USS IOWA: The Best and Last
– C.C. Hoffman
Eighty-five years ago on July 1st (1939), a historic order was placed by the United States. The Navy officially began production of the Iowa Class battleships.
The Iowa Class was to become not only the most advanced battleship design in the world, but also the last battleships to be built by the United States and (except for the British HMS Vanguard – completed in 1946 and decommissioned 10 years later) the rest of the world. Further, the USS Missouri, one of 4 Iowa Class ships, was the last operational battleship in the world (decommissioned in 1992).
The Iowa Class is often thought of as being a response to the needs of World War II. The truth is more complicated as Congress actually ordered the building of the USS Iowa two months prior to the beginning of the war. And of course this didn’t happen overnight. As we are familiar, it takes months and/or years for plans to be approved, budgets developed, and agreements to be made. The beginning of the Iowa Class was actually in 1922 – a response to World War I.
According to Kit and Carolyn Bonner (USS Iowa at War, 2007), the Allies of WWI began the process of arms agreements in 1922 in an effort to equalize naval power around the world and slow the type of aggression that had precipitated the just-ended war. Of course most of the signatories of that treaty (including Japan), began violating it before the ink dried. The need to keep the building of battleships and other naval assets secret at least slowed construction and gave the Allies a chance to recover from WWI (the UK, for example, had been on the brink of bankruptcy).
By the 1930s, however, things were starting to heat up on the world stage. The U.S. began to plan for a new class of battleship at this time. The US Navy approved the plan to develop a class of fast battleship, and in April of 1938, the Iowa Class design won approval. After another year of modifications and budgeting, the order was placed July 1, 1939 for six of the 58,000 ton ships. The USS Iowa would be the first built, and by custom, the class of ship was named after the first example to be completed. Aside from the USS Iowa, the order called for the completion of the USS Missouri, USS New Jersey, USS Wisconsin, USS Illinois, and USS Kentucky. Only the first four of that list would actually be finished. The Illinois and Kentucky hulls were laid, but never completed.
The USS Iowa was commissioned on February 22, 1943. She was considered the best battleship ever built according to the Bonners (2007): “Naval architects, historians, and officers from all navies who have had the opportunity to visit these ships agree on a single tenet: that the Iowa class was the best ever built, and possessed an unmatched combination of great offensive fire power, excellent armor protection, and unbelievable speed.”
The Iowa had her shakedown cruise in February of 1943 along the coast of Maryland. Later that year in August, she was tasked with patrolling the eastern seaboard of the United States up to Newfoundland. Germany submarines had been sighted in Norwegian waters around Greenland, and a watch was needed. She returned to port in late October for maintenance and was then dispatched to carry President Roosevelt on the first leg of his journey to the Cairo and Tehran Conferences.
The Iowa was then assigned as the flagship of Battleship Division 7 and deployed to the Pacific. Here she, and her sister ship the New Jersey sank her first enemy, the Japanese light cruiser Katori. She and Task Force 38 spent the next two years in the South Pacific battling various Japanese attacks and participating in planned attacks from Guam, to the Philippines, and even Okinawa. She was also caught in Typhoon Cobra on December 18, 1944. During the storm, Three destroyers — Hull, Monaghan, and Spence — capsized and sank with nearly all hands, while a cruiser, five aircraft carriers, and three destroyers suffered serious damage. Approximately 790 officers and men were lost or killed, with another 80 injured. The Iowa reported no lost sailors and only damage to one shaft and the loss of a float plane that had been swept overboard. The Iowa also participated in the bombardment of Japan in 1945, and was with the USS Missouri when Japan formally surrendered.
After WWII, the Iowa was involved in the Korean Conflict, spending months bombarding North Korea. After hostilities ceased, she participated in various training exercises and was decommissioned in 1958, entering the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in Philadelphia.
The Iowa was recommissioned in 1982 as part of Reagan’s Naval Expansion plan. Refitted with modern equipment and new weaponry, she spent the next several years engaging in NATO exercises and even crossed into the Artic Circle for the first time. After failing an inspection in 1985, she was almost retired, but narrowly avoided that fate and was brought back to full functionality. In 1986, for the second time in her history, the USS Iowa carried an American President. President Reagan and wife Nancy boarded the USS Iowa on July 4 for the International Naval Review in the Hudson River. Later that year, she was the test platform for new technology being looked at by the military: The RQ2 Pioneer UAV. This is an early look at drones and how they would come to be used.
On April 19, 1989, the USS Iowa suffered a catastrophic explosion in one of the gunnery turrets. Forty-seven sailors were killed, and the damage was extensive. Eventually it was determined that the explosion was caused by faulty powder and an accidental ignition. Because of this damage and the decline of the Soviet Union, the USS Iowa was decommissioned for the final time on October 29, 1990. She served in the mothball fleet until 2006, when the Secretary of the Navy ordered her removal (Congress however still ordered that the Iowa be maintained in case she would be needed in the future). Over the next few years various plans were offered to make the USS Iowa a museum ship. Finally, in 2010, the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commissioners voted unanimously on a resolution to support Berth 87 as the future home of USS Iowa, clearing the way for The Pacific Battleship Center to send its completed application to the Navy. On September 6, 2011, USS Iowa was awarded to Pacific Battleship Center for placement at the Port of Los Angeles. After rehabilitation at the Port of Richmond, California (beginning in October 2011), she was towed to and eventually berthed in the Port of Los Angeles.
Tours of the battleship began in late 2011, and in 2012, the ship was officially donated to The Pacific Battleship Center. As an added bonus, anyone possessing a valid State of Iowa ID gains admission to the battleship tour for free!
