On April 9, 1941, USS North Carolina officially entered service at the New York Navy Yard—marking a major moment in the ship’s history.
At 11:30 a.m., under the bright sunshine, the commissioning ceremony lasted just 29 minutes. But what it represented had been years in the making. After nearly four years of construction—and completed four months ahead of schedule—the 729-foot, 35,000-ton battleship was ready.
Newspapers called her the “world’s fightingest ship,” a “solid, gleaming symbol of America’s awakening.” For those who built her and those who would serve aboard her, she was something even more meaningful.
Pride in the Shipyard
Commander Alfred Ward, USN, remembered the urgency and determination surrounding the ship as she neared completion:
“We were in the New York shipyard, getting the ship ready to go to war. The people in the shipyard had the samefeeling that I have and that I still have about the wonderful ship the NORTH CAROLINA. Every man on that crew in Brooklyn worked just as hard as they could to make it a going concern; and it had to be because it was known that the Japanese were building up their fleet and that we were not quite as superior to the fleet of the Japanese at that time. It was only
until we got some real power in our naval shipyard and…the NORTH CAROLINA was in the vanguard of this fight.”
He also remembered the emotion of the day itself:
“My wife and I were invited to the commissioning ceremonies in New York City. It was a really electric and satisfyingresult. The ovation that ended the celebration in New York when the ship was commissioned was a tribute to a bunch of hard-working people that our shipyards were. Our sailors and men were ready to go out and do whatever had to be done to win this war. And they did it. They really did it.”
A Day the Crew Never Forgot
For the sailors aboard, Commission Day was both exciting and exacting.
Paul Charles Wenck, Seaman 1/c, remembered the ceremony this way:
“The commissioning was a great day of excitement. All the dignitaries around and high-ranking admirals. Every sailor had to be on his toes, and everything was ship shape the best way it could be on board. We were all dressed in blues for photos and the commissioning. It was a great day.”
More Than a Ceremony
Commission Day was more than a formal event. It reflected the work of the shipyard crews who built USS North Carolina, the sailors who brought her to life, and the sense that this ship would soon be called into something much larger.
More than 80 years later, those memories still bring that day into focus.
When you visit the Battleship today, you’re not just stepping aboard a historic warship—you’re walking through the beginning of a story that started long before her wartime service, with the people who built her, commissioned her, and believed in what she represented.
Plan your visit and experience that history for yourself; get started at battleshipnc.com!