USS Iowa

EDIT: Posts moved from Anchor Bridles & Snubbers

rgano said:

As a career weaponeer, I shudder at this idea thinking of the strain on the gearing, and I certainly refused to consider my 16-inch guns on USS Iowa for use as a crane to haul heavy glass panels of President Reagan's bullet-proof reviewing cage to the top of one of the turrets for his fleet review during the Statue of Liberty in NYC harbor in 1986.

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Now you’ve done it! You mentioned the Iowa—my favorite warship of all time—and forced me into thread drift.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program . . .

angus99 said:

Now you’ve done it! You mentioned the Iowa—my favorite warship of all time—and forced me into thread drift.

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AWESOME!! Gotta love the USS Iowa.

angus99 said:

Now you’ve done it! You mentioned the Iowa—my favorite warship of all time—and forced me into thread drift.

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Drake said:

AWESOME!! Gotta love the USS Iowa.

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Did someone say USS Iowa??

Here's a link to an album of 40 USS Iowa photos from her longtime resting place in the Suisun Bay Maritime Reserve Fleet in 2010. She has been moved, restored and opened as a museum in the Los Angeles area.

Folder of USS Iowa Photos

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming...

OK, here's some big gun eye candy, but you are going to get us in trouble with the thread cops! I am modeling my new Gun Boss hat in front of T-1 and T-2 before re-commissioning in April 1984. Sailor carries an empty powder can down the pier after a test firing run into the Gulf of Mexico; my parents heard the rumble fifty miles away from our firing position at their home in Pensacola. It took the contents of three of these cans (two powder charges) to fire one gun.

For any of you passing by Wilmington, NC, I highly recommend a side trip to visit the Battleship North Carolina. We are big fans of ship and fort museums all over the country, and this is the absolute best. Having seen that, it makes visits to all the WWII warship museums battleship or not, all the more enjoyable and understandable, and I think we have been to almost all of them in the US. But other than poking around it there in the mothball fleet on Suisun Bay, I haven't seen the Iowa yet and plan to in October.

My old stateroom is right by the main deck exit from senior officers' country on the starboard side just on your right as you exit to the exterior.

One of my favourite photos. Wisconsin in Norfolk.
No photoshop involved.

Some 20 or more years ago on a business meeting trip to the Newport (RI) Naval Station I saw the Iowa and Forrestal moored near each other. Very exciting.

angus99 said:

EDIT: Posts moved from Anchor Bridles & Snubbers




Now you’ve done it! You mentioned the Iowa—my favorite warship of all time—and forced me into thread drift.

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Iowa @ Long Beach Harbor about 3 years ago.

I toured USS New Jersey once. It must have been a hell of a thing to see those big ass battlewagons knifing through the sea at 33+ knots.

I’m not into battleship romance but at one time I thought of building an 18’ rowboat w a hull almost exactly like the Missouri/Iowa. The WL would be very low on the hull because unlike the battleship the rowboat would be lightweight. Oh and no bulbous bow.

Thought it would be sorta cute and sell because of it. Of course it would be fun being the only one on your float rowing a battleship. haha

Observed the Iowa in Suisun Bay as part of the reserve fleet as well as in Richmond while in preparation for transfer to Southern California. I was amazed how the ship was dwarfed by surplus freighters neighboring in Suisun Bay. The Iowa was very compact, a small target, compared to its surplus neighbors.

The Iowa class Missouri anchored in Sydney Harbor for our Navy celebrations in the 1980s. A magnificent sight. My little sailboat was directed to leave the exclusion zone we`d entered for a closer look. Having seen amazing pics of her firing her guns at sea off Sydney we quickly complied.

Took a tour of the Missouri at Pearl Harbor. Between that, the Arizona Memorial, and the Pearl Harbor Memorial, it would be near impossible not to be moved.

Ted

Wayfarer said:

I toured USS New Jersey once. It must have been a hell of a thing to see those big ass battlewagons knifing through the sea at 33+ knots.

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Truly badass...especially seeing the New Jersey (sister ship) fire a 9 gun broadside salvo out of the 16” main guns.

Still hard to wrap my head around a gun firing projectiles the size of a small car...

Pau Hana said:

Truly badass...especially seeing the New Jersey (sister ship) fire a 9 gun broadside salvo out of the 16” main guns.

Still hard to wrap my head around a gun firing projectiles the size of a small car...

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Not size, weight of a Volkswagen Bug.

Ted

"my parents heard the rumble fifty miles away from our firing position at their home in Pensacola."


Might even be enough to wake a bridge tender.

I was in a company meeting on Goat Island Newport RI......20 Years ago?. We all got a view of the Iowa being towed by on its trip to the west coast. Pretty impressive. I ran many charter groups past the Navel War College when the Forestal was tied up there. Every once in a while We’d have someone on board with fond and maybe not so fond memories.

O C Diver said:

Not size, weight of a Volkswagen Bug.

Ted

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I stand corrected- 2300 lbs of HE.

I get a break for the 0445 coffee not kicking in yet...?

10 miles from where I sit is the USS North Carolina. Same class as the Iowa, I think.

I took the tour by myself a few years ago. Spent a whole day crawling around the thing.

The level of engineering and craftsmanship on this vessel was incredible. A few times brought tears to my eyes. And this from an engr with shipyard/submarine overhaul experience in the late 80's. So I knew what I was looking at.

The machinery that made the big guns work was really impressive. Rapid shell and charge handling. As well as the analog computers that handled aiming and dynamic compensation for ship movement.

All I could say was.. Wow. I figured out why we won that war. Built good ships (and subs and airplanes), and built a lot of them.

Ski in NC said:

10 miles from where I sit is the USS North Carolina. Same class as the Iowa, I think.

I took the tour by myself a few years ago. Spent a whole day crawling around the thing.

The level of engineering and craftsmanship on this vessel was incredible. A few times brought tears to my eyes. And this from an engr with shipyard/submarine overhaul experience in the late 80's. So I knew what I was looking at.

The machinery that made the big guns work was really impressive. Rapid shell and charge handling. As well as the analog computers that handled aiming and dynamic compensation for ship movement.

All I could say was.. Wow. I figured out why we won that war. Built good ships (and subs and airplanes), and built a lot of them.

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NC is similar, but not part of the Iowa Class (Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin).

Was ships company on the Peleliu (LHA-5) docked right next to the New Jersey in Long Beach, back in 85, short recommission . Was a big deal when Cher did a video on her, anyone remember that outfit she wore?

Pau Hana said:

NC is similar, but not part of the Iowa Class (Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin).

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Got it. Looked them up, NC and Washington were both in the NC class. Iowa class longer, more hp, more speed and more displacement. NC 35k tons, Iowa 45k tons.

Crusty Chief said:

Was ships company on the Peleliu (LHA-5) docked right next to the New Jersey in Long Beach, back in 85, short recommission . Was a big deal when Cher did a video on her, anyone remember that outfit she wore?

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Both can be found under “badass” in the dictionary ?

As these ships were designed to go heads up against other dreadnoughts, we had many underway discussions about if a Harpoon or Tomahawk weapon would even penetrate the hull...

Here are some aerial shots I took from 2009-2010 flying over the Naval Reserve Fleet, aka the Mothball Fleet. I count over 50 ships in the first shot. If you look close you'll see Iowa, #61.

Also, Giggitoni in Mahalo Moi passing the remnants of the MBF. We're down to 11 hulls left in the Naval Reserve Fleet on Suisun Bay...my local sturgeon hunting grounds.

Along side BB62

I was serving on the USS Taluga AO-62 in the Guf of Tonkin during the late sixties and early seventies. A real treat one day when the USS New Jersey BB-62 pulled up for underway replenishment. She was alongside for many hours as we pumped bunker fuel, and high lined cargo deck materials to her.

I have photos somewhere back home, that I'll have to dig out after I get back.
Currently cruising in the PNW. The most awesome sight was her firing her guns at night, from somewhere over the horizon, and hearing the rumble and the horizon lighting up. Memories etched in my head.


Bill

I drove my boat past the Iowa two days ago while perusing the harbor sights. It is currently in Los Angeles Harbor, San Pedro. I have been planning to go aboard but always seem to find something needing to be done on my boat.

In the 80's and 90's I was pilot on FAA Flight Inspection airplanes (N265 Saberliners) conducting electronic calibration inspections on civilian and military navigation systems throughout the western states. One regular mission during the Cold War was the verification of shipboard and land-based TACAN and fire-control, search and precision approach radar naval aviation navigation systems. It was a real kick for a young civilian-trained pilot like me to be able to check the Navy ships following topside reconfiguration coming out of San Diego and Bremerton. We did them all....battleships, supply ships, aircraft carriers, and some I couldn't ID...all coordinated in secure comms to avoid Soviet detection. One mission had us flying an 10 mile alignment orbit at 1500 ft altitude around a TACAN positioned at the south end of the USN's San Nicholas Island off the CA coast.

When we got to the southern-most point in out 360 degree orbit, we began hearing very loud percussions in the pressurized Saberliner. It took a few moments to figure out that we were flying above Mighty Mo and she was lobbing her shells into the southern firing range on the island! There was a drop in the naval coordination that allowed this to take place as we were told by ATC that the firing range was "cold". They immediately ceased firing when it was brought to their attention. (I long thought that they saw us and just delayed their firing until we were overhead so they wouldn't harm us.)

What a SPECTACULAR sight to look down and see this occurring right under our feet in the early 90's following her recommissioning. It's a sight and sound I will carry with my for the rest of my days.

Unfortunately, this was well before cellphones and no cameras were available, but it looked a lot like the scene at 6:55 on this video on Mighty Mo.

Ski in NC said:

Got it. Looked them up, NC and Washington were both in the NC class. Iowa class longer, more hp, more speed and more displacement. NC 35k tons, Iowa 45k tons.

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Right, and in all reality very, very similar ships with nearly identical capabilities in real-world use - often overlooked. There was a class in between those two, commonly called the 'SoDak' for the lead South Dakota, also a four-ship class like the Iowas. Unfortunately the NCs and SoDaks get overlooked a bit in history. All seriously capable ships; all superior to anything else ever built.

Very impressive how naval architects, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and physicists (because the cutting edge electronics had a lot to do with their edge), and of course the sailors and officers came together in a few short years to put together such superlative systems.