USS IOWA Off Los Angeles
The retired battleship USS IOWA, which served the United States during six decades at sea, continues its final voyage towards Los Angeles to become a museum. The IOWA was decommissioned in 1990 and sold to the nonprofit Pacific Battleship Center in May 2010.
The Navy insisted that the vessel should not proceed under her own power to Los Angeles, the contract forbade it, as the Navy did not want a ship of this power to be operational outside of its control. The Los Angeles Harbor Commission voted unanimously on May 17 to create a permanent home for the ship at the city’s port in San Pedro, where it will open to the public on July 7.
The ocean-going tug WARRIOR in the lead bringing the ship to an anchorage outside the harbor breakwater for hull cleaning, for two to four days.
At this writing the ship is about 55 miles due west* of the Port of Los Angeles.
See live tracking website: http://www.sanpedro.com/marine-traffic-maps/California-Marine-Traffic-Map-Large.htm
The preservation goal was to restore the 887-foot ship to its appearance when armed with contemporary weapons for its second commission in 1984, after spending some 26 years in mothballs in Suisun Bay’s “Ghost Fleet”.
Following the hull cleaning, the ship will be towed to a temporary berth in Port’s outer harbor before it is towed to Berth 87 on June 9th where it will be moored year-round between the Los Angeles Cruise terminal and the Los Angeles Maritime Museum
*an earlier version of the article incorrectly said “East of Los Angeles” which would have put the ship way inland!
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I watched her depart “Frisco” Bay from the Marin Headlands; as a crewmember from 1984 to ’87, although she was almost as nearly a powerful sight as she was in her active navy days (STILL missing her SPS-49 Radar Antenna, and the 9 black turret bucklers {the heavy blast covers where the gun barrels meet the turret} are nothing but black plastic fluttering in the wind), it was sad to see her go; however, we all know she will have a much more profitable life in San Pedro (vs. a blue stained city that couldn’t even save the NOSE of another of their historic ships, the Golden Bear). Welcome to your new home old gal! Fair winds and following seas at your new Homeport!
The USS New Jersey website has a discussion of what it took to reinstall those bucklers without the proper hoists, scaffolds, and tools. Luckily they had someone who had done it before in the service, but still not a task for the faint of heart. Interesting read.
I find the comment in the article that the Navy contract wouldn’t allow her to sail under her own power interesting. Is she capable of raising steam? I wouldn’t think that she would be.
Dave
The USS IOWA is now riding at anchor a very substantial distance off Long Beach, California. On Wednesday, May 30th, the s.s. LANE VICTORY will sail out to the site providing the rare opportunity of two WWII vintage ships meeting at sea. This is probably the last time a battleship will be out on the open ocean.
After looking at the other Battleships-New Jersey and Missouri both still have their propellers. If these ships are going to be museums, why don’t they remover the propellers-just as melted metal they are worth hundreds of thousands. Or are these ships still in the reserve fleet able to get under way within a few months?
Iowa was the last battleship in the reserve fleet, so now that she has been stricken none of the BB’s are available for re-activation. As far as the propellers, you may recall that it was a big deal to temporarily remove Intrepid’s due to heavy silting in her berth when she was moved for overhaul a couple of years ago, so lots of museum ships still do have them. On the other hand, Queen Mary had three of hers removed and the shafts sealed.
As I understand it, the groups that have them as museums are prohibited from making any changes that would prevent the Iowa’s (or North Carolina, Alabama and Massachusetts for that matter) from being reactivated. The Massachusetts people wanted to cut off her props when they dry-docked her several years back for better access to her bottom and the USN said no. They could remove them, but only if they properly unbolted them and properly preserved the shafts. Even when they make cuts in doors for ADA access, they have to make reversible cuts and store the cut steel onboard and they have to maintain full dehumidification in unopened areas.
now we only docked the state of IOWA In Los Angeles Harbor would make sense nice to see the battleship docked at the ports of LA gotta love it