In this great Kodachrome, we see the superdreadnought USS New Mexico (Battleship No. 40) is seen firing her after 14″/50 guns during the Operation Stevedore pre-invasion bombardment of Guam, circa 14-20 July, some 80 years ago this month.
Taken by a Combat Photo Unit Two (CPU-2) photographer, looking aft along the port side from the forward sky lookout position. The official U.S. Navy photograph is now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-K-14233 (Color)
The old battlewagon, between 12 and 30 July, expended some “1,100 tons of high explosive projectiles” on enemy positions in support of the assault on and liberation of the American possession– and that was taking a two-day break on 15-16 July to head to Saipan to get more ordnance!
USS New Mexico (BB-40), with 1,275-pound 14-inch HC projectiles on deck, while the battleship replenished her ammunition supply off Saipan before the invasion of Guam, in July 1944. The photograph looks forward on the starboard side, with triple 14″/50 gun turrets at left. Note floater nets stowed atop the turrets and rangefinders. The official U.S. Navy photograph is now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-K-14228 (Color)
Over 19 days, New Mexico fired:
- 1,621 14-inch high-capacity shells
- 964 5″/51 high-capacity shells
- 475 5″/51 common shells
- 2,333 5″/25 AA common shells
- 422 5″/25 star shells
- As well as “small amounts of 20mm and 40mm ammunition in close-in fire on the landing beaches”
The daily tally– some of it from as close as 2,800 yards (which is point-blank for a battlewagon!)– is as follows:
With a lot of this fire called in and corrected by her embarked OS2U floatplanes, this included a “believe it or not” hit on a Japanese gun emplacement:
New Mexico, who skipped Pearl Harbor only because she had been shipped to the East Coast for service on the Neutrality Patrol six months before that Day of Infamy, received 6 battle stars for her World War II service, all in the Pacific.
Decommissioned almost immediately post-war after a 26-year career that included serving in both world wars, she was sold for scrapping in 1947.