USS Iowa (BB-61)
USS Iowa is a retired battleship, the lead ship of her class, and the fourth in the U.S. Navy to be named after the state of Iowa. During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a meeting of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran. 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. She was reactivated in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan and operated
About USS Iowa (BB-61) in brief
USS Iowa is a retired battleship, the lead ship of her class, and the fourth in the U.S. Navy to be named after the state of Iowa. During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a meeting of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran. 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. 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 its No. 2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors. 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. She is the last of the Montana-class battleships to have served in the Atlantic Ocean during World War Two, and was the only ship of its class to serve in the Pacific Ocean during that war. She has been named after Iowa’s first governor, George H.W. Bush, who was a member of the House of Representatives during the 1930s and 1940s.
The ship was named for Iowa’s second governor, William L. McCrea, who died in a plane crash in 1941. The Iowa was the first battleship to carry the name “Iowa” on its name, which was first used in the Navy’s flag designation of ships in the early 20th century. It is the only battleship in her class to have been involved in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. It was originally commissioned on 22 February 1943, but was initially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1995, before being reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of two Iowa-class Battleships. Iowa’s main battery consisted of nine 16-in 50 caliber Mark 7 guns, which could fire 2,700 lb armor-piercing shells 20 nmi away. She got underway for a shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast on 27 August for Argentia, Newfoundland, to counter a threat of the German battleship Tirpitz which was reportedly operating in Norwegian waters. In November 1943, Iowa carried President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Chief of Staff Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief. of Staff of the Army General George C. Marshall and Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King, Commanding General of the US Army Air Forces Henry “Hap” Arnold, Harry Hopkins, and other military leaders on the first leg of the journey to Tehran.
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This page is based on the article USS Iowa (BB-61) published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
