USS Iowa (BB-61): History, Patrols, Crews
Commissioning
The USS was the namesake of the Iowa class of “fast battleships.” She was the fourth U.S. Navy vessel named after the state of Iowa.
The contract to build the Iowa was awarded to the New York Naval Yard on July 1, 1939. Her keel was laid down on June 27, 1940; by the time she was launched on Aug. 27, 1942, the United States had already entered World War II. She was commissioned on Feb. 22, 1943, with Capt. John L. McCrea in command.
Underway
After a shakedown cruise in the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, the Iowa deployed to the waters off Newfoundland in August 1943 to protect convoys from possible attacks from the German battleship Tirpitz, which was operating in the waters off Norway. In early November, after two weeks in dry dock the Iowa received the assignment of carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Tehran summit to meet with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. To provide for the needs of the crippled president, a bathtub was installed; it was and remains the only bathtub installed in a U.S. Navy vessel. The Iowa successfully completed her mission on Dec. 16, with Roosevelt’s safe arrival in Iran.
In January 1944, the Iowa was designated as the flagship of Battleship Division 7 and was ordered to the Pacific Ocean. She headed to the Marshall Islands, where she supported air strikes against the Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls from Jan. 29 to Feb. 3. In mid-February, she took part in an anti-shipping operation around Truk in the Caroline Islands. On Feb. 21, she was attached to the Fast Carrier Task Force as it conducted air strikes against Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Guam in the Mariana Islands. When Japanese naval forces attempted to attack the task force, the Iowa aided in the sinking of the light cruiser Katori.
On March 18, the Iowa’s 16-inch guns shelled the Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. During the attack, she was hit twice by Japanese shells that caused minimal damage. She supported air strikes against the Palau Islands and Woleai in the Carolines chain in late March in early April, then supported air raids on Hollandia, Aitape and Wadke Islands and army units on Aitape, Tanahmerah and Humboldt Bays in New Guinea from April 22-28. She aided a second strike on Truk on April 29-30, then bombarded Japanese fortifications on Ponape in the Carolines on May 1.
As the U.S. prepared to invade the Marianas and Palau Island chains in June 1944, the Iowa was initially ordered to defend U.S. carriers. After serving in those role on June 12 during attacks on Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Rota and Pagan Island, she was ordered to bombard Japanese defenses on Saipan and Tinian on June 13-14. On June 19, the Iowa shot down three Japanese aircraft during four large enemy air raids against the U.S. fleet. The raids were repulsed with tremendous Japanese losses and the battle became known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
The Iowa remained in the area around the Marianas supporting air raids against Japanese targets in the Palaus and the invasion of Guam. On Sept. 17, she provided fire support for the American assault on Peleiu. After providing support for U.S. carriers carrying out air raids in the weeks leading up to the invasion of the Philippines, the Iowa was on station off the island of Leyte for the landings on Oct. 20.
As part of Task Force 38, the Iowa was part of the American fleet that intercepted Japanese Admiral Kurita’s task force as it steamed for the San Bernardino Strait. After inflicting severe damage to Kurita’s force and seeing it retreat, Admiral William F. Halsey ordered TF 38 northward to destroy a Japanese carrier battle group that was being used as a decoy. As the Iowa and the rest of the task force steamed north, Kurita’s group turned around and re-entered San Bernardino Strait, now lightly defended, on Oct. 25. The Iowa headed back to the strait before engaging the northern Japanese task force in combat, but returned after Kurita inexplicably retreated after facing valiant opposition from a small American group of destroyers and escort carriers. The Iowa would remain in the area for another six weeks, supporting air strikes on Luzon and Formosa, before heading back to the west coast of the United States in December 1944.
Before reaching the U.S., however, the Iowa was struck by Typhoon Cobra on Dec. 18, 1944. The Iowa, along with the rest of TF 38, was 300 miles east of the Philippine Island of Luzon when the storm hit. Three destroyers were lost and nearly 800 men were killed as a result of the storm, but the Iowa suffered no casualties. She did, however, suffer significant damage that required repair at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard.
After two months in dry dock, the Iowa set sail for Okinawa on March 19, 1945. She arrived on April 15 and immediately began supporting air operations against Japanese forces on the island. Once American control of Okinawa was assured, the Iowa sailed towards the Japanese home islands, bombarding targets in the city of Muroran on Hokkaido Island on July 14 and 15. Her 16-inch guns were fired at the city of Hitachi on Honshu Island on July 17-18, and on July 29-30, she would open fire on Kahoolawe. The Iowa would remain in the waters near Japan through the cessation of hostilities on Aug. 15.
On Aug. 27, the Iowa and the USS Missouri entered Sagami Bay to supervise the surrender of the Yokosuka Naval District. Two days later, she entered Tokyo Bay, where she served as a temporary housing facility for some of the crew of the Missouri displaced by the official surrender ceremony. The Iowa served as Admiral Halsey’s flag ship during the surrender, which was held on Sept. 2, 1945. She remained in Tokyo Bay until Sept. 20, when she began a voyage back to the U.S. filled with GIs and liberated prisoners of war as part of Operation Magic Carpet.
The Iowa arrived back on the west coast on Oct. 15, 1945. She returned to Japan in 1946 to serve as the flagship of the Fifth Fleet, but as the armed forces rapidly downsized, it appeared her operational days were numbered. She was decommissioned and entered the Navy reserve on March 24, 1949.
The Iowa’s retirement was cut in 1951, after communist North Korea invaded South Korea. The Iowa was formally recommissioned on Aug. 25, 1951 and sailed for the waters off the Korean peninsula in March of the next year. When she arrived on April 1, the Iowa became the flagship of the Seventh Fleet. A week later, she took part in her first offensive action of the Korean War, attacking North Korean supply lines near Wonsan and Songjin. A day later, she attacked North Korean troop positions, supply bases and gun positions near Kojo and Suwon Dan.
On April 13, the Iowa shelled North Korean positions once again, killing 100 enemy soldiers and destroying several gun positions and a division headquarters. A day later, she entered Wonsan Harbor and destroyed several warehouses, observation posts and railyards. On April 20, she operated above the 38th parallel for the first time, striking rail lines at Tanchon. She then sailed to Chindong and Kosong and targeted positions there during a two-day bombardment.
On May 25, the Iowa shelled the North Korean city of Chongjin, striking factories and rail centers. After striking Songjin a second time, the Iowa returned to Wonsan Harbor to take part in fire missions on May 28, 1952. Throughout June, the Iowa sailed up and down the Korean coast without opposition, attacking targets on both sides of the 38th parallel. On Aug. 20, the Iowa came to the aid of the crippled destroyer USS Thompson after it was hit by Chinese artillery while shelling enemy positions near Songjin. The Iowa took aboard a number of wounded sailors from the Thompson, then provided fire support as the destroyer left the area. On Sept. 23, the Iowa shelled and destroyed an enemy ammunition dump near Wonsan while Gen. Mark Clark, the Commander-in-Chief of United Nations forces in Korea, was aboard. Two days later, the Iowa’s guns destroyed an enemy rail line and a 30-car supply train.
After the Korean War ended, the Iowa remained on active duty for another five years, serving largely in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. She was deactivated a second time on Feb. 24, 1958, and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia.
The Iowa would remain inactive for more than a quarter-century until President Ronald Reagan ordered her reactivation in 1982 as part of a massive expansion of the Navy. She was towed to the Avondale Shipyard in Louisiana for a massive refitting and modernization. The Iowa was later moved to Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Miss., for the installation of new weapons systems. These included 16 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 32 Tomahawk cruise missiles and the Phalanx close-in anti-aircraft Gatling Gun system. The Iowa was recommissioned on April 28, 1984, after a refurbishment that cost $500 million.
In spite of skipping its in-service inspection (which it later failed), the Iowa returned to active duty and began taking part in exercises with NATO and other U.S. allies. On July 4, 1986, the Iowa played host to President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan during the International Naval Review, held in the Hudson River. In August, the Iowa took part in a simulated amphibious assault during a NATO exercise in Scotland and fired 19 16-inch shells and 32 five-inch shells over a period of 10 hours. In December, the Iowa served as the testbed for the Navy’s new RQ-2 Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, a drone intended to serve as an aerial spotter for the ship’s guns. The Pioneer was found to perform acceptably and went into active service on the Iowa the same month.
In November 1987, the Iowa was deployed to the Persian gulf as part of Operation Earnest Will, the re-flagging of Kuwaiti oil tankers that had been attacked by Iranian ships. The Iowa would escort the tankers, now flying U.S. flags, through the Persian Gulf until mid-February 1988. On Jan. 20 1989, she fired a 16-inch shell 23.4 nautical miles (27 miles), a record for the longest distance traveled by a 16-inch shell.
On April 19, 1989, the Iowa suffered an explosion in the Number Two 16-inch gun turret during an exercise, killing 47 sailors. The investigation into the incident, which remains the largest peacetime loss of life in U.S. Navy history, initially placed blame for the explosion on one of the those killed, Clayton Hartwig. The initial investigation claimed Hartwig caused the blast as part of a planned suicide after a homosexual affair with another sailor soured. That analysis caused a tremendous uproar, however, and the investigation was reopened in October 1991. The second investigation discounted an intentional act of sabotage and instead placed blame for the explosion on an accidental explosion of gunpowder. The gunpowder in question had been milled in the 1930s, well before the Iowa was first commissioned.
Decommissioning
The Iowa was decommissioned once more on Oct. 26, 1990, largely as a result of the April 1989 explosion. She was berthed at the Naval Education and Training Center in Newport, Calif. From 1998 to March 2001, when she was moved to Suisun near San Francisco. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in January 1995, but reinstated the next year after an act of Congress required that two Iowa-class battleships be maintained in reserve at all times.
In spite of her reserve status, plans have been in the works for several years to make the Iowa into a floating museum. It was originally believed she would be ported at San Francisco, but that’s city’s council ordered its removal from the city on an 8-3 vote in 2005. Several other California cities, including Vallejo –home of the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard–and Stockton have lobbied to be the new home port for the Iowa. In late 2007, the Navy selected Vallejo as the Iowa’s next home base.
On March 17, 2006, the Iowa was struck once more from the Naval Vessel Register, but Congress remains interested in her fate. Later in 2006, the National Defense Authorization Act stated the Iowa could be used as a museum ship, but required that she be “kept and maintained in a state of readiness” in case she is called upon once more to add to her tally of nine battle stars from World War II and two from the Korean War.
Characteristics of the USS Iowa (Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):
Class and type: Iowa-class battleship
Displacement: 45,000 tons (45,722 tonnes)
Length: 887 ft 3 in (270 m)
Beam: 108 ft 2 in (32.9 m)
Draft: 37 ft 2 in (11.3 m)
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Complement: 151 officers, 2637 enlisted
Armament: 1943:
9 x 16 in (406 mm) 50 cal. Mark 7 guns
20 × 5 in (127 mm) 38 cal. Mark 12 guns
80 x 40 mm 56 cal. anti-aircraft guns
49 x 20 mm 70 cal. anti-aircraft guns
1984:
9 x 16 in (406 mm) 50 cal. Mark 7 guns
12 × 5 in (127 mm) 38 cal. Mark 12 guns
32 x BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles
16 x RGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship missiles
4 x 20 mm/76 cal. Phalanx CIWS
Armor: Belt: 12.1 in (307 mm)
Bulkheads: 11.3 in (287 mm)
Barbettes: 11.6 to 17.3 in (295 to 439 mm)
Turrets: 19.7 in (500 mm)
Decks: 7.5 in (190 mm)
Aircraft carried: floatplanes, helicopters, UAVs
Aviation facilities: none
Career:
Ordered: 1 July 1939
Builder: New York Naval Yard
Laid down: 27 June 1940
Launched: 27 August 1942
Commissioned: 22 February 1943
Decommissioned: 26 October 1990
Struck: 17 March 2006
Nickname: “The Big Stick”
Honors and awards: 11 battle stars
Status: National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay
Notes: Last lead ship of any class of US battleship, only US Navy ship to have a bathtub
Timeline:
July 1939: USS Iowa ordered
June 1940: Keel of USS Iowa laid down
August 1942: USS Iowa launched
February 1943: USS Iowa commissioned
November 1943: USS Iowa carries President Roosevelt to Tehran Conference
January 1944: USS Iowa takes part in first combat action
October 1944: USS Iowa supports U.S. invasion of the Philippines
July 1945: USS Iowa shells Japanese home islands
August 1945: USS Iowa enters Tokyo Bay to enforce Japanese surrender
March 1949: USS Iowa decommissioned
August1951: USS Iowa recommissioned
April 1952: USS Iowa takes part in first combat operations in Korea
February 1958: USS Iowa decommissioned
April 1984: USS Iowa recommissioned after $500 million overhaul and upgrade
1987—88: USS Iowa deployed to Persian Gulf as part of Operation Earnest Will
April 1989: USS Iowa suffers explosion in Number Two 16-inch gun battery, killing 47 sailors
October 1990: USS Iowa decommissioned for a third time
Crewmembers of the USS Iowa:
An unofficial list of crew members that served on the USS Iowa can be found on the unofficial navy website at: http://navysite.de. This list is compiled by former crewmembers that voluntarily register. Some quoted comments from former crewmembers are listed below; many more are available on the source website at the following Web address:
http://www.navysite.de/crewlist/commandlist.php?commandid=62
Richard Padgett (served December 1988—November 1990): “Awesome ship, lots of hard work, fantastic crew, would love to do another tour aboard this great ship.”
Lloyd Rose (served December 1988—November 1990): “There were a lot of good crewmen who blessed her decks. We enjoyed our Battleship status. We had pride, and were the pride.”
Darin Brimer (served January 1989—November 1990): “OUT OF 5 SHIPS I SERVED ON, THIS WAS BY FAR THE GOLD STANDARD. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN PRUOD TO SAY I SERVED ON AND RE-ENLISTED MY FIRST TIME ONBOARD HER.”
Links:
http://www.ussiowa.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_(BB-61)
