Iowa is the first ship on its class; the ship was laid down on June 6 1940. The ship was built at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard; USS Iowa was the pride of its class.


Design

Iowa is the first ship of its class; the ship was laid down on June 6, 1940. The ship was built at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard; USS Iowa was the pride of its class. The ship saw service during world war 2 and the Korean war, the ship was finally decommissioned when a tragedy struck the ship.

Specifications of USS Iowa

Total displacement 57.540 tons, length 887ft, beam 108ft, draft 36ft

Armament

Main armament nine mark 7 guns placed in 3 triple turrets (Calibri 16 inches), secondary dual-purpose artillery 20 mark 12 guns in 10 coaxial mark 28 turrets (Calibri 5 inches), anti-aircraft armament: 19 quadruple Bofors 40mm guns, 52 20mm Oerlikon 2-4 auto-cannons.

Air group

3 Vought OS2U King Fisher floatplanes

Armor

The main armor belt was 12.1 inches, main turret 7.2-17 inches, conning tower 7.2-17.3 inches, Main armor deck 6-7 inches.

Power plant

Iowa has the most powerful power plant among battleships; she was powered by 4 geared turbine engines with 8 turbines produced by general electrics and 8 boilers produced by Babcock & Wilcox. The power was 212,000hp and propels the ship at a speed of 33 knots and had a cruising range of about 20,000 nautical miles at speeds of only 15 knots.

Combat History

The battleship was commissioned in 1943 its first mission is to go north naval intelligence in an attempt to block the German Tirpitz, the Americans felt that the Tirpitz may come in the North Atlantic. But the 2 heavyweight warriors never meet, then on their second mission on Oct 12, 1943, was to accompany Franklin Roosevelt across the North Atlantic to North Africa to visit Churchill and Stalin in the Tehran Conference. Roosevelt was on board the ship for 15 days with the 1st captain John McCrea’s little dog named Vicky, the captain brought one dog home one day but it was rejected by his wife, so he brings the dog to the ship. In 1944 Battleship Iowa joined the US navy’s 5th fleet operated in the Pacific Ocean, during that time US forces began landing into Japanese islands.

The Battleship provided fire support to landing troops and escort carriers from air raids and kamikazes in the Philippines. They were sent to Leyte Gulf to support the landing troops when they went in the wrong was chasing the Japanese carriers that are a decoy for the landing, they came a little too late to assist the Tin Cans on Leyte and Iowa missed that one big opportunity to make contact with the Yamato. Yamato was a formidable enemy for Yamato, combining powerful armament and impressive armor the ship was considered to be the biggest battleship in the world.

The 2 countries kept their battleships in distance because of the political risk of getting damaged in battles, the 2 ships never met in combat or even in visual. The Japanese simply don’t have the resources to build large quantities of ships, so their solution is simple to build large ships that can respond to any enemy ships at once. During the war the Japanese industries can only afford to build only 2 battleships, after the 2 Yamato class were built they simply stopped building battleships while the Shinano was converted into an aircraft carrier. Iowa was armed with 16 inches main battery while Yamato is armed with 18 inches because they broke the treaty, while Iowa having a better radar Iowa can fight in bad weather or at night. Yamato was sunk by US airmen with over 300 planes attacked and battered the ship, Yamato couldn’t resist 18 torpedo hits from its portside and beginning to list.

When the aircraft carrier becomes the symbol of the fleet, it made the battleship obsolete. Om August 29th, 1945 when the war is virtually over Iowa and her sister ship Missouri stood side by side and entered the Tokyo bay as part of the occupation forces, General Douglas McArthur was aboard Missouri to accept the final surrender of the Japanese empire. The signing must be on Iowa because it carried Franklin Roosevelt across the Atlantic, but McArthur was aboard Missouri, and also President Truman was from the state of Missouri so was the signing happens the fleet sailed under the golden gate bridge and the war was over. For her service during the war she earned 9 battle stars, in 1949 Iowa was decommissioned and joined the reserve fleet.

But after 2 years Iowa was recommissioned and sent on a mission to the coast of Korea, the battleship returned home with 2 more battle stars. 1958-1984 Iowa was kept in the reserve fleet, after modernization, the battleship was once put into service again. On 19 April 1989 the biggest tragedy that struck this ship occurred, the battleship was about 400m north of Puerto Rico. It was a training exercise when they loaded turret 2, rammed the powder, and when they’re about to close the breach when something happened. There was an explosion that rocked the ship and killed 47 men it was the biggest loss of life of this ship. When the ship was recovered from the tragedy the ship was again joined the reserve fleet, the USS Iowa was restored and was finally became a museum ship like its other ship.