USS Maryland operated with Task Force One off the U.S. West Coast in 1942, before being deployed to the South Pacific later in the year. The battleship took part in operations to capture the Gilbert and Marshall Islands in late 1943 and early 1944. She supported the United States Marine Corps’ landings, where she employed her sixteen-inch guns in the pre-invasion bombardments of Tarawa and Kwajalein. In June 1944, USS Maryland also participated in the pre-invasion bombardment of Saipan, and it was during the engagement that she was torpedoed by a Japanese aircraft.

After returning to Pearl Harbor for repairs, she was deployed to take part in the Leyte invasion in the Philippines and was she was present at the Battle of the Surigao Strait, one of only two battleship-versus-battleship naval sorties of the war and the last battleship-to-battleship action in history. Operating off Leyte a month after the battle, in November, Maryland was damaged in a "Kamikaze" attack.

Repaired again, she was able to take part in the Okinawa invasion in March/April 1945 and was again damaged from a Japanese aerial attack. However, she remained in action for another week, and she only returned to service following repairs after the war had ended. USS Maryland spent the final months of 1945 transporting servicemen home as part of Operation Magic Carpet. Decommissioned in April 1947, she was in "mothballs" until July 1959 when she was sold for scrapping.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.