USS Mississippi (BB-41) - From Dreadnought to Missile Test Ship 

The main reason Mississippi and the other "Standard" type BBs remained behind on the West Coast even after post-Pearl Harbor repairs is because the Pacific Fleet did not have sufficient oil supplies initially to keep "gas hogs" like the old battlewagons deployed away from the coast. Initially a choice had to be taken, utilize the carrier forces OR deploy the Standards, there was insufficient tanker capacity to do both. As the North Carolina and South Dakota classes arrived in the Pacific it was found that besides being 6 knots faster at Flank Bell, the new ships only burned about 66% as much fuel per mile as the older ships. Once sufficient tankers became available to keep the Standards deployed they were put to very good use in both Nimitz's and MacArthur's island hopping campaigns, covering the landings and escorting the transports. They also got the chance for a little payback at Surigao Strait.

People forget that the Iowa class battleships were the first battleships to have use missiles in combat but they were not the first to have it outfitted. Also, they were the last time missiles were fitted on a battleship.

When i first heard of Mississippi's story, i was struck by the irony. In her twilight, an old dreadnought battleship tested the sort of weaponry that would bring her last sisters back for a last hurrah.

In Mississippi, we wanted to make her a museum ship, but she had so much classified gear, her turrets removed, and she was so old that the costs were prohibitive.

My dad was chief engineer on the Missippi in the 50's. I visited her then when I was about 6 or 7. Dad mentioned years later she was testing early missles.

The pilot taking off on that rickety platform must have had some funny goodbyes, "Well, see ya in a few months!"

It would have been a very unique battleship museum if they kept their around for a few more years...

Mississippi lived a long career in the Navy. She was a proven workhorse and set the standards in her day. Since were on the subject of large ships, it would be great to hear your lesson on the Alaska Class Cruisers. Thanks again for your hard work.!

Great work Skynea! The New Mexico class are my favorite battleships. Such a rich history and great design.

In fact, as a money saving measure, the New Mexico class was a repeat of the Pennsylvania class. The difference being the bow, turrets, and superstructure being the same design as the Tennessee class, just as the Colorados were Tennessee class hulls with eight 16" guns instead twelve 14" guns. Since the US was building/planning four classes of battleships as part of the WW1 fleet expansion they wanted to standardize as a cost saving and to speed up construction.

One other interesting fact about Mississippi - one particular officer, that served as her Chief Engineering Officer for a period of time, went on to have a very interesting and controversial career, finally being officially retired - and not by choice - from the Navy in the early 1980's - one Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the original head of the Naval Nuclear Power Program.

Thank You very much !!! Those of us from Mississippi will be interested in your video !!

I keep thinking that you should have the music from a certain song from the musical Oklahoma whenever you talk about all-or-nothing armor😅

Long life well lived

She was one tough old gal.

I was unaware that missiles were fitted to Mississippi in a training role after the war. She certainly was another ship that did not deserved to be scrapped.

I remember seeing the dented target drone proudly displayed on the port side, reportedly hit with the very first missile shot. This missile was developed into first the Terrier, and then the Standard system which we still use in 2024.

One of my brother-in-law's what's on the Mississippi in the Pacific when she was first struck by a Japanese kamikaze. She was sent back to the West Coast of the US. for repairs. It took my sister almost 3 weeks, traveling by train, to get to her husban. She kept getting kicked off the train to make room for troop movements.

Great video thank you

I remember when the USS Iowa had her turret explosion in 1989 political leaders were in the news saying "How did this happen?" "Is there a design flaw???" "Is the Navy covering something up???". Typical of ignorant politicians they never bothered to look back into history and see that turret explosions were not at all uncommon in big-gun warships, and not just the US Navy's. The Mississippi's turret explosions mirrored the Iowa's right down to the turret number and approximate number of crewmen killed.

At the seaplane launch, in the right background you see one of the notorious Proteus class colliers that either vanished mysteriously or became the first aircraft carrier. It isn't Cyclops as that one had already been swallowed by a hole in Spacetime or something by then ;) As Jupiter was already earmarked for conversion to the USS Langley I guess that means it is either Nereus or Proteus

Awesome interesting video well done once again thank you

She was a very good looking ship, especially in her mid-life. The stacks of long barrelled 14" guns must be a nightmare to fight. Her original secondary 5" guns would have been the 51 cal? And the original 14", were they shorter barrelled?

Thank you! I’d be interested in hearing your perspective on how effective the 1930s rebuild was for this class. How do you think the ships were in comparison to other rebuilt ships? Were the New Mexicos the most capable US battleships in the late 1930s?

I had a friend that served on her in ww2.

Mississippi: they gonna modify me as missile ship Me: huh?! Naval officer: that is correct

Them old converted side turret ships do look fantastic! I know everyone fawns over the Iowas but these look better especially with their ww2 camo paint!

Excellent Video but you omitted the participation of Missisippi in the (in)famous "Battle of the Pips" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Pips

Oh Wow Missi was layed down in April 5th Nice day

Does anyone know if there has been tests done about the effectiveness of battleship armor vs ASCM?

must have been hard to find men to man that turret after the second time it exploded,

Where can I see the illustration at 16:08?

Having torpedoes with a range of 16,000 yards does not seem wise when the range of the main guns was 25,000 range. That means you had to get withing gun range to use the torpedoes.

They should of done with many of our heavies after WW2

Ise is pretty strange.

Sounds like she had more distinguished service in the production of razor blades than as a warship.

1st finally lol