Battleship Wisconsin: BB-9 and BB-64
in the Homeport of Naval History
Battleships bearing the name Wisconsin have graced the waters off Norfolk and Hampton Roads since the beginning of the twentieth century. Ornately designed to show-off the “Stars and Stripes” of the United States, the first battleship Wisconsin (BB-9) was commissioned in 1901. John Philip Sousa and the United States Marine Corps Band once performed patriotic marches from the wooden decks of the first Wisconsin. In 1906, President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt traveled to Norfolk with many other Americans to bid farewell to the first Wisconsin sailing on a two year voyage around the world with the famed “Great White Fleet.” Serving primarily as a Midshipman training ship during World War I, the first Wisconsin was scrapped in 1922.
During World War II, the second battleship Wisconsin (BB-64) was commissioned under the command of U.S. Navy Captain Earl E. Stone. Born in the “Badger State” of Wisconsin, Stone earlier served as a Naval Academy Midshipman aboard the first battleship Wisconsin (BB-9). Surviving the Imperial Japanese Strikes at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Stone had a key role in organizing the war-winning communications intelligence efforts of the U.S. Navy. For a job well done, he received the highly coveted appointment to command the second battleship Wisconsin (BB-64) in the spring 1944.
Sailing into the embattled waters of the Pacific, the crew of the second battleship Wisconsin earned five battle stars during World War II. Home-ported at Pier 7 on Norfolk Naval Base, the second Wisconsin earned another battle star in the Korean War and, similar to the first Wisconsin (BB-9), server primarily as a Midshipman training ship during the Cold War. During the Persian Gulf War, the crew of Wisconsin (BB-64) coordinated the first Tomahawk missle strikes against Iraq.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of Waterside Drive and Boush Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
