Nine 16-inch guns in triple turrets arm USS North Carolina, hull number BB-55, the lead ship of the North Carolina class of fast battleships. Built under the Washington Treaty system, her design was limited in displacement and armament, but the United States used a clause in the Second London Naval Treaty to change her main battery from the original twelve 14-inch guns in quadruple turrets to nine 16-inch guns in triple turrets. She was laid down in 1937 and completed in April 1941, while the United States was still neutral.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, North Carolina mobilized for war and was initially sent to counter a possible sortie by the German battleship Tirpitz, though that did not materialize. She was promptly transferred to the Pacific to strengthen Allied forces during the Guadalcanal campaign, where she screened aircraft carriers and took part in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24–25 August 1942, shooting down several Japanese aircraft. The next month she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
Picture those nine 16-inch guns still trained skyward, and follow the sweep of her deck toward the bow.