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USS CALIFORNIA (BB-44), thesecond of two Tennessee Class turbo-electric battleships, was laid down on October 25th 1916, launched on November 20th 1919 and commission ed on August10th 1921. At the time, CALIFORNIA was the largest warship built at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Califor nia. In the raid on Pearl Harboron December 7th 1941 CALIFORNIAwas sunk by Japanese torpedo action . Following the crews successful effor tsthat prevented capsize, CALIFORNIA wasrefloated on March 25th 1942 and made for Puget Soundship yard for rehabilitation and modernisation, completed by January 1944. Withsister Tennessee, CALIFORNIAparticipated in the invasion s of Saipan, Guam and Tinian in June and July 1944,and in the Mariana and Palauisland s invasion s from June to November 1944. Tennesseecollided with CALIFORNIA in the Pacific on August 23rd 1944, both ships sustaining damage, with fatalities on CALIFORNIA. The navalBattle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 saw the sister ships in action again. on January 6th 1945 CALIFORNIA wasstruck by Kamikaze plane during the Lingayen Gulf campaign and returned to Puget Sound for repairs. CALIFORNIAwas back in action in the western Pacific at Okinawa in June 1945, remaining in the East China Sea on minesweeping duty. CALIFORNIA supported the Allied occupation forces in Japan until October 1945 before returning hometo Philadelphia PA. CALIFORNIAwas decommission ed in February 1947 and sold for scrap in July 1959.
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