Silver State Dreadnought

USS Nevada (BB-36) was America's first modern battleship. When its keel was laid in 1912, kings and emperors still ruled much of the world. When it finally slipped beneath the waves in 1948, America was the undisputed global superpower.

Nevada was revolutionary for its time: the first "superdreadnought"; the first US warship to be oil fired; the first to have a triple-gun main turret; and the first to have all-or-nothing armor. In World War I, it was based in Queenstown, Ireland, to provide protection for American convoys bringing troops to Europe. The only battleship to get underway at Pearl Harbor, it suffered damage from Japanese bombs and torpedoes and sank in shallow water. Raised and repaired, it did convoy duty in the North Atlantic before joining the invasion fleet for D-Day and the landings in Southern France.

Shifting to the Pacific, Nevada provided bombardment support at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The end of the war saw it outgunned and outmoded, but its contributions were not over. In 1946, it survived not one but two atomic tests, the second of which left the battleship too radioactive for scrapping.

On a sunny day in 1948, Nevada was towed off the coast of Oahu and used for target practice. The ship died a warrior's death.