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ransomnote: Someone spent alot of time assembling videos and images of the history of the USS Wisconsin. I found the many historical photos at the link interesting and wanted to share it with others this Fourth of July.4th of July: USS Wisconsin- aka "Wisky" - GIFs - ImgurUSS Wisconsin, fourth and final member of the Iowa class battleships, and the last commissioned American battleship. In the water in 1943, served in three wars, and was only permanently out of commission as of 2009 when it was no longer required that she be kept in readiness even as a museum ship....

Saturday, October 31, 2015 LIVE Stream Donald Trump Rally USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA - Oct 31, 2015

Navy Capt. John Banigan is no longer aboard the San Diego-based guided missile cruiser Lake Erie. Neither is a goat named Master Chief Charlie. Banigan was ousted from command last week after the brass lost confidence in his ability to lead, the standard explanation when a commanding officer is removed. Banigan has been reassigned to a desk job. Master Chief Charlie is also ashore, though it remains unclear whether he is on Navy property or civilian property. He is, however, in excellent health, the Navy said. The fate of the captain and the goat became mixed when the Navy began...

USS Wisconsin (BB 64) - decommissioned - WISCONSIN was the fourth IOWA - class battleship and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name of the state. Stricken from the Navy list on March 17, 2006, the WISCONSIN is now preserved at the Nauticus Maritime Center in Norfolk, Va. General Characteristics: Keel laid: January 25, 1941 Launched: December 7, 1943 Commissioned: April 16, 1944 Decommissioned: July 1, 1948 Second commissioning: March 3, 1951 Second decommissioning: March 8, 1958 Third commissioning: October 22, 1988 Third decommissioning: September 30, 1991 Builder: Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, PA Propulsion system: eight boilers,...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Marines, while fighting valiantly in Iraq, are on the verge of serious defeat on Capitol Hill. A Senate-House conference on the Armed Services authorization bill convening this week is considering turning the Navy's last two battleships, the Iowa and Wisconsin, into museums. Marine officers fear that deprives them of vital fire support in an uncertain future. Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the current commandant of the Marine Corps, testified on April 1, 2003, that loss of naval surface fire support from battleships would place his troops "at considerable risk." On July 29 this year, Hagee asserted: "Our aviation...

The Navy wants to let go of its last two battleships. But a group called the United States Naval Fire Support Association is doing its best to torpedo that plan. Both sides are firing salvos across newspaper op-ed pages. The issue: Does a weapon that was born in the 19th century and came to maturity in the 20th century still have a role in the 21st? The answer could well decide whether the battleships Iowa and Wisconsin rejoin the fleet-in-being - or whether they'll join their sister ships Missouri and New Jersey as floating museums to an age gone by.

"There is no weapon system in the world that comes even close to the visible symbol of enormous power represented by the battleship." -- Retired Gen. P.X. Kelly, USMC WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Those words of the former Marine commandant resonate with me. In 1969, gunfire from the battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) saved my rifle platoon in Vietnam. During her six months in-theater, the USS New Jersey's 16-inch guns were credited with saving more than 1,000 Marines' lives. The North Vietnamese so feared the ship that they cited her as a roadblock to the Paris peace talks. Our leaders, as...