Battleship defends fleet from air attack, 1944

Archive footage of the battleship, USS Washington, providing antiaircraft fire to defend the U.S. fleet from an Imperial Japanese Navy air attack. The action occurred on June 15, 1944, off Saipan. By this point during World War II, the anti-aircraft armament of all vessels, but particularly, had been significantly upgraded. With the bloodletting that occurred in the Solomon Islands more than a year in the past, the probability of gunfights between surface combatants was extremely low. Battleships were loaded with anti-aircraft weapons and served as flagships and as floating anti-aircraft platforms, protecting aircraft carriers from air attack.

Read more