World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseUSS Maryland, a 32,600-ton Colorado class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia, and commissioned in July 1921. During the 1920s and 1930s, she participated in regular fleet training and combat exercises. Maryland also made some notable long-distance cruises, including one to Rio De Janeiro in the Summer of 1922 to participate in Brazil's Centennial Exposition, the U.S. Fleet's trans-Pacific voyage in 1925, and President-Elect Herbert Hoover's 1928 good-will tour of Latin America.

ww2dbaseMaryland's base was changed from Long Beach, California, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1940. She was moored at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese struck on 7 December 1941, but received relatively minor damage. Following repairs and overhaul, Maryland operated with Task Force One off the U.S. West Coast in 1942, deploying to the South Pacific later in the year. She took part in operations to capture the Gilbert and Marshall Islands in late 1943 and early 1944, employing her sixteen-inch guns in the pre-invasion bombardments of Tarawa and Kwajalein.

ww2dbaseIn June 1944, Maryland again participated in pre-invasion gunnery, this time against Saipan. During this operation, she was torpedoed by a Japanese aircraft, necessitating a trip to Pearl Harbor for repairs. The battleship returned to action for the Palaus operation in September 1944. During the Leyte invasion in October, she bombarded enemy positions ashore and fired on Japanese warships during the Battle of Surigao Strait. While operating off Leyte in late November, Maryland was damaged by a "Kamikaze" suicide plane.

ww2dbaseMaryland was repaired in time to participate in the Okinawa operation during March and April 1945, was again hit by enemy air attack on 7 April, but remained in action for another week. She then went to the West Coast for overhaul. This work was completed in early August, but the Pacific War ended before she could return to the combat zone. After spending the last months of 1945 transporting servicemen home from the mid-Pacific, Maryland went to Bremerton, Washington, for inactivation. She was decommissioned in April 1947 and remained in "mothballs" until July 1959, when she was sold for scrapping.

Battleship Maryland (BB-46) Interactive Map

Photographs

Maryland Operational Timeline

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4.  David Stubblebine says:
16 Jul 2019 07:50:32 PM

To: Eileen Holleran (above):
Navy Muster Rolls can be viewed at www.Fold3.com, but remember that Muster Rolls only contain names of enlisted Navy personnel; officers and Marines were listed in other documents that I have not found online. You did not include your father’s name but I did learn there were no Hollerans on Maryland’s Muster Rolls.

6.  David Stubblebine says:
14 Dec 2019 11:38:51 PM

Betty Meyer (above):
According to Navy Muster Rolls, Marion Eugene Whitley, service number 262 64 05 who enlisted 8 Aug 1940 at Raleigh NC, reported aboard Maryland 30 Oct 1940 at Norfolk VA as an Apprentice Seaman. On 6 Jan 1940, he was transferred off the ship at Puget Sound for temporary duty. It doesn’t say what that duty was or when he returned to the ship but he was listed on the next regular quarterly Muster List on 30 Mar 1940. He continued to be listed in the quarterly Muster Lists, rising from Apprentice Seaman to Seaman 2nd-class to Seaman 1st-class to Coxwain, until he was transferred off the ship 1 Oct 1943 to the Pearl Harbor Naval Hospital for treatment. It doesn’t say what the nature of the treatment was but it appears it was not combat related since Maryland had been in Pearl Harbor for 2 weeks before his hospitalization. He does not appear in a Muster Roll for any ship after this. His dates aboard make it clear he was aboard for the Pearl Harbor air raid that Maryland was right in the middle of.

For more detailed information about his service, I cannot recommend strongly enough the value of requesting a copy of his service record. See https://ww2db.com/faq/#3.