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The ''North Carolina'' class was a class of two fast battleships, ''North Carolina'' and ''Washington'', built for the United States Navy in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The navy was originally uncertain whether the ships should be fast enough to counter the Japanese , which was believed by the United States to be capable of 26 knots (30 mph; 48 km/h), or should sacrifice speed for additional firepower and armor. The Second London Naval Treaty's requirement that all capital ships have a standard displacement of under 35,000 long tons (35,560 metric tons) prevented the desired objectives from being fully realized within its limits, and the navy considered over fifty designs before one was chosen. Towards the end of this lengthy design period the General Board of the United States Navy declared its preference for a battleship with a speed of , faster than any in US service or under construction, with a main battery of nine 14-inch (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark B guns. The board believed that such ships could fulfill a multitude of roles, as they would have enough protection to be put into a battle line while also having enough speed to escort aircraft carriers or engage in commerce raiding. However, the acting Secretary of the Navy authorized a modified version of a different design, which in its original form had been rejected by the General Board. This called for a ship with twelve 14-inch rifles in quadruple turrets and protection against guns of the same caliber. In a major departure from traditional American design practices, this design accepted lower speed and protection in exchange for maximum firepower. After construction had begun, the United States became concerned over Japan's refusal to commit to the caliber limit of the Second London Naval Treaty, so they invoked the "escalator clause" of that pact and increased the class' main armament to nine from the original twelve 14-inch guns. Both ''North Carolina'' and ''Washington'' saw extensive service during the Second World War in a variety of roles, primarily in the Pacific theater where they escorted fast carrier task forces and conducted shore bombardments. ''North Carolina'' shot down between seven and fourteen Japanese aircraft in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, and later sustained a torpedo hit from a Japanese submarine. During the naval battle of Guadalcanal, which was a chaotic night engagement, ''Washington's'' radar-directed main batteries fatally damaged the Japanese battleship and caused her to sink next day. In February 1943, ''Washington'' crushed her bow in a collision with battleship . Following repairs, ''Washington'' rejoined her sister for the Battle of the Philippine Sea. After the end of the war, both ships took part in Operation Magic Carpet, the withdrawal of American military personnel from overseas deployments. The vessels were laid up in the reserve fleet until the early 1960s, when ''North Carolina'' was sold to her home state as a museum ship, and ''Washington'' was broken up for scrap. == Background == After the end of the First World War, many navies continued and expanded naval construction programs that they had started during the conflict. The United States' 1916 program called for six s and five battleships; in December 1918, the government of President Woodrow Wilson called for building an additional ten battleships and six battlecruisers. 1919–20 General Board proposals planned for slightly smaller, but still significant, acquisitions beyond the 1916 plan: two battleships and a battlecruiser for the fiscal year 1921, and three battleships, a battlecruiser, four aircraft carriers and thirty destroyers between the fiscal years 1922 and 1924. The United Kingdom was in the final stages of ordering eight capital ships (the G3 battlecruisers, with the first's keel laying in 1921, and N3-class battleships, to be laid down beginning in 1922). Imperial Japan was, by 1920, attempting to build up to an 8-8 standard with the , , , and classes. Two ships from these designs would be laid down per year until 1928.〔Friedman, ''U.S. Battleships'', 181–182〕 With the staggering costs associated with such programs, the United States' Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes invited delegations from the major maritime powers—France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom—to come together in Washington, D.C. to discuss, and hopefully end, the naval arms races. The subsequent Washington Naval Conference resulted in the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. Along with many other provisions, it limited all future battleships to a standard displacement of and a maximum gun caliber of . It also decreed that the five countries could not construct another capital ship for ten years and could not replace any ship that survived the treaty until it was at least twenty years old.〔Friedman, ''U.S. Battleships'', 182〕〔Garzke and Dulin, ''United States Battleships'', 3, 6〕 The 1936 Second London Naval Treaty, while superseding the 1922 agreement, nonetheless kept many of the same requirements, though it restricted gun size on new warships to . These treaties heavily influenced the design of the ''North Carolina'' class, as can be attested to in the long quest to find a ship that incorporated everything considered necessary while remaining under 35,000 long tons.〔Friedman, ''U.S. Battleships'', 243〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「North Carolina-class battleship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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