A celebration in Sioux Falls this weekend marks the 75 anniversary of the launching of the battleship ‘South Dakota.’ In 1941 Governor Harlan Bushfield’s wife, Vera, broke a bottle of champagne over the ship and it was named after the Rushmore state.
The Battleship South Dakota entered World War Two’s Pacific Theater in 1942, a year after it was launched. Diane Diekman is President of the South Dakota Battleship Memorial. She says after the ship was damaged in action, it went back to the Brooklyn Navy Yard before getting sent to the North Atlantic and ending its career in the Pacific.
"The South Dakota had a short life because World War II had already started when it was in commission. So it fought the entire war and then it wasn’t needed after that— and besides the fact that battleships were becoming obsolete because aircraft carriers had taken over,” says Diekman.
Decommissioned in 1947, it sat in the Philadelphia Navy Yard until 1962 when it was sold for scrap. But the memories of those who served on board lives on.
Today the memorial to the USS South Dakota in Sioux Falls includes an outline of the ship, and contains the ship’s original bell.
Lieutenant Governor Matt Michels and original crewmembers from the ship are attending the commemorating ceremony this Saturday.