I served on this ship from 87- 91 I remember this day like it was yesterday! My wife was there with our 1 year old daughter! I have so many photos of my wife Daughter and son coming on board every time we came home! Command Master Chief Ingram was such an awesome human being, when I reported to Norfolk for training he seemed to have a real passion for people and knowing I was married with children took me under his wing! Deck 3 rd division
The Iowa class battleships are my favorite warships of all time. I have to admit, they made a good fit in the U.S. Navy's 1980's Cold War-era fleet. But I am glad they are all museums now, all four of them, because they should be safe from harm today.
There is a lot of life left in them. They are dormant, not extinct. Deactivated, not demilitarized. They will probably not be reactivated. But if I were King I would take at least one of them and..............
My dads Old Ship BB64 the Wisky. He was around the world on her. He passed 2 years ago. H e watched this & cried. I know her better then the tour guides in Norfolk. She was a Machine.
My opinion? It was a purely political decision. The Iowa class was brought back in teh 1980s under the Reagan defense buildup. The reasoning was that in a fairly high percentage of cases, the battleship can do the same job as an aircraft carrier, and do it more cheaply. (Often the most important job we send carriers to do is "be a visible presence in a crisis zone." Also, it turns out that a majority of places that may actually require a strike are close enough to coasts as to be in striking range of the 16" guns.) BB's were cheaper than CVs because BBs had a smaller crew and don't need aircraft. The original plan was to keep them in service for about 25 years. It didn't turn out that way. When the 1990 defense drawdown began under Bush, the carriers were a target: The Navy insisted it needed 12 carriers. It was pointed out by many that the Navy could do the job with 8 carriers and the 4 BBs. This was not happy news to the Navy, considering the command structure is (and has been for decades) dominated by leadership that came up through aviation and carriers. And, of course, "H.W" Bush was a former carrier pilot. I am not exaggerating when I say that Naval orders to decommission the Iowa class came out from the Navy so fast that Congress didn't even have time to start some hearings it had planned to figure out the proper balance. The accident on the Iowa didn't help, but in perspective there had been far worse accidents on carriers over the years. So, yeah. It was a shame and a waste. Carriers are great ships, but the BB's are as well. They should not have been retired so quickly. At least that's my opinion.
I served as an SM, and the timing of the deployment seemed planned--they told us we were going on a Med cruise, but 3 days before our departure date, Kuwait happened. I think it was planned, and the political machinations, about which Navy Press does a pretty good job of telling the truth, combined with the fact that we were helping Kuwait slant-drill into Iraqi fields in order to provoke a military response, makes it clear. It was all politics.
I've been thinking about this for a while, but I think another reason for these ships being taken out so quickly was at the time, they probably had the Zumwalt class and Littoral Combat Ships already conceived, at least on classified paper. Therefore, the Navy at the time were confident that by the time the Iowas are completely removed from the Naval register, these "cheaper, more advanced" replacements would have begun to take their place. Of course, after tens of billions of dollars spent on two programs that faced delays and cancellations, it didn't quite turn out that way. Ironic, when you consider then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney stated "I'd love to keep the battleships, but I can't afford them". To be fair, we only know this now with the power of retrospective, but sometimes you can't help but wonder how they got away with that. To me, the success of the Iowas is measured by how they blend time-tested technologies with a level of adaptability that is rarely matched in today's (and possibly future) warships. I doubt the Iowas' designers in the 1930s ever imagined the ships being fitted with futuristic technology such as missiles and drones. Can you see the Zumwalt class or LCS achieving this kind of longevity?
I hope they recommission these. I can almost hear those old ships sitting there as museums now and their ship spirits saying "Bring my oil and shells aboard and food for my men, light my boilers and get them up, I smell trouble and another war, let me defend my country again and mother my men aboard".
still get a shiver down the spine and a sense of pride watching this video. just knowing we still have all four of these beauties is a great asset. i know they are ancient and i know they most likely will never sail again BUT who knows what the future holds. china is no joke and is a threat and these old girls off the coast of china would be a sight.
Whose to say we cant build them again..after all we still have all the detailed blueprints and training films of how to manufacture and operate them..how hard can it be to build brand new Montana or iowa class again...of course with even more modern upgrades than those in the 80s...China be warned
I was born too late to see any BBs in action - been fortunate enough to visit New Jersey a few times as a museum, though. These are paralyzingly beautiful ships - built like nothing else you’ll ever see. Testaments to human genius, written in steel.
BB, untouchable monsters that should never have been decommed. The old ways are in so many respects better than the new ways. But still a BB would be a hell of a boat with AEGIS, SPY, and a double set of VLS. Never mind the crazy things you can do with a 16 inch gun.
She didn’t even serve 3 years after being recommissioned. The Iowa class are all relatively “low mileage” ships. The Zumwalts were supposed to be their replacement but that hasn’t happened the way the Navy wanted. Our Marines have no NGFS if they have to go ashore in war. I hope we’ve got something to help an amphibious assault but there’s nothing quite like a battleship.
Typical American show pieces, it's all about show these things have never been in harms way. The US cares more about a stupid bloody ship than it does it's own people.
@@daveboydell2896 never been in harm's way? Are you dumb, deaf, or stupid. They where littarly the center of Japanese kamikaze attacks during ww2. And what's wrong with liking a ship, I can like a ship but that doesnt mean I'm brainwashed. Put your tinfoil hat back on.
I was there ! Thats my ship . My family was in the crowd and I was manning the rail with my shipmates. I was so proud and still I am , it was a great day God bless America
