USS Iowa BB61 and the men who served on her did so for over 50 years with distinction and honor. Designated the "Worlds Greatest Naval Ship"due to her big guns, heavy armor, longevity and modernization she kept pace with technology.
General Characteristics/Statistics:
Namesake: The state of Iowa
Builder: New York Naval Yard
Motto: "Our Liberties We Prize, Our Rights We Will Maintain"
Nickname: The Big Stick
Honors and Awards: 11 battle stars
Fate: Donated to the Pacific Battleship Museum Center for use as a museum and memorial
Current Status: On display at the Port of Los Angeles
Notes: Last lead ship of any class of US battleship
Class and Type: Iowa-class battleship
Displacement: Full Load Operational Displacement: 58,000 tons, Current Light Ship Displacement: 41,000 tons
Length: Overall Length: 887 feet 3 inches, Waterline Length: 860 feet
Height: Keel to mast: 209 feet, Top antenna above waterline: 175 feet, Major ship structure above waterline: 122 feet
Beam: 108 feet 2 inches
Draft: 37 feet 2 inches
Speed: 33 kn, 38 mph
Compliment: 151 officers, 2637 enlisted
1943 Armament: 9 x 16 inch 50 caliber Mark 7 guns, 20 x 5 inch 38 caliber Mark 12 guns, 80 x 40 mm/56 caliber anti-aircraft guns, 49 x 20 mm/70 caliber anti-aircraft cannons
1984 Armament: 9 x 16 inch 50 caliber Mark 7 guns, 20 x 5 inch 38 caliber Mark 12 guns, 32 x BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise Missiles, 16 x RGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship missiles, 4 x 20 mm/76 caliber Phalanx CIWS
Armor: Belt: 12.1 inch, Bulkheads: 11.3 inch, Barbettes: 11.6 to 17.3 inch, Turrets: 19.7 inch, Decks: 7.5 inch
Aircraft Carries: floatplanes, helicopters, UAV's
Aircraft facilities: None
Original Cost: $110,000,000, Current Replacement Cost: $2.5 billion
Construction Facts: 800 miles of welding, 1,135,000 driven rivets, 16 miles of ventilation ducts, 14,140 valves, 80 miles of piping
Fuel Oil Capacity: 2,582,000 gallons
Current Fuel Onboard: 0 gallons - all tanks were water blasted in 1991 for long term preservation
Electrical Capacity: sufficient to handle the industrial and domestic load of a city of 20,000 people. The ship when in commission utilized over 900 electric motors, 5,300 light fixtures and 250 miles of electric cable.
Food Storage Capacity: 100 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables, 560 tons of dry stores and 84 tons of frozen meats.
Main Engines: Four geared Westinghouse turbines; 53,000 horsepower each for a total of 212,000 shaft horsepower
Battleship of Presidents:
During her more than 50 years of service USS Iowa BB61 has welcomed and escorted the President of the United States on more than one occasion. No other battleship in U.S. history as been host to more U.S. Presidents than the Iowa.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt:
In Novemebr of 1943 the Presidential yacht, USS Potomac, transported President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the the USS Iowa at the mouth of the Potomac River. The President's party included: Presidential Adviser Harry Hopkins and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The President and his party were transported aboard USS Iowa to the secret Tehran Conference to meet with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Russian leader Joseph Stalin.
During the journey, at Roosevelt's request, the USS Iowa conducted an anti-aircraft drill to demonstrate her defensive capabilities. One of the escort ships that participated in the drill, destroyer USS William D. Porter, performed a torpedo drill. The Porter mistakenly discharged a live torpedo from one its tubes and the torpedo headed directly for USS Iowa. The Porter tried numerous times to signal Iowa via blinker light. When the crew of the USS Iowa did not respond the William D. Porter crew decided to break radio silence to warn the Iowa of the danger. Iowa made a hard right to avoid the torpedo and it exploded in the ships wake. When President Roosevelt learned of the incoming torpedo he asked his Secret service detail to move his wheelchair the side of the ship for a better view.
In December of 1943 the USS Iowa returned President Roosevelt and his staff safely back to the United States. His departing address to the crew of the Iowa was: “…from all I have seen and all I have heard, the IOWA is a ‘happy ship,’ and having served with the Navy for many years, I know, and you know, what that means.”
Prior to the journey special accommodations had to be made on board the USS Iowa because President Roosevelt suffered from the affects of the devastating disease, polio. On such accommodation was the installation of a bathtub as he could not stand to take a shower. The USS Iowa was the only ship at the time in the U.S. Navy fleet to have a bathtub on board. The bathtub is still there to this day.
President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan:
In July 1986 President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan boarded USS Iowa for Liberty Weekend, the celebration of the restoration of the centenary of the Statue of Liberty in New York City. That same day numerous ships from different eras and countries participated in the naval revue, which President Reagan viewed from the USS Iowa. President Reagan saw the ships as a personification of freedom and liberty. He had this to say about the vessels that participated:
“Perhaps, indeed, these vessels embody our conception of liberty itself: to have before one no impediments, only open spaces; to chart one’s own course and take the adventure of life as it comes; to be free as the wind – as free as the tall ships themselves. It’s fitting, then, that this procession should take place in honor of Lady Liberty.”
George H.W. Bush:
In April of 1984 Vice President George H.W. Bush recommissioned the USS Iowa.
In April of 1989 President George H.W. Bush joined the crew and families at the memorial service in Norfolk, VA. for the battleships 47 crew members who lost their lives during the turret 2 explosion. He said this:
“We join today in mourning for the 47 who perished and in thanks for the 11 who survived. They all were, in the words of a poet, the men behind the guns. They came from Hidalgo, Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; Tampa, Florida; Costa Mesa, California. They came to the Navy as strangers, served the Navy as shipmates and friends, and left the Navy as brothers in eternity. In the finest Navy tradition, they served proudly on a great battleship, U.S.S. Iowa.
This dreadnought, built long before these sailors were born, braved the wartime waters of the Atlantic to take President Roosevelt to meet Winston Churchill at Casablanca and anchored in Tokyo Harbor on the day that World War II ended. The Iowa earned 11 battle stars in two wars. October of '44, off the coast of the Philippines -- I can still remember it -- for those of us serving in carriers and Halsey's Third Fleet, having Iowa nearby really built our confidence. And I was proud to be a part of the recommissioning ceremony in 1984. And now fate has written a sorrowful chapter in this history of this great ship.
Let me say to the crew of Iowa: I understand your great grief. I promise you today we will find out why, the circumstances of the tragedy. But in a larger sense, there will never be answers to the questions that haunt us. We will not - cannot, as long as we live - know why God has called them home. But one thing we can be sure -- this world is a more peaceful place because of the U.S.S. Iowa. The Iowa was recommissioned and her crew trained to preserve the peace. So, never forget that your friends died for the cause of peace and freedom.
To the Navy community, remember that you have the admiration of America for sharing the burden of grief as a family, especially the Navy wives, who suffer most the hardships of separation. You've always been strong for the sake of love. You must be heroically strong now, but you will find that love endures. It endures in the lingering memory of time together, in the embrace of a friend, in the bright, questioning eyes of a child.
And as for the children of the lost, throughout your lives you must never forget, your father was America's pride. Your mothers and grandmothers, aunts and uncles are entrusted with the memory of this day. In the years to come, they must pass along to you the legacy of the men behind the guns. And to all who mourn a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a friend, I can only offer you the gratitude of a nation -- for your loved one served his country with distinction and honor. I hope that the sympathy and appreciation of all the American people provide some comfort. The true comfort comes from prayer and faith.
And your men are under a different command now, one that knows no rank, only love, knows no danger, only peace. May God bless them all."
Sister Ships: USS New Jersey BB62, USS Missouri BB63 and USS Wisconsin BB64
Info source:
This dreadnought, built long before these sailors were born, braved the wartime waters of the Atlantic to take President Roosevelt to meet Winston Churchill at Casablanca and anchored in Tokyo Harbor on the day that World War II ended. The Iowa earned 11 battle stars in two wars. October of '44, off the coast of the Philippines -- I can still remember it -- for those of us serving in carriers and Halsey's Third Fleet, having Iowa nearby really built our confidence. And I was proud to be a part of the recommissioning ceremony in 1984. And now fate has written a sorrowful chapter in this history of this great ship.
Let me say to the crew of Iowa: I understand your great grief. I promise you today we will find out why, the circumstances of the tragedy. But in a larger sense, there will never be answers to the questions that haunt us. We will not - cannot, as long as we live - know why God has called them home. But one thing we can be sure -- this world is a more peaceful place because of the U.S.S. Iowa. The Iowa was recommissioned and her crew trained to preserve the peace. So, never forget that your friends died for the cause of peace and freedom.
To the Navy community, remember that you have the admiration of America for sharing the burden of grief as a family, especially the Navy wives, who suffer most the hardships of separation. You've always been strong for the sake of love. You must be heroically strong now, but you will find that love endures. It endures in the lingering memory of time together, in the embrace of a friend, in the bright, questioning eyes of a child.
And as for the children of the lost, throughout your lives you must never forget, your father was America's pride. Your mothers and grandmothers, aunts and uncles are entrusted with the memory of this day. In the years to come, they must pass along to you the legacy of the men behind the guns. And to all who mourn a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a friend, I can only offer you the gratitude of a nation -- for your loved one served his country with distinction and honor. I hope that the sympathy and appreciation of all the American people provide some comfort. The true comfort comes from prayer and faith.
And your men are under a different command now, one that knows no rank, only love, knows no danger, only peace. May God bless them all."
Sister Ships: USS New Jersey BB62, USS Missouri BB63 and USS Wisconsin BB64
Info source:
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