USS Iowa (BB-61)

USS Iowa (BB-61) is a retired battleship, the lead ship of her class, and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named after the state of Iowa. Owing to the cancellation of the s, Iowa is the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships and was the only ship of her class to serve in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II.

During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a conference of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, Iowa shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands.

During the Korean War, Iowa was involved in raids on the North Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "mothball fleet". She was reactivated in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to counter the recently expanded Soviet Navy. In April 1989, an explosion of undetermined origin wrecked her No. 2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors.

Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in October 1990 after 19 total years of active service, and was initially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register  in 1995, before being 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 nonprofit Pacific Battleship Center and was permanently moved to Berth 87 at the Port of Los Angeles in 2012, where she was opened to the public as the USS Iowa Museum.

Construction

Ordered in July 1939, USS Iowa was laid down at New York Naval Shipyard in June 1940. She was launched on 27 August 1942, sponsored by Ilo Wallace (wife of Vice President Henry Wallace), and commissioned on 22 February 1943 with Captain John L. McCrea in command.

USS Iowas main battery consisted of nine 16-inch/50-caliber Mark 7 guns, which could fire armor-piercing shells . Her secondary battery consisted of twenty 5"/38 caliber guns in twin mounts, which could fire at targets up to 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 antiaircraft guns to defend Allied carriers from enemy airstrikes.

World War II (1943–1945)

Shakedown and service with the Atlantic Fleet

thumb|left|alt=A small bathtub is visible in the center of the image. Bubbles, a rubber ducky, and a small floating boat can be seen in the tub, while two books, a soap bar, and a toothpaste tube can be seen around the rim of the bathtub.|When Iowa was selected to ferry President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Cairo and Tehran Conferences, she was outfitted with a bathtub for Roosevelt's convenience. Roosevelt, who had been paralyzed in 1921, would have been unable to make effective use of a shower facility.

In November 1943, Iowa carried President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Roosevelt's Chief of Staff Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff of the Army General George C. Marshall, Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King, Commanding General of the US Army Air Forces Henry "Hap" Arnold, Harry Hopkins, and other military leaders to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, on the first leg of the journey to the Cairo and Tehran Conferences. On 14 November, in waters east of Bermuda, , a destroyer that was part of Iowas antisubmarine screen, accidentally discharged a torpedo toward Iowa during a drill. Following warnings from the destroyer and her own lookouts, Iowa turned hard to avoid the torpedo, which detonated about 1200 yards astern in the ship's wake. Iowa trained her guns on William D. Porter, concerned that the smaller ship might have been involved in an assassination plot.

Iowa completed her presidential escort mission on 16 December by returning the President to the United States.

Service with Battleship Division 7, Admiral Lee

thumb|left|alt=A large ship tilted to the right, with gun barrels pointed to the left: Crewmen can be seen on the battleship's deck. To the left of the image another large warship can be seen.|Iowa in the Pacific; can be seen in the distance.

As flagship of Battleship Division 7 (BatDiv 7), Iowa departed the United States on 2 January 1944 for the Pacific Ocean, transiting the Panama Canal on 7 January in advance of her combat debut in the campaign for the Marshall Islands. From 29 January to 3 February, she supported carrier air strikes made by Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman's Task Group 58.3 (TG 58.3) against Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls. Her next assignment was to support air strikes against the major Japanese naval and logistics base at Truk, Caroline Islands. Iowa, in company with other ships, was detached from the support group on 16 February 1944 to conduct an antishipping sweep around Truk, with the objective of destroying enemy naval vessels escaping to the north. During this action, Iowa, along with her sister New Jersey, sank the Japanese light cruiser , the cruiser having escaped Truk the day before following Operation Hailstone, the US air attack on Truk. Iowa accompanied TF 38 during attacks against the Japanese Central Force under the command of Admiral Kurita as it steamed through the Sibuyan Sea toward San Bernardino Strait. The reported results of these attacks and the apparent retreat of the Japanese Central Force led Admiral William "Bull" Halsey to believe that this force had been ruined as an effective fighting group; as a result, Iowa, with TF 38, steamed after the Japanese Northern Force off Cape Engaño, Luzon. On 25 October 1944, when the ships of the Northern Force were almost within range of Iowas guns, word arrived that the Japanese Central Force was attacking a group of American escort carriers off Samar. This threat to the American beachheads forced TF 38 to reverse course and steam to support the vulnerable escort carrier fleet, but fierce resistance by the 7th Fleet in the Battle off Samar had already caused the Japanese to retire and Iowa was denied a surface action. Following the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Iowa remained in the waters off the Philippines screening carriers during strikes against Luzon and Formosa. She sailed for the West Coast late in December 1944. The carriers had just completed three days of heavy raids against Japanese airfields, suppressing enemy aircraft during the American amphibious operations against Mindoro in the Philippines. The task force met with Captain Jasper T. Acuff and his fueling group on 17 December with the intention of refueling all ships in the task force and replacing lost aircraft.

thumb|alt=A shipyard with a large dry dock occupied by a massive gunship. Crewmen can be seen on the battleship's deck, while dock equipment such as cranes and trucks can be seen lining the sides of the drydock. In the distance a pier can be seen, while two smaller ships are visible in the background of the image.|Iowa in drydock in San Francisco, undergoing repairs and modernization after being damaged during Typhoon Cobra.

Although the sea had been growing rougher all day, the nearby cyclonic disturbance gave relatively little warning of its approach. On 18 December, the small but violent typhoon overtook the task force while many of the ships were attempting to refuel. Many of the vessels were caught near the center of the storm and buffeted by extreme seas and hurricane-force winds. Three destroyers—, , and —capsized and sank with nearly all hands, while a cruiser, five aircraft carriers, and three destroyers suffered serious damage. but suffered a loss of one of her float planes, and damage to one of her shafts. Iowa remained in the bay as part of the occupying force. As part of the ongoing Operation Magic Carpet, she received homeward-bound GIs and liberated US prisoners of war before departing Tokyo Bay on 20 September, bound for the United States. In September 1948, as part of the post World War II drawdown of the armed forces, Iowa was deactivated at San Francisco, and then formally decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets on 24 March 1949. In July, Iowa received a new skipper, Captain Joshua W. Cooper, who assumed command of the battleship for the remainder of her Korean War tour.

On 23 September, General Mark W. Clark, the commander-in-chief of United Nations Forces in Korea, came aboard Iowa. Clark observed Iowa in action as her guns shelled the Wonsan area for a third time, accounting for the destruction of a major enemy ammunition dump. On 25 September, Iowa fired her guns at an enemy railroad and 30-car train.

Post–Korean War (1953–1958)

thumb|USS Iowa laid up alongside [[USS Wisconsin (BB-64)|USS Wisconsin and USS Shangri-La in Philadelphia, 8 July 1978.]]

Iowa embarked midshipmen for at-sea training to Northern Europe in July 1953, and shortly afterwards took part in Operation Mariner, a major NATO exercise, serving as flagship of Vice Admiral Edmund T. Wooldridge, commander of the 2nd Fleet. Upon completion of this exercise, Iowa operated in the Virginia Capes area. Later, in September 1954, she became the flagship of Rear Admiral R. E. Libby, Commander, Battleship Cruiser Force, United States Atlantic Fleet. to Avondale Shipyard near New Orleans, Louisiana, for refitting and equipment modernization in advance of her planned recommissioning.

Iowa was then towed to Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Also included in her modernization were upgrades to radar and fire-control systems for her guns and missiles, and improved electronic warfare capabilities.

Shakedown and NATO exercises (1984–1989)

thumb|right|alt=An overhead view of a battleship, showing the ship's teardrop shaped hull. Nine gun barrels on three turrets are pointed to the top of the image, with smoke and fire visible form all nine gun barrels and a concussive effect on the water below the guns. Visible from the overhead image are the 8 armored box launchers for the battleship's 32 Tomahawk Missiles.|Iowa fires a full broadside of nine /50-caliber and six /38 cal guns.

From April to August 1984, Iowa underwent refresher training and naval gunfire support qualifications at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Puerto Rican operating area. After a short period in her new home port of Norfolk, Virginia, she spent the two times during the rest of 1984 and early 1985 conducting "presence" operations shakedown in the area around Central America. During this time she transited the Panama Canal to operate off the west coast of Central America while also conducting people-to-people humanitarian operations, including in El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras, before returning to the United States in April 1985 for a period of routine maintenance. In October, she took part in Baltic operations, and fired her phalanx guns, guns, and guns in the Baltic Sea on 17 October while operating with US and other allied ships. After these operations during which she visited Le Havre in France, Kiel in Germany, Copenhagen (where the current King of Denmark visited the ship as a schoolboy) and Aarhus in Denmark, and Oslo in Norway, where the King of Norway was entertained at lunch, she returned to the United States.

Afterward, Iowa returned to the waters around Central America and conducted drills and exercises, while providing a military presence to friendly nations. On 4 July, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan boarded Iowa for the International Naval Review, which was held in the Hudson River. On 25 April, Captain Larry Ray Seaquist assumed command of the battleship and her crew during Naval Gunfire Support requalification off Vieques Island near Puerto Rico.

thumb|left|alt=A large net on the back end of a ship. Several orange clad crewmen are working to free a white singed object from the net.|Crewmen recover an [[RQ-2 Pioneer UAV aboard Iowa.]]

On 17 August, Iowa set sail for the North Atlantic and in September she participated in Exercise Northern Wedding by ferrying Marines ashore and assisting helicopter gunships. During the exercise, Iowa fired her main guns at Cape Wrath range in Scotland in support of a simulated amphibious assault on 5–6 September, firing a total of 19 shells and 32 shells during a 10-hour period and operating in rough seas. During the live-fire exercise, a small number of Iowa Marines were put ashore to monitor the fall of shot and advise the battleship of gunnery corrections. Afterward, Iowa visited ports, including Portsmouth in England, and Germany, before returning to the United States in October.

In December, the ship became the testbed for the Navy's RQ-2 Pioneer (UAV). The drone was designed to serve as an aerial spotter for the battleship's guns, thereby allowing the guns to be used against an enemy without the need for an airplane or helicopter spotter. Pioneer passed its tests and made its first deployment that same month aboard Iowa. whose ships were being raided by Iranian forces who were attempting to cut off weapons shipments from the United States and Europe to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, via Kuwaiti territory. This phase of the war was later called the "Tanker War" phase of the Iran–Iraq War. Iowa and other vessels operating in the gulf were assigned to escort Kuwaiti tankers from Kuwaiti ports to the open sea, but because US law forbade military escorts for civilian ships flying a foreign flag, the tankers escorted by the United States were reflagged as US merchant vessels and assigned American names. After the overhaul, Moosally took Iowa on a shakedown cruise around Chesapeake Bay on 25 August. Encountering difficulty in conning the ship through shallow water, Moosally narrowly missed colliding with the frigate , destroyer , and cruiser before running aground in soft mud outside the bay's main ship channel near the Thimble Shoals. After one hour, Iowa was able to extricate herself without damage and return to port. Iowa continued with sea trials throughout August and September, then began refresher training in the waters around Florida and Puerto Rico in October, during which the ship passed an Operation Propulsion Program evaluation.

On 20 January 1989, during an improperly authorized gunnery experiment off Vieques Island, Iowa fired a shell , setting a record for the longest-ranged shell ever fired. In February, the battleship sailed for New Orleans for a port visit before departing for Norfolk. On 10 April, the battleship was visited by the commander of the 2nd Fleet, and on 13 April, she sailed to participate in a fleet exercise.

1989 turret explosion

thumb|right|alt=Two large gun turrets are visible, both with guns pointed to the right of the image. The foreground turret is spewing brown colored smoke from the base of all three gun barrels, while water from an unseen hose is being sprayed on the foremost gun barrel.|Heavy smoke pours from Turret Two following an internal explosion on 19 April 1989.

During a gunnery exercise, at 0955 on 19 April 1989, an explosion ripped through the Number Two gun turret, killing 47 crewmen. A gunner's mate in the powder magazine room quickly flooded the No. 2 powder magazine, likely preventing catastrophic damage to the ship. At first, Naval Investigative Service (NIS, later renamed Naval Criminal Investigative Service or NCIS) investigators theorized that one of the dead crewmen, Clayton Hartwig, had detonated an explosive device in a suicide attempt after the end of an alleged affair with another sailor. To support this claim, naval officials pointed to several different factors, including Hartwig's life insurance policy, which named Kendall Truitt as the sole beneficiary in the event of his death, the presence of unexplained materials inside turret 2, and his mental state, which was alleged to be unstable.

Although the Navy was satisfied with the investigation and its results, but it did uncover evidence pointing to an accidental powder explosion due to over-ramming rather than an intentional act of sabotage.

While Iowa was undergoing modernization in the early 1980s, her sister ship New Jersey had been dispatched to Lebanon to provide offshore fire support. At the time, New Jersey was the only commissioned battleship anywhere in the world, and in an effort to get another battleship commissioned to relieve New Jersey, the modernization of Iowa was stepped up, leaving her in poor condition when she recommissioned in 1984.

Powder from the same lot as the one under investigation was tested at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division. Spontaneous combustion was achieved with the powder, which had been originally milled in the 1930s and improperly stored in a barge at the Navy's Yorktown, Virginia, Naval Weapons Station during a 1988 dry-docking of Iowa. This revelation resulted in a shift in the Navy's position on the incident, and Admiral Frank Kelso, the chief of Naval Operations at the time, publicly apologized to the Hartwig family, concluding that no real evidence supported the claim that he had intentionally killed the other sailors. Iowa captain Fred Moosally was severely criticized for his handling of the matter, and as a result of the incident, the Navy changed the powder-handling procedures for its battleships.

Reserve Fleet and museum ship (1990–present)

thumb|alt=An overhead view of a large shipyard. Various ships can be seen tied up, with several structures visible within the yard.|The [[Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1995; Iowa is the battleship moored on the seaside of the wharf in the far left of the picture, next to .]]

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the lack of a perceived threat against the United States came drastic cuts to the defense budget, and the battleships were deemed uneconomical. As a result, Iowa was decommissioned for the last time on 26 October 1990, after a total of 19 years of commissioned service. She was the first of the reactivated battleships to be decommissioned, and this was done earlier than originally planned as a result of the damaged turret. Iowa was originally berthed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and later at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island, from 24 September 1998 to 8 March 2001, when the tug Sea Victory began her tow to California. The ship arrived in Suisun Bay near San Francisco on 21 April 2001 and joined the Reserve Fleet, where she remained in reserve until struck again from the Naval Vessel Register in March 2006. (Her sister ships and she had been struck previously in 1995. Due to Iowas damaged turret, the Navy selected New Jersey for placement into the mothball fleet. The cost to fix New Jersey was considered less than the cost to fix Iowa; The Navy made the switch in January 1999, allowing New Jersey to open as a museum ship in her namesake state.

On 17 March 2006, the Secretary of the Navy struck Iowa and Wisconsin from the NVR, which cleared the way for both ships to be donated for use as museum ships, but the United States Congress remained "deeply concerned" over the loss of the naval surface gunfire support that the battleships provided, and noted that "navy efforts to improve upon, much less replace, this capability have been highly problematic." As a partial consequence, Congress passed , the National Defense Authorization Act 2006, requiring that the battleships be kept and maintained in a state of readiness should they ever be needed again. Congress ordered that measures be implemented to ensure that, if need be, Iowa could be returned to active duty.

thumb|Iowa being towed to Los Angeles in May, 2012.

thumb|right|220px|Iowa docked at Los Angeles harbor (May, 2024).

thumb|upright|alt=A photograph of the ship's superstructure as seen from deck level. The bridge, radar mast, and a phalanx gun are visible.|Iowas superstructure is decked out in red, white, and blue banners following her official opening as a museum ship in Los Angeles. A display of her [[USS Iowa (BB-61)#Awards|ribbons and awards earned during her career can be seen below and to the right of the Phalanx CIWS mount.]]

In March 2007, the Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square (HSMPS) of Vallejo, site of the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, and a Stockton group submitted proposals to use the ship as a museum. The HSMPS, which had attempted to place the ship in San Francisco, supported the Mare Island–Vallejo site. In October 2007, the Navy informed HSMPS that they were the only viable candidate to acquire Iowa, and their application would be further reviewed after evidence was presented that financing was in place, and when the Stockton and San Francisco groups withdrew or failed to submit a final application, respectively. On 25 April 2009, Iowa Senate Resolution No. 19 was approved, endorsing HSMPS as USS Iowas custodian and supporting the battleship's placement at Mare Island.

In February 2010, the Pacific Battleship Center (PBC) supported the efforts to have the ship berthed in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. In late February the Port of Los Angeles (which includes the San Pedro area) rejected a proposal by the PBC to berth USS Iowa at its facilities because the battleship was not yet available. On 12 April 2010, the Governor of Iowa signed into law Bill SJR2007, which officially formed a 10-member committee to raise about $5 million for the group awarded USS Iowa. The statement supporting the Vallejo group in the original Iowa State Senate's version SR19 was struck in favor of supporting any group actually awarded the battleship. On 24 May 2010 the Federal Register officially reopened the bidding process for USS Iowa to a California-based city or non-profit organization.

On 18 November 2010, the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commissioners voted unanimously on a resolution to support Berth 87 as the future home of USS Iowa, clearing the way for the PBC to send its completed application to the Navy. On 6 September 2011, USS Iowa was awarded to Pacific Battleship Center for placement at the Port of Los Angeles. After rehabilitation at the Port of Richmond, California (beginning in October 2011), she was towed to and eventually berthed in the Port of Los Angeles.

Starting in December 2011, USS Iowa was open for weekend tours. The Battleship Expo at the Port of Richmond included shipboard access and other exhibits such as 16-inch shells, a short film about the battleship, and other exhibits. On 30 April 2012, USS Iowa was officially donated to the Pacific Battleship Center in Los Angeles by the United States Navy.

Iowa began her journey to the Port of Los Angeles on 26 May 2012 under tow by four Crowley Maritime tugboats. After being anchored off the Southern California coast to have her hull scrubbed to remove any invasive species or contaminants, on 9 June 2012, she was permanently docked in San Pedro at Berth 87, along the Main Channel, directly south of the World Cruise Center. The museum opened to the public on 7 July, under the direction and control of PBC.

Awards

Iowa earned nine battle stars for World War II service and two for Korean War service.

{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"

|colspan="3"|

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"

| colspan=3| Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation with star

| colspan=3| Navy E Ribbon with three Battle E devices

|colspan=2| American Campaign Medal

|colspan=2| Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal with nine battle stars

|colspan=2| World War II Victory Medal

|colspan=2| Navy Occupation Service Medal

|colspan=2| National Defense Service Medal with star

|colspan=2| Korean Service Medal with two battle stars

|colspan=2| Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal

|colspan=2| Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon

|colspan=2| Philippine Presidential Unit Citation

|colspan=2| South Korean Presidential Unit Citation

|colspan=2| Philippine Liberation Medal

|colspan=2| United Nations Korea Medal

Notes

References

External links

USS Iowa – Pacific Battleship Center, official museum site
Map and satellite image from Google Maps
Maritimequest USS Iowa BB-61 Photo Gallery