[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 24, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S553-S554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 3--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT 
 A COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP SHOULD BE ISSUED IN HONOR OF THE U.S.S. 
           ``WISCONSIN'' AND ALL THOSE WHO SERVED ABOARD HER

      By Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Bingaman, 
        Mr. Conrad, Mr. Daschle, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Grassley, Mr. 
        Kennedy, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Leahy, Mr. McCain, Mr. Miller, Mr. 
        Murkowski, Mr. Reid, Mr. Torricelli, and Mr. Warner) submitted 
        the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
        Committee on Governmental Affairs:

                             S. Con. Res. 3

       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; and
       Whereas the U.S.S. Wisconsin, decommissioned on September 
     30, 1991, is berthed at Nauticus, the National Maritime 
     Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, where she will 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 Citizens' 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 
introducing a resolution that commemorates one of the greatest ships of 
the United States Navy and her crew members. I am joined by the senior 
Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. Kohl, and 15 of my other colleagues.
  The U.S.S. Wisconsin is the largest of the four magnificent 
battleships ever built by the United States Navy. These four vessels, 
the Wisconsin, the Iowa, the New Jersey, and the Missouri, comprise the 
revered Iowa-class battleships. Each of these ships 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--as much as 17\1/2\ inches in 
some points--includes nine 16-inch guns, 20 five-inch guns, 80 40-
millimeter guns, and 49 20-millimeter guns. The 16-inch guns are able 
to hurl shells roughly the weight of a VW Beetle to distances of up to 
23 nautical miles. Due to the recoil of these massive guns, the deck 
had to be built of teak wood because steel plating would have buckled 
from the stress. While she was designed for a crew of 1,921 sailors, 
she ended up carrying almost 1,000 additional sailors at points during 
World War II and the Korean War.
  The U.S.S. Wisconsin was built in Philadelphia, and commissioned on 7 
December 1943, exactly two years after the surprise attack on Pearl 
Harbor. From the time President Roosevelt chose to name the vessel the 
Wisconsin, citizens from our state took an immediate interest. School 
children volunteered to christen the battleship. Some Wisconsinites 
even recommended christening the Wisconsin with water taken straight 
from the Wisconsin River, which runs through the heart of our state, 
instead of champagne. In fact, 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.
  In 1944, she underwent sea trials and training in the Chesapeake Bay. 
After

[[Page S554]]

the trials she was at last ready for duty. On 7 July, the Wisconsin 
departed Norfolk, Virginia, on her way to war with the legendary 
Admiral William F. ``Bull'' Halsey and his 3rd Fleet. She came to the 
aid of U.S. Marines and infantry as they began their island-hopping 
strategy toward Japan by sending her shells with deadly accuracy into 
the Philippines.
  Following that action, the Wisconsin joined the 5th Fleet under 
another legendary commander, Admiral Raymond Spruance, and helped 
eliminate the Japanese resistance on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, then joining 
in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. After that, the U.S.S. Wisconsin became 
part of Fast Carrier Task Force 38; joining in the attacks on the 
Philippine Islands, Saigon, Camranh Bay, Hong Kong, Canton, Hainan, and 
finally the Japanese home islands.
  Following Japan's surrender, the Wisconsin headed home with five 
battle stars to her credit. Additionally, after nearly two years of 
service in the Pacific theater during World War II, the Wisconsin 
didn't lose one crewman or get hit. This is truly an amazing fact.
  After her service in World War II, she spent the summer at the 
Norfolk Naval Shipyard where she underwent an extensive overhaul. On 1 
July 1948, she was taken out of commission, in reserve, and assigned to 
the Norfolk Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
  However, her rest was short as the Korean War reawakened the 
Wisconsin and her sister battleships. She departed Norfolk on 25 
October 1951, bound for the Pacific where she became the flagship of 
the 7th Fleet. When the Korean War broke out, future Admiral 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 headed to Long Beach, CA, with yet another battle star.
  After departing Long Beach and arriving in Norfolk, the 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 11 June 1954 for a brief overhaul before taking 
on her role as a training ship.
  Surprisingly, it was during her service as a training ship that the 
Wisconsin received the greatest damage. On 6 May 1956, as she was 
cruising off the Virginia Capes in heavy fog, she collided with the 
destroyer U.S.S. Eaton. The Wisconsin returned to Norfolk with 
extensive damage to the bow, 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 force and shipyard personnel 
completed the operation in just 16 days.
  On 28 June 1956, the ship was once again ready for service. Over the 
next two years she steamed from Norfolk five more times before heading 
for Philadelphia and deactivation. For the next 28 years 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 and on 17 January fired her first tomahawk missile in the Persian 
Gulf War. Following her service, she was honored by leading the 
``Parade of Ships'' for the Fleet Week celebration in New York Harbor.
  On 7 December 2000, 57 years to the day after she was commissioned, 
the U.S.S. Wisconsin arrived at Nauticus, the National Maritime Center 
in Norfolk, Virginia, and was given a deserved salute featuring a 
flyover with F-14s and a 21-gun salute. At Nauticus, she serves as a 
floating monument and, in April of this year, will once again serve the 
public when she opens her deck as 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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