The pre-invasion bombardment of Iwo Jima in February 1945 returned the battleship to a central role in Pacific amphibious operations. Six battleships — Nevada, Idaho, Tennessee, Texas, New York, and Arkansas — joined cruisers and destroyers in three days of shore bombardment before the Marines went ashore on February 19. Many of the battlewagons had been rebuilt after Pearl Harbor and bore the scars and subsequent modernization that transformed them from pre-war vessels into effective shore-bombardment platforms. The March 1945 Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin featured this photograph of American battleships firing in support of the Pacific advance, documenting the gun-line in action at a pivotal moment of the island campaign.
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