot passenger liners fitting out in the upper left are S.S. Southern Cross (later USS Wharton, AP-7) and S.S. Hoosier State. Washington's construction ceased in February 1922, under the terms of the Naval Limitations Treaty, and she was sunk as a target in 1924.

A freighter sails past the USS Washington (BB-47), as she lies in her berth next to a steamer, Camden, New Jersey, September 30, 1921.

USS Washington (BB-47). (BB-47) Fitting out at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, Camden, New Jersey, circa late 1921 or early 1922. This photograph was released by the International news photo service, of New York City, with text dated 17 February 1922 concerning the possible cancellation of the ship's construction under the terms of the recently-concluded Washington Naval Limitations Treaty.

The USS Washington (BB-47), photographed from the South Yard of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, on 5 April 1922. Her construction had been suspended some two months previously, under the terms of the Washington Naval Limitations treaty.

USS Washington during construction after launching. Photographed from the South Yard of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, on 5 April 1922. Her construction had been suspended some two months previously, under the terms of the Washington naval limitations treaty.

Incomplete hulk of the Washington (BB-47) being towed out to sea. Among the many not completed features, note the partially completed cage mast.

USS Washington (BB-47) being struck by a salvo on 26 November 1924.

A salvo from the battleship New York (BB-34) strikes the Washington (BB-47) on her starboard side while the ship was used as a target off Virginia Capes, Virginia, 26 November 1924. The battleship Texas (BB-35) is in the background.

The uncompleted USS Washington being sunk by gunfire off the Virginia Capes, 25 November 1924.

Final moments of Washington (BB-47) on 26 November 1924. The battleship New York (BB-34) is in the background.

Lt. Cmdr. Manning M. Kimmel, USN, son of Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, in a photograph taken circa 1943. He was commanding officer of USS Robalo (SS-273) and was lost with her in July 1944.

U.S. landing ship tanks are seen from above as they pour military equipment onto the shores of Leyte island, to support invading forces in the Philippines. November 1944.

Two Coast Guard-manned landing ships open their jaws as U.S. soldiers line up to build sandbag piers out to the ramps, on Leyte island, Philippines. November 1944.