Quote Originally Posted by Rick the Librarianicon View Post
I have a picture of King George VI of Great Britainicon inspecting U.S. Marines on the battleship Washington in early 1942 and the rifles are definitely M1s. Seems kind of strange that they found M1s for Marine ship detachments while FMF Marines carried M1903s on Guadalcanal.

As for the "rest of the story", the Washington's sister ship, the North Carolina was torpedoed at the same time as the Wasp. A gutsy performance by the Japaneseicon skipper of the I-19 and the deadly Japanese torpedoes.
I have boarded the U.S.iconNorth Carolina on several occassions. She currently resides grounded in Cape Fear River near downtown Wilmington, NC. Sitting in the 16" gun turrets is an interesting experience. The park has a fence of 16" projectiles. You have to see them to realize just how huge they are.

I sat at the bow and looked down and realized that falling off a battleship would be an unfortunate experience. It is a long way to the water.

Jim