University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses Fall 12-15-2012 Gaining Relevance in the Face of Obsolescence: The USS Texas – a Battleship in the Second World War Kali Martin University of New Orleans, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Part of the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Martin, Kali, "Gaining Relevance in the Face of Obsolescence: The USS Texas – a Battleship in the Second World War" (2012). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1599. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1599 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Gaining Relevance in the Face of Obsolescence: The USS Texas – a Battleship in the Second World War A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History By Kali Brooke Martin B.A. The University of Miami, 2007 December, 2012 Acknowledgement This work would not have been possible without the generosity of the Williams family and the Chick Williamson Graduate Student Travel Fund. The opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., and research the Texas at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, was made possible by their support. Thank you to Dr. Günter Bischof who made the travel fund available to me for my research, and who encouraged my work on the Texas. I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. Allan Millett for his guidance on this project. He has taught me a great deal about researching and writing. Thank you to the other members of my thesis committee, Dr. Robert Dupont and Dr. James Mokhiber. They have both provided valuable insight into this work. As a full time student and part time employee, I have to thank my manager at work, A. Hebert. She has been very understanding and generous to me over the last two years. To my family who has supported me not just through the last two years, but in everything I do, I cannot thank you enough. A final and very important thank you goes to Josh Schick. His encouragement and support have been so important throughout this process and have helped make it a success. ii Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv Chapter 1 ..............................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2 ..............................................................................................................................3 Chapter 3 ..............................................................................................................................5 Chapter 4 ..............................................................................................................................8 Chapter 5 ............................................................................................................................12 Chapter 6 ............................................................................................................................15 Chapter 7 ............................................................................................................................18 Chapter 8 ............................................................................................................................21 Chapter 9 ............................................................................................................................23 Chapter 10 ..........................................................................................................................29 Chapter 11 ..........................................................................................................................36 Chapter 12 ..........................................................................................................................39 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................41 Appendices .........................................................................................................................45 Appendix A: A page from the “Allied Naval Assault Gunnery Instructions, 1944.”45 Appendix B: Ammunition Expended by the Texas during World War Two. .........46 Appendix C: USS Texas Armament Changes, 1914-1944 ......................................47 Appendix D: A map of the Neptune Initial Bombarding Positions .........................48 Vita .....................................................................................................................................49 iii Abstract Despite the vast material that has been written about the Second World War, most literature mentions battleships in passing, giving little attention to a role that battleships filled- that of naval gunfire support for amphibious landings. The literature regarding the Navy’s older, obsolescent battleships such as the Texas is scarce. Using primary sources regarding the Texas and the evolution of naval gunfire doctrine from the pre-war and wartime periods, this study looks at the involvement of the Texas in the Second World War and how the Navy employed its oldest battleships. The amphibious landings of the war provided a role in which a ship’s speed and range became irrelevant when firing on fixed targets on an enemy beach. This work provides a look at a little discussed, though widely used aspect of the Second World War and helps further discussion regarding the evolution of the US navy. United States Navy, USS Texas, Naval Gunfire, Battleship, Amphibious Warfare, Shore Bombardment, World War Two, D-day, France iv 1: Introduction From the birth of the United States Navy ships-of-the-line were the spearhead of the United States Navy. Reminiscent of their wooden-hulled and sail-powered predecessors, American battleships were heavily armed and prepared to protect American interests in any corner of the globe. In early 1941, America’s great battleships, though still the spearhead of the Navy, were in a position of obsolescence. The first new American battleships since the 1920s were commissioned in 1941 with main batteries of nine 16-inch guns and top speeds of twenty- seven knots. The existing American battleships became comparably slow (top speeds were about twenty knots) and outgunned with the 14-inch gun dominant among the old, slower ships. America’s War Plan Orange originated in the first decade of the twentieth century under President Theodore Roosevelt. Part of a series of war plans color coded to represent various potential belligerents, Japan was given the designation Orange. War Plan Orange was America’s joint army-navy strategy for war in the Pacific against Japan. From the first draft until America’s declaration of war against Japan in 1941, war planners revised and refined the plan. The basic concept of Orange was that the Japanese would first target the Philippines, where American forces would hopefully hold out for several months. Once the American fleet arrived in the Pacific, it would aid the American defenders until the US Army arrived to save the defenders. The US fleet would fight the Japanese on the seas until a major battlefleet action resulted in Japanese capitulation. Although War Plan Orange accurately predicted many of the events of World War Two, a decisive battlefleet action against Japan never occurred. As the Second World War evolved, old American battleships served in three main roles: convoy escorts, anti-aircraft artillery, and naval gunfire support for amphibious landings. As the 1 Marines advanced across the Pacific island by island and the Army invaded North Africa and Europe, providing naval gunfire support for the invasion landings became the main task of the older battleships. Following the service of the battleship USS Texas and its role in the Atlantic theater’s largest amphibious landing, the invasion of France, this paper describes how the United States Navy readjusted the traditional roles of its battleships, particularly those from the early part of the twentieth century, in the midst of war. By studying action reports, general orders, and other prewar and wartime documents, and by looking at several secondary sources which address the fleet problems and fleet landing exercises, we can understand how the US Navy planned to employ, and how they actually did employ, the battleships of the fleet in the next war. Finally, we can see the development of naval shore bombardment in support of amphibious operations during the first few years of the Second World War. Although the focus is on one ship, it is representative of the four oldest battleships which participated in major actions in the Atlantic Theater.1 The Texas was present at every major