[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 140 (Friday, October 15, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12700-S12701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 60--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT 
 A COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP SHOULD BE ISSUED IN HONOR OF THE U.S.S. 
           ``WISCONSIN'' AND ALL THOSE WHO SERVED ABOARD HER

  Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself and Mr. Kohl) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Governmental Affairs:

                            S. Con. Res. 60

       Whereas the Iowa Class Battleship, the U.S.S. Wisconsin 
     (BB-64), is an honored warship in United States naval 
     history, with 6 battle stars and 5 citations and medals 
     during her 55 years of service;
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin was launched on December 7, 
     1943, by the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard; sponsored by Mrs. 
     Walter S. Goodland, wife of then-Governor Goodland of 
     Wisconsin; and commissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 
     April 16, 1944, with Captain Earl E. Stone in command;
       Whereas her first action for Admiral William ``Bull'' 
     Halsey's Third Fleet was a strike by her task force against 
     the Japanese facilities in Manila, thereby supporting the 
     amphibious assault on the Island of Mindoro, which was a 
     vital maneuver in the defeat of the Japanese forces in the 
     Philippines;
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin joined the Fifth Fleet to 
     provide strategic cover for the assault on Iwo Jima by 
     striking the Tokyo area;
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin supplied crucial firepower for 
     the invasion of Okinawa;
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin served as a flagship for the 
     Seventh Fleet during the Korean conflict;
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin provided consistent naval 
     gunfire support during the Korean conflict to the First 
     Marine Division, the First Republic of Korea Corps, and 
     United Nations forces;
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin received 5 battle stars for 
     World War II and one for the Korean conflict;
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin returned to combat on January 
     17, 1991;
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin served as Tomahawk strike 
     warfare commander for the Persian Gulf, and directed the 
     sequence of Tomahawk launches that initiated Operation Desert 
     Storm;
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin, decommissioned on September 
     30, 1991, is berthed at Portsmouth, Virginia; and may soon be 
     berthed at Nauticus, the National Maritime Museum in Norfolk, 
     Virginia, where she would serve as a floating monument and an 
     educational museum: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) a commemorative postage stamp should be issued by the 
     United States Postal Service in honor of the U.S.S. Wisconsin 
     and all those who served aboard her; and
       (2) the Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend 
     to the Postmaster General that such a postage stamp be 
     issued.

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today, I have the distinct honor of 
submitting a resolution that commemorates one of the great vessels in 
our naval history and her crew members. I am joined by the senior 
Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. Kohl.
  Mr. President, the U.S.S. Wisconsin is one of four Iowa-class 
battleships, the largest battleships ever built by the Navy. The four 
vessels, the Wisconsin, the Iowa, the New Jersey and the Missouri, 
served gallantly in every significant United States conflict from World 
War II to the Persian Gulf war.
  At 887 feet, the Wisconsin carries a 108-foot, three-inch beam with a 
displacement of 45,000 tons. Her armor includes 9 sixteen-inch guns, 20 
five-inch guns, 80 40-millimeter guns, and 49 20-millimeter guns. The 
16-inch guns can lob shells roughly the weight of a VW Beetle to 
distances of up to 24 miles. The recoil of these might guns was so 
great that the deck had to be built of teak wood because steel plating 
would buckle from the stress. She was designed for a crew of 1,921 
sailors, but she carried as many as 2,700 sailors during World War II 
and the Korean war.
  Mr. President, the U.S.S. Wisconsin was built in Philadelphia and 
commissioned on 7 December 1943, exactly 2 years after the attack on 
Pearl Harbor. From the moment President Roosevelt selected the name of 
the vessel, Wisconsin citizens took an immediate interest. School 
children volunteered to christen the battleship. Some folks even 
recommended christening the Wisconsin with water from the Wisconsin 
River, instead of champagne.
  In the summer of 1944, she underwent sea trials and training in the 
Chesapeake Bay. On 7 July, the Wisconsin departed from Norfolk, VA, on 
her way to war with the legendary Adm. William F. ``Bull'' Halsey and 
his 3rd Fleet. As U.S. Marines and infantry began their island-hopping 
strategy toward the home islands of Japan, Wisconsin sent her shells 
hurling with deadly accuracy into the Philippines. And coincidentally 
enough, the Wisconsin's first commander, Captain Earl E. Stone, was 
born in Milwaukee and attended the city's public schools and the State 
university before his appointment to the Naval Academy.
  The Wisconsin then joined the 5th Fleet under another legendary 
commander, Adm. Raymond Spruance, and helped silence Japanese 
resistance on

[[Page S12701]]

Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and then joined in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Soon 
thereafter, the U.S.S. Wisconsin became part of Fast Carrier Task Force 
38. She joined in attacks in the Philippine Islands, Saigon, Camranh 
Bay, Hong Kong, Canton, Hainan, and the Japanese home islands.

  After the Japanese surrender, the Wisconsin headed home with five 
battle stars to her credit. One amazing fact about her World War II 
service is that the Wisconsin didn't lose one crewman or get hit.
  She spent the summer at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard where she 
underwent an extensive overhaul. Following a 2-year stint as a training 
ship, she returned to Norfolk and joined the Atlantic Fleet Reserve 
Fleet for inactivation.
  By July 1, 1948, she was taken out of commission and mothballed. 
However, the Korean war reawakened the Wisconsin and her sister 
battleships. She departed Norfolk on October 25, 1951, bound for the 
Pacific where she became the flagship of the 7th Fleet. When the Korean 
war broke out, future Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, Jr., served as the Wisconsin's 
navigator and extolled her ``versatility, maneuverability, strength, 
and power.'' During the conflict, she covered troop landings; fired 
upon enemy troops, trains, trucks, and bridges all along the Korean 
coastline; and attacked important North Korean ports in Hungnam, 
Wonsan, and Songjin. In April 1952, she steamed toward Norfolk with 
another battle star.
  Upon arriving in Norfolk, Wisconsin received her second overhaul at 
the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Following a number of peacetime and 
diplomatic voyages showing the flag, she returned to Norfolk on June 
11, 1954 for a brief overhaul before taking her role as a training 
ship.
  On May 6, 1954, she was cruising off the Virginia Capes in heavy fog 
when she collided with the destroyer U.S.S. Eaton. Wisconsin returned 
to Norfolk with extensive bow damage, and a week later found herself 
back in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Shipyard workers fitted a 120-ton, 
68-foot bow section from the unfinished Iowa-class battleship Kentucky. 
Working round-the-clock, Wisconsin's ship's force and shipyard 
personnel completed the operation in just 16 days.
  On June 28, 1956, the ship was ready for sea. Wisconsin steamed from 
Norfolk five more times before heading for Philadelphia and 
deactivation in 1958. She remained on inactive status until 1986, when 
she was towed to Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. In 
1988, the U.S.S. Wisconsin was re-commissioned for a third time.
  In 1991, she led the Navy's surface attack on Iraq during the Gulf 
war with the first-ever use of cruise missiles in battle.
  Now, Mr. President, she is decommissioned and will soon be berthed at 
Nauticus, the National Maritime Museum in Norfolk, VA, where she will 
serve as a floating monument and an educational museum. I wish she had 
found her final port in the great State of Wisconsin, but getting her 
there simply isn't possible--she's just too big.
  Mr. President, I hope my colleagues will help me and the senior 
Senator from Wisconsin honor this great ship with a commemorative 
stamp.

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