Battle Archive

At the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1946, two United States battleships, the USS Tennessee (BB-43) and the USS California (BB-44), are seen in the same drydock.

Both are being prepared for decommissioning and mothballing, marking the end of their active service after WWII.⚓🇺🇸

HMS Arethusa (F38), a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy, was used as a target ship in a sinking exercise (SINKEX) in 1991.

During the exercise, the ship was hit by a variety of weapons from four different units, including cannon fire, Sea Skua missiles launched from Lynx helicopters, two torpedoes, and a 1,000-pound bomb from an aircraft. The repeated attacks caused severe damage, particularly to the ship's mid-hull, leading to its sinking as part of a combat capability test.

This aerial view of the USS South Dakota (BB-57) circa 1942 shows the battleship in operational condition during WWII.⚓🇺🇸

From the top view, the design is typical of a modern battleship of the time, with its main armament and superstructure reflecting the might of the US Navy at the start of the war.

The USS Maddox (DD-731) is seen battling extreme stormy weather during Typhoon Cobra in December 1944 in the South China Sea.

In extremely rough sea conditions, large waves crash against and wash over the ship's deck, illustrating the ferocity of the storm, which posed one of the deadliest challenges to the US Navy during WWII.⚓🇺🇸