This Labor Day weekend, the Battleship North Carolina Memorial, part of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, will illuminate the Battleship North Carolina in red for the first time to honor the thousands of New Yorkers whose skill and labor brought the ship to life. Known as “The Showboat,” the Battleship North Carolina remains afloat today as a museum and World War II memorial in Wilmington. Completed four months ahead of schedule, USS North Carolina was America’s first new battleship in nearly two decades. By the war’s end, she had earned 15 battle stars—the most of any American battleship during World War II. “The story of USS North Carolina did not begin in her namesake state—it began in Brooklyn,” said Dr. Jay Martin, Executive Director of the Battleship North Carolina Memorial.