The USS Wisconsin has a bit of a reputation. Not only was it one of the battleships recommissioned for the invasion of Iraq, but it was also a member of the elite Iowa-class of battleships. And in Korea, it destroyed a target so aggressively that one of its escorts reportedly admonished it with the signal lamp, sending the message: “Temper, temper.”
History of the USS Wisconsin
The USS Wisconsin was built at the end of the battleship era and launched exactly two years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1943. It was one of only four Iowa-class battleships, the largest battleships that America ever built. During World War II, it earned five battle stars, including one at the Battle of Okinawa, where its big guns made a real impact on Japanese positions on the island.
The Wisconsin was retired for a bit after World War II, but it was called back into active service for the Korean War.
Big Wisky In Korea
When that war rolled around, the supremacy of carriers in major naval operations was well-established, but the Wisconsin and other large ships proved their worth. While carrier aircraft could take a fight over the horizon, battleships could throw much more firepower at a target every minute than their flat-top counterparts.
“Big Wisky,” as the ship was often known, was in demand. Sailors couldn’t get enough of Big Wisky. They always wanted Wisky around. No matter what the sailors needed to do, they wanted to do it with Wisky. The Marines were big fans as well, since Wisky was often making it rain as the Devil Dogs made their own assaults.
And so it was, on March 15, 1952, that the USS Wisconsin and its friends were shelling the absolute hell of North Korean positions at Songjin. The ship even collapsed a tunnel as a troop train tried to exit it, trapping the train and cutting off Korean reinforcements. The Koreans, meanwhile, took some weird umbrage to this very valid battle tactic and attempted to return fire at the Wisconsin. Rude, right?
Well, the Wisconsin had very thick armor, was quick, and was firing from fairly far out. So it’s not like the Koreans were ever going to hit Wisc…
North Korea hits Wisconsin, Wisky hits back
Oh, wait, the North Koreans actually did manage to hit it? With a 155mm shell? Jesus, that’s fairly big. Let’s check and see how many sailors survived this terrible sinking…
Oh, all of them. Three sailors were injured when the Korean round struck a gun mount’s shield. There was almost no damage to the ship.
Despite this being a single, ineffective attack, the Wisconsin lost its cool like an egg in the microwave. It just blew up on the Korean artillery position. The big battleship aimed all nine of its 16-inch guns (406mm) at the 155mm emplacement and fired them all.
Wisky hit the artillery position so hard that the damage actually went back in time and killed the crew three weeks before the battle. North Korean widows report their husbands crumbling in their embrace like a Thanos snap had occurred.
And then, in a moment of brilliant wit, the escort USS Buck reportedly aimed its signal lamp at the USS Wisconsin and sent “T E M P E R T E M P E R.”
Now, this story is very popular on the internet. Very popular. There are memes, T-shirts, and probably branded tramp stamp tattoos if you go to the right parlors during Fleet Week.
However, unfortunately, there’s not a lot of evidence to support the story. It’s fun, but the digitized copies of the USS Buck’s deck logs don’t go back that far, and the Wisconsin’s are not available. But if you want to get the tattoo, you have my permission to declare it military history.
And that’s coming from the former junior-most member of a military history detachment.
