USS Iowa (BB-61)

USS Iowa unleashes a broadside of nine 16-inch guns on 15 August 1984 during a firepower demonstration after her modernization
History
United States
Namesake	State of Iowa
Ordered	1 July 1939
Builder	New York Naval Yard
Laid down	27 June 1940
Launched	27 August 1942
Sponsored by	Ilo Wallace
Commissioned	22 February 1943
Decommissioned	24 March 1949
Recommissioned	25 August 1951
Decommissioned	24 February 1958
Recommissioned	28 April 1984
Decommissioned	26 October 1990
Stricken	17 March 2006
Identification	Hull symbol: BB-61
Motto	"Our Liberties We Prize, Our Rights We Will Maintain"
Nickname(s)	"The Big Stick" (1952), "The Grey Ghost" (Korean War), "The Battleship of Presidents"[1]
Honors and awards	11 battle stars
Fate	Museum ship
Status	On display at the Pacific Battleship Center at the Port of Los Angeles (33°44′32″N 118°16′38″W / 33.7423°N 118.2772°W / 33.7423; -118.2772)
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General characteristics
Class and type	Iowa-class battleship
Displacement	48,110 long tons (48,880 t) Standard 57,540 long tons (58,460 t) full load[2]
Length	887 ft 3 in (270.43 m)
Beam	108 ft 2 in (32.97 m)
Draft	37 ft 2 in (11.33 m) (full load)
Installed power	8 Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers 212,000 shp (158,088 kW)
Speed	33 knots (38 mph; 61 km/h)
Complement	151 officers, 2,637 enlisted (WWII)
Armament	1943: 9 × 16 in (406 mm)/50-caliber Mark 7 guns 20 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal Mark 12 guns 76 × 40 mm/56 cal anti-aircraft guns 52 × 20 mm/70 cal anti-aircraft guns 1984: 9 × 16 in (406 mm)/50-caliber Mark 7 guns 12 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal Mark 12 guns 32 × BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles 16 × RGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship missiles 4 × 20 mm/76 cal Phalanx CIWS
Armor	Belt: 12.1 in (307 mm) Bulkheads: 11.3 in (287 mm) Barbettes: 11.6 to 17.3 in (295 to 439 mm) Turrets: 19.5 in (495 mm) Decks: main 1.5 in (38 mm) second 6.0 in (152 mm)
Aircraft carried	floatplanes, helicopters, UAVs

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 Montana-class battleships, 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. She also served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Admiral William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.

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 (NVR) 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 non-profit 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.