USS Iowa (BB-61)

Type

Battleship

Period

20th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: USS Iowa (BB-61) was the lead ship of the Iowa-class battleships, the last class of battleships built for the United States Navy, and the fourth US Navy ship named for the state of Iowa. She is notable as the only ship of her class to serve in the Atlantic during World War II, before transferring to the Pacific theater. Specifications: As built, Iowa displaced roughly 48,110 long tons standard and up to 57,540 long tons at full load, with an overall length of 887 feet 3 inches and a beam of 108 feet 2 inches. Her main armament was three triple 16-inch/50 caliber Mark 7 gun turrets, supplemented by twin 5-inch dual-purpose guns; during her 1980s modernization she also received quadruple Tomahawk cruise missile and Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers plus Phalanx CIWS mounts, and was capable of roughly 32.5 knots on four geared steam turbines turning four screws. Service History: Commissioned in February 1943, Iowa carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir en route to the 1943 Tehran Conference before fighting through the Pacific campaigns of World War II, including the Marshall and Mariana Islands operations, Okinawa, and the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. She was decommissioned and recommissioned multiple times, serving in the Korean War, and was reactivated in 1984 under the Reagan-era 600-ship Navy plan, deploying to both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and serving as a visible symbol of American naval power during the late Cold War. Notable Facts: On April 19, 1989, an explosion in her No. 2 turret killed 47 sailors, a cause the Navy was never able to conclusively determine, remaining one of the most notable incidents in the ship's history. Decommissioned for the final time in 1990, Iowa was ultimately donated to the Pacific Battleship Center and opened in July 2012 as the USS Iowa Museum at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California, where she is preserved as the "Battleship of Presidents" and is the only battleship museum open to the public on the US West Coast.