USS West Virginia

1. USS West Virginia Painting Competition

2. What is Military Painting?

3. Military art is a term describing works of art on military themes. The
genre of military art is characterized by its subject matter rather than by
any specific style or material used. The battle scene is one of the oldest
types of art in developed civilizations, as rulers have always been keen
to celebrate their victories and intimidate potential opponents. The
depiction of other aspects of warfare, especially the suffering of
casualties and civilians, has taken much longer to develop. As well as
portraits of military figures, depictions of anonymous soldiers away from
the battlefield have been very common; since the introduction of military
uniforms such works often concentrate on showing the variety of these.
Naval scenes are very common, and battle scenes and "ship portraits"
are mostly considered as a branch of marine art; the development of
other large types of military equipment such as warplanes and tanks has
led to new types of work portraying these, either in action or at rest. In
20th century wars official war artists were retained to depict the military
in action; despite artists now being very close to the action the battle
scene is mostly left to popular graphic media and the cinema. The term
war art is sometimes used, mostly in relation to 20th century military art
made during wartime.

4. Diego Valezquez 1635, The
Surrender of Breda

5. Hendrick Vroom, Dutch Ships Ramming
Spanish Galleys off the Flemish Coast in
October ,1602

6. !
!
The Death of Major Peirson, 1784, by John Singleton Copley

7. Sanctuary — Edward IV and Lancastrian Fugitives at Tewkesbury Abbey by
Richard Burchett, UK, 1867. This was an incident during the War of the Roses

8. !
Scotland Forever! by Elizabeth Thompson depicting the start of the
charge by the Royal Scots Greys at the Battle of Waterloo, 1881

9. Title “Battle of Roberts Ridge” Oil on Canvas by Air Force Artist Todd
Krasovetz, 24 x 36”
Official Military Artists

10. 'ALLAMERICAN FIRES’, by Stuart Brown, 20” x 16”

11. Naval Military Paintings
Oil painting made by Australian Randall K.G. Wilson depicting the Bismarck made fast to a buoy in Gothenhafen, May 1941.

12. Oil painting made by Artist Marii Chernev depicting the Bismarck and the U-556
in the Baltic Sea in the spring of 1941. Cruiser Prinz Eugen is in the far back.
The original painting has a size of about 30 x 24 inches.

13. The Bismarck opens fire, by Krzysztof Grzywacz, 1978

16. Karanecki 2002

17. USS West Virginia Painting Competition Assignment
VIDEO

18. WVU Chicago Metro Alumni Chapter, by jury, will choose
one painting of the USS West Virginia by a WVU painting
student. There are 3 cash prizes. All of the work will be
shown at the Erickson Alumni Canter. The jury and
exhibition will occur at a date TBD in May 2015.
You are to paint a representational ‘military’ style work no
larger than 24 inches wide or tall. A suggested size is 24
inches wide by 20 inches tall. You may paint the first USS
West Virginia (before Pearl Harbour) or the reconstruction,
(after pearl Harbour). Please have sketches ready by next
class for approval before commencing the painting.
Please refer to the lecture and also do your own research
by finding images you think would translate nicely into a
painting.

19. !
The USS West Virginia was badly damaged at Pearl Harbor, but rose from that disaster to take revenge on the
Japanese navy.!
The battleship was christened on November 19, 1921, the second ship to be named for West Virginia. On
December 1, 1923, the West Virginia joined the fleet. The new battleship was 624 feet long, 94 feet wide, and had
a displacement of 33,590 tons. The main battery was eight 16-inch guns in four turrets, with 12 five-inch guns as
the secondary battery. Oil-fired boilers provided steam for the electrical propulsion system, which was capable of
moving the ship at a maximum speed of 21 knots.!
Except for training exercises in the Caribbean and visits to East Coast ports, the ship spent its entire career in the
Pacific Ocean. It was one of the six battleships at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, suffering
massive damage from torpedoes and bombs in the surprise attack. Two officers (including Capt. Mervyn S.
Bennion) and 103 crew members died.!
The West Virginia was raised from the mud of Pearl Harbor and rebuilt in time to see service for the last year of the
war. The ship went back to sea in July 1944 and joined the Seventh Fleet for the invasion of the Philippines. At the
battle of Surigao Strait on October 24–25, part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf, West Virginia led the line and was
the first American ship to open fire. The West Virginia was in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, for the surrender
ceremony, the only Pearl Harbor survivor present.!
After the war the West Virginia took part in ‘‘Operation Magic Carpet,’’ the return of troops to the United States. It
was decommissioned in January 1947, then held in inactive reserve until stricken from the Navy List on March 1,
1959. On August 24 the battleship was sold for scrap.!
The current USS West Virginia is an Ohio Class Trident ballistic missile submarine. The West Virginia is 560 feet
long, 42 feet wide, and displaces 18,750 tons when submerged. Its nuclear power plant can move the submarine at
more than 20 knots. As a missile submarine, the West Virginia’s main weapons are its 24 Trident II missiles. Four
torpedo tubes were also installed on the vessel. Fifteen officers and 140 enlisted personnel make up the crew.!
The ship was constructed by the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division at Groton, Connecticut, and launched in
1989. Commissioning took place on October 20, 1990.
http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/