Editing Colorado-class battleship (section)

===USS ''West Virginia''===
[[File:Uss west virginia bb.jpg|thumb|USS ''West Virginia'']]
{{Main|USS West Virginia (BB-48)}}

{{USS|West Virginia|BB-48}} was the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of [[West Virginia|the 35th state]]. Her keel was laid down on 12 April 1920 by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on 17 November 1921 and commissioned on 1 December 1923, Captain [[Thomas J. Senn]] in command. Despite a grounding incident early in her career ''West Virginia'' received high acclaim for gunnery and armor protection, and was involved in exercises to test the defenses of the Hawaiian Islands in the 1930s. On the morning of 7 December 1941, ''West Virginia'' was sunk at her berth in Battleship Row by multiple Japanese torpedo and bomb hits, but thanks in large part to counterflooding the battleship settled on an even keel, similar to {{USS|California|BB-44|2}}. Refloated on 17 May 1942, ''West Virginia'' received sufficient temporary repairs to sail to Puget Sound for reconstruction and modernization.{{sfn|DANFS West Virginia (BB-48)}}

In July 1944 she departed Puget Sound and rejoined the Pacific Fleet for combat operations on the eve of the Philippines campaign. There she participated in the [[Battle of Surigao Strait]], the last battleship vs battleship duel of World War II, where her new Mk. 8 fire-control radar enabled her to hit the {{ship|Japanese battleship|Yamashiro||2}} with her first salvo – in the dark – at {{convert|22800|yd|m}}. In February 1945 ''West Virginia'' participated in the [[Battle of Iwo Jima]], initially by preinvasion bombardment, and later by callfire support for the ground forces on the island. Her last combat operations were during the Battle of Okinawa; after the surrender of Japan, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. Decommissioned in 1947, she was sold for scrap in 1959.{{sfn|DANFS West Virginia (BB-48)}}