USA: American battleship the USS Iowa, which saw glory during WWII and the Korean War, and tragedy in the late 1980's, arrives in Los Angeles where it will be converted in to a museum

Record ID: 593340

  • Title: USA: American battleship the USS Iowa, which saw glory during WWII and the Korean War, and tragedy in the late 1980's, arrives in Los Angeles where it will be converted in to a museum
  • Date: 31st May 2012
  • Summary: AT SEA NEAR LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MAY 30, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF USS IOWA OFF COAST OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA VARIOUS OF BATTLESHIP (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAVID WAY, MUSEUM CURATOR WITH PACIFIC BATTLESHIP GROUP, SAYING: "The Iowa was the lead ship of four battleships. These are considered to be the finest warships probably ever built with their combination of firepower, speed and also their survivability, their great armor on board." USS IOWA AT SEA VETERANS WHO SERVED ON USS IOWA POSING FOR PICTURES IN FRONT OF BATTLESHIP (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAVID WAY, MUSEUM CURATOR WITH PACIFIC BATTLESHIP GROUP, SAYING: "Her first assignment was to go out into the Atlantic and guard the convoy lanes against a break out of German Nazi battleship Tirpitz. She then when back to the United States and was modified to be able to transport President Roosevelt and his staff to the Tehran conference to be with Stalin, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek and they had a lot of discussions about the continuing World War II, what was going to take place and also the post World War II world order, how that was going to unfold." VETERANS WHO SERVED ON USS IOWA POSING FOR PICTURES IN FRONT OF BATTLESHIP (SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD "DICK" BLAIR, SAYING: "It was like, coming out here, I didn't think I'd cry but as I got closer, I didn't realize how big it was and what I was going to get to. I spent my 19th birthday in Wonsan Harbor, North Korea and we were on a firing mission at that time and that's what we did." BATTLESHIP AT SEA (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAVID WAY, MUSEUM CURATOR WITH PACIFIC BATTLESHIP GROUP, SAYING: "Out of the 49 battleships over a century that America produced, Iowa is one of the eight survivors. There are very few battleships left in the world, let alone the eight in America."
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Conflict,History,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA59ZK9NF6LHJRN9MKX8M6U2GRH
  • Story Text: The 887-foot (270 meters) long battleship, USS Iowa, arrived Wednesday (May 30) off the coast of Los Angeles. After its four day sail from the San Francisco Bay, its final voyage, it will be permanently berthed and converted into a museum.
    The 45,000-ton ship -- nicknamed "The Big Stick" because of its long, slender hull -- will remain anchored about six miles offshore to undergo a routine cleaning of its hull before it is brought into the port. The Iowa was escorted down the coast of California at rate of about 6 miles per hour (10 kph), a fraction of the 38 mph (61 kph) it could make in its heyday.
    The ship, now in the possession of nonprofit Pacific Battleship Center, will take up permanent residence at Berth 87, where a grand opening is set for July 7.
    Construction of the ship, which took about two years, began in 1940, and the Iowa was the first of four in its class completed. The ship was launched on August 27, 1942 from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, with U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in attendance.
    The Iowa would later serve in the Pacific Fleet, shelling beachheads in the Marshall Islands. The ship was at the battle of Okinawa and was among the first to enter Tokyo Bay after Japan's surrender.
    David Way, a curator with the Pacific Battleship Center, talked about the Iowa's first orders.
    "Her first assignment was to go out into the Atlantic and guard the convoy lanes against a break out of German Nazi battleship Tirpitz. She then when back to the United States and was modified to be able to transport President Roosevelt and his staff to the Tehran conference to be with Stalin, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek and they had a lot of discussions about the continuing WWII, what was going to take place and also the post WWII world order, how that was going to unfold."
    The Iowa carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his top military advisers to Casablanca en route to the 1943 Tehran Conference.
    In 1989, during a training mission off Puerto Rico, the 16-inch gun in Turret No. 2 exploded, killing 47 sailors, and the ship was decommissioned the next year.
    The nonprofit Pacifica Battleship Center raised about $9 million to move and restore the ship, including $3 million from the state of Iowa. The group took out another $5 million in loans and raised the rest through donations and pro bono work.
    Navy veterans who served on the World War II-era battleship are scheduled to hold a reunion in San Pedro over the Fourth of July holiday in conjunction with the grand opening of the ship's reincarnation as a floating museum.
    All three of its sister ships, USS Missouri, USS Wisconsin and the USS New Jersey are also now museums.
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