Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in 1990, and was initially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1995. She was reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of two Iowa-class battleships. In 2011 Iowa was donated to the Los Angeles-based non-profit Pacific Battleship Center and was permanently moved to Berth 87 at the Port of Los Angeles in the summer of 2012, where she was opened to the public to serve as a museum and memorial to battleships.
|
Visit to the USS Iowa in San Pedro
May 24, 2013
Santa Paula News
USS Iowa (BB-61) was the lead ship of her class of battleship and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named in honor of the 29th state, Iowa.
Iowa was the lead ship of her class of “fast battleship” designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. She was launched on 27 August 1942 which First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt attended and was sponsored by native Iowan Ilo Wallace (wife of Vice President Henry Wallace), and commissioned on 22 February 1943 with Captain John L. McCrea in command. She was the first ship of her class of battleship to be commissioned by the United States.
Iowa’s main battery consisted of nine 16” (406.4mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 gun, which could fire 2,700 lb (1,200 kg) armor-piercing shells some 20 nmi (23 mi; 37 km). Her secondary battery consisted of 20 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal guns in twin mounts, which could fire at targets up to 12 nmi (14 mi; 22 km) away. With the advent of air power and the need to gain and maintain air superiority came a need to protect the growing fleet of Allied aircraft carriers; to this end, Iowa was fitted with an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns to defend Allied carriers from enemy airstrikes.
