USS West Virginia

The USS West Virginia BB-48 was the third Colorado class battleship completed. She was commissioned on December 1, 1923. She was at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. She was moored outboard of the USS Tennessee on battleship row off of Ford Island. The battleship USS Arizona was to her rear. She received hits from two armor-piercing bombs and multiple torpedo hits, causing massive flooding. Prompt damage control measures kept her from capsizing. Fragments from a hit on the USS Tennessee mortally wounded Captain Mervyn S. Bennion. Despite this, he continued to remain on the bridge, giving orders until he succumbed to his wounds. For this act, he received the Medal of Honor posthumously. One of the people carrying Captain Bennion from the bridge was Mess attendant Second Class Doris Miller. He was later ordered to man an anti-aircraft gun. Despite a lack of training or familiarity, he manned the anti-aircraft gun. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions. This award would later be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. Doris Miller would later lose his life in 1943 when his ship, the USS Liscome, was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine off Makin Atoll. Despite a valiant effort, the USS West Virginia settled on the harbor floor on an even keel. She was evacuated. A total of 106 men were killed aboard the USS West Virginia in the attack. She was refloated and was given temporary repairs before departing for the US Mainland for refit and modernization. The refit was not completed until June 1944. She was back in service in time to participate in the Battle of Surigao Strait, the last battleship-to-battleship engagement in history. She also participated in gunfire support of the landings on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The USS West Virginia was decommissioned on January 9, 1947. Please view the list to learn the names of those who lost their lives on that day.