I have to admit, I've had this ship on my bucket list for over 40 years now, and I promised myself we weren't leaving So Cal without a visit, even it it was a 2-hour drive through traffic, to Long Beach, north of Mission Bay RV Park. There is so much history attached to this ship. And, by chance, coincidence, and another tour booking screw-up, we again got a personal guided tour of the ship, escorted by "Battleship Larry", who had been a docent there for more than 6 years, and had actually served aboard Iowa's sister-ship, the USS Missouri, now berthed in Oahu, Hawaii.
So, here are a few pix, many from "behind the chain" to off-limit areas, thanks to Battleship Larry. First, a picture of Larry himself:
I took 70 pictures, so sort of impossible to show you all of them here. I'll post a few to give you a feel for what a tour might be like aboard USS Iowa, then post a link at the end so you can look up the very impressive stats on this ship.
Remember, it has three main gun turrets, each containing (3), 16-inch guns, each turret requiring 79 sailors to operate it during battle stations, and each gun capable of hurling a 2,000 pound projectile 17 miles or so. That's like launching a Volkswagen Beatle through the air ... Oh, and then it takes about one and a half minutes to come down, on target! ... Pretty dang impressive, hey?
The ship is also called the "ship of Presidents", as many have visited including Franklin D. Roosevelt. A plaque in the Admiral's quarters along with pictures commemorate the visit.
There are so many different types of armament on this ship to list, so, if interested, go to the link at the end of this blog and look at the stats. One of the most formidable are the Phalanx anti-cruise missile defense systems, affectionately named R2D2 due to their shape. 6 rotating barrels, 20mm caliber, capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute. Holy guacamole, hey?
There are rocket launchers, torpedo launchers and much to much to show here, so check out the links below to all the pictures online, as well as a link to the ship's statistics. Have fun poking around here ... history at your finger tips! One more quick pix of a 1,500 pound projectile, placed in the barrel with hydraulics, followed by four, 100-pound bags of pelletized powder.
Yes, a big kaboom these guns made!
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