USS North Carolina

Preserved WWII battleship moored across the Cape Fear River from downtown

The battleship USS North Carolina is moored across the Cape Fear River from downtown Wilmington, where she has been permanently berthed as a memorial and museum since 1961. One of the most decorated American warships of World War II, she is a remarkable vessel: 728 feet long, armed with nine 16-inch guns capable of hurling shells 23 miles, and crewed by over 2,000 men.

Visitors can tour nine decks of the ship, from the engine rooms and powder magazines below the waterline to the bridge and gun turrets above. The self-guided tour is extensive — allow two to three hours if you want to see everything. The ship's scale becomes apparent only once you're inside: the passageways are narrow, the machinery enormous, and the conditions in which the crew lived and fought remarkably primitive by modern standards. One of the finest preserved WWII battleships in the United States.

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A story
The USS North Carolina earned 15 battle stars during World War II — the most of any American battleship — and was called "The Showboat" by her crew for her sleek lines and formidable armament. In September 1942, a Japanese torpedo struck her bow near Guadalcanal; damage control kept her afloat and she was back in action within a month. Japanese propaganda reported her sunk three separate times during the war. She was never sunk.