Battleship NORTH CAROLINA: Community at Sea and in Battle LIVE!

When commissioned on April 9, 1941, the battleship North Carolina was considered the world’s greatest sea weapon. The North Carolina’s then–state-of-the-art technology and its talented crew made this ship a pivotal part of Allied success in World War II—in fact, the vessel earned 15 battle stars—the most of any US Navy ship in the Pacific Theater. During the war, 2,000 young men called the North Carolina home, including African American steward’s mates and messmen, who served their country despite the Jim Crow norms in place at the time. Curators Earl Ijames and Kim Sincox, along with museum educator Sally Causey Bloom explored BB-55, nicknamed “the Showboat,” on December 7, 2021, the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Additional Resources: Watch Answering the Call: North Carolina Stories, short narrative films about real North Carolinians during the war; participate in our Distance Learning On Demand program Don’t You Know There’s a War On?; read “From Posters to Photographs: How Objects Show North Carolinians’ Experience in World War II” from the fall 2021 Tar Heel Junior Historian magazine, and explore Battleship NORTH CAROLINA’s very rich website.