Ships named for the state of North Carolina enjoy a long and proud history. Here is the Legacy of Ships in addition to BB55.

Ship-of-the-Line NORTH CAROLINA
1820-1867
The first USS NORTH CAROLINA was a a 74-gun ship of the line. The ship was designed to take a position in line of battle and so was called a “ship-of-the-line” or “line of battle-ship.” She and others of her class were considered the heavy capital ships of their day mounting 42-pounder and 32-pounder cannon. She was a three-masted square-rigger with an overall length of 196 feet and 3 inches and beam of 54 feet. Displacing 2,633 tons, she carried a complement of 820.

CSS NORTH CAROLINA
1863-1864
The Confederate States Navy’s 174-foot ironclad was constructed at the William and Benjamin Berry Shipyard located on Eagles Island near where BB55 is located today. Displacing 600 tons, her main battery consisted of four 8-inch guns and her complement of 150 men. She was anchored near the mouth of the Cape Fear River to help keep the port of Wilmington open for blockade runners. She developed leaks and sank in September 1864 near Southport, North Carolina.

USS North Carolina (ACR-12)
1908-1921
The Armored Cruiser 12 was commissioned in 1908 at Norfolk, Virginia. With a length of 504 feet, she displaced 14,500 tons and her designed speed was 22 knots. Her main battery consisted of four 10-inch guns and her secondary of sixteen 6-inch and twenty-two 3-inch rapid fire guns. Her complement was 38 officers and 821 enlisted men. Her service highlights include bringing home the bodies from the USS MAINE for burial, convoying troops to and from France during the first World War, and catapult launching an AB-2 Curtiss flying boat from her stern on November 5, 1915. Renamed CHARLOTTE in June 1920 so that her name might be used for a new battleship, she was decommissioned in February 1921.

USS North Carolina (BB-52)
Battleship 52, designated NORTH CAROLINA, was never completed. Laid down in 1920, work halted three years later under terms of the 1922 Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armament.

USS North Carolina (SSN 777)
Commissioned 2008, Wilmington, NC
Attack submarine NORTH CAROLINA (SSN 777) is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. At 377 feet in length, she displaces 7,800 tons submerged and carry of complement of 134. Her maximum designed submerged speed is 25 + knots. Her armament includes 12 vertical launch system tubes, four 21-inch torpedo tubes, tomahawk missiles and Mk-48 advanced capability torpedoes, advanced mobile mines and unmanned undersea vehicles.