When This Battleship Survived 19 Torpedo Hits — It Had Already Been Written Off as Sunk

The Battleship That Refused to Die: How USS Nevada Survived What Should Have Destroyed Her

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii —
At 7:55 a.m. on December 7, 1941, a Japanese aerial torpedo tore into the port side of the USS Nevada, ripping a massive hole below the waterline. Smoke poured from her superstructure. Flooding spread rapidly through forward compartments. From shore, senior naval officers believed they were watching the end of one of America’s oldest battleships.

“Write her off,” Admiral Husband E. Kimmel reportedly said, convinced the ship was finished.

History would prove him wrong.

Over the next seven years, the USS Nevada would be declared sunk or destroyed no fewer than six times by enemy and allied intelligence alike. She would survive torpedoes, bombs, naval gunfire, a kamikaze strike, and even two atomic explosions. Only in 1948—after absorbing more punishment than any warship in history—did she finally sink, under deliberate U.S. attack.

The Only Battleship to Get Underway

Commissioned in 1916, Nevada was already considered obsolete by World War II standards. Slower than newer battleships and built with an older armor scheme, she seemed an unlikely survivor when Japanese aircraft struck Pearl Harbor.

Yet within minutes of the first torpedo hit, her crew executed damage-control procedures drilled into them for years. Watertight doors were sealed. Counterflooding corrected the list. Fires were isolated. Against all expectations, the ship’s engines were brought online.

At 8:17 a.m., Nevada began moving.

She was the only battleship at Pearl Harbor to get underway during the attack. As she headed toward the harbor entrance, Japanese commanders recognized the danger: if Nevada sank in the channel, she could trap the entire Pacific Fleet.

Dive bombers swarmed her. Between 8:20 and 9:00 a.m., she was hit by at least five bombs, suffering heavy casualties and severe damage. Still, she stayed afloat. To prevent blocking the channel, harbor control ordered her beached. Her captain ran her aground at Hospital Point, guns still firing.

By the end of the attack, Nevada had taken two torpedoes and five bombs. Japanese pilots reported her destroyed. German intelligence accepted the report. Even the U.S. Navy initially listed her as a probable total loss.

Salvage Against the Odds

Damage-control officers disagreed.

Despite the devastation, Nevada’s hull remained intact. Her power plant survived. Her old-fashioned torpedo defense system—dismissed before the war as outdated—had absorbed blasts that sank newer ships.

Thirteen days after the attack, Nevada was refloated. By April 1942, she was underway for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where she underwent a full modernization: new radar, upgraded fire-control systems, and vastly improved anti-aircraft defenses.

The battleship many believed finished was reborn.

A Ghost Returns to Combat

In May 1943, Nevada reappeared in combat during operations in the Aleutian Islands, bombarding Japanese positions on Attu and Kiska. Japanese intelligence officers were stunned. The ship they had confirmed sunk at Pearl Harbor was firing again.

Her most famous return came a year later in Europe.

On June 6, 1944—D-Day—Nevada served as a flagship for naval gunfire support off Utah Beach. Her 14-inch guns pounded German coastal defenses with precision unimaginable when she was designed nearly three decades earlier. German return fire struck her repeatedly, but caused minimal damage.

A ship once written off as scrap was now shaping the outcome of the largest amphibious invasion in history.

Back to the Pacific — and More Punishment

After Normandy and the invasion of southern France, Nevada returned to the Pacific. At Iwo Jima and Okinawa, she fired thousands of shells in support of ground troops.

On March 27, 1945, a Japanese kamikaze aircraft slammed into her starboard side, killing 11 sailors and wounding dozens. Fires broke out. Damage-control teams responded instantly. Nevada remained on station, continuing her mission.

By war’s end, she had survived more direct combat damage than any American battleship.

The Ultimate Test: Atomic Fire

The war ended, but Nevada’s ordeal did not.

In 1946, the Navy selected her as the primary target for Operation Crossroads, the first nuclear weapons tests against naval vessels at Bikini Atoll. Painted bright orange for visibility, Nevada was meant to be obliterated.

The first atomic blast missed its aiming point. Nevada survived.

A second, underwater nuclear detonation inflicted severe damage—but again, she remained afloat. Of more than 90 ships exposed, only a handful survived both tests.

Naval engineers were astonished. A battleship designed before World War I had withstood nuclear weapons better than many newer ships.

Finally Sunk — By Design

Radioactive contamination made Nevada unsafe for further service. In 1948, the Navy decided to sink her during target practice.

For two days, U.S. ships and aircraft attacked her with everything available: heavy shells, bombs, and torpedoes. Even then, she refused to go down.

Only on August 1, 1948—after absorbing an estimated 19 torpedo hits over her lifetime—did the USS Nevada finally sink beneath the Pacific.

A Legacy That Endures

Naval historians regard Nevada as the greatest damage-control success story in maritime history. Her survival reshaped U.S. naval design philosophy, emphasizing redundancy, compartmentalization, and aggressive firefighting.

“She didn’t survive by luck,” one historian wrote. “She survived because she was built right, manned well, and never given up.”

Today, Nevada rests in deep water, her wreck treated as a war grave. Her bell and artifacts are preserved in museums. Her lessons live on in every modern U.S. warship.

Declared sunk. Written off. Proven indestructible.

The USS Nevada did not just survive history. She rewrote it.