USS Iowa Escapes Mothballs 

Thank you for this video. I am in it (on the bow under the jack with the Bos'n) We raised that flag at the Suisun Auto Pier after day one of the tow. The Bos'n and I were just a couple of the veterans who were aboard that day. I cried when I saw this just remembering the emotion of that day. I Served on IOWA from 1987 to 1989, and now work for the museum. Being part of her rescue and transition has been an amazing journey and quite a blessing for me and my family.

So glad as a Iowan to see that great ship become a museum that people can visit is awsome! Long live the USS IOWA!

What a fine example to be a museum ship. If only the ship could talk. Many wars fought. Most of them resulted in victory. The past crew members should be proud.

I've been watching this grand old ship sit and rust there in mothballs for a long time. I'm sad to see her go, but I'm glad she will finally be restored and put on display, even if it isn't here in the Bay Area. Thanks for posting this and bon voyage USS Iowa!

I was aboard one of the tractor tugs that took her into mothballs, then ten years later I was aboard IOWA as she left Suisun Bay, as seen in this video. 5:21 & 6:37

This is outstanding, Alicia, really captures the flavor of our day, the excitement too - especially enthralling that you got those close-ups going under the last bridge in particular. WOW, beautiful job!

The Iowa's were going to be replaced my the Montana Class but it never happened so Wisconsin was the last Battleship built. She has also been put back on the register, which is why you can only go on the weather decks where she is mored in Virginia. I am not sure if Iowa has been added back on as well or even removed in the first place.

..."well they got it in here..." With a few thousand crew and supply, entirely changing buoyancy

As someone who lives in Iowa, I wish our state was on the coast so she could come to the state she's named after, but I am happy she will finally be a museum to be appreciated by many instead of a ship that sits in the Mothball fleet to only be seen by few. She is, after all, the ship that carried FDR to Casablanca so he could go to Tehran in 1943, not to mention her substantial Pacific involvement during WWII and her involvement during Korea, plus the explosion in the #2 gun turret.

Iowa escapes being sunk!

Tres,belles images.

See you in LA ,..USS Iowa, ganna miss you here in Benicia. Always wanted to see you up close here, every time I drive along I680. I hope you have a better place in LA compare to just sitting in Suisun Bay.

@USSWISCONSIN64 Joe says that there was only a few inches to spare in the Panama.

Last time is visited the Iowa, the memorial to those killed in Turret No. 2 was inadequate.

I read some history on this. She was the first of the class, and the last class of American battleships. What's strange is that I haven't read anywhere that Iowa was officially stricken off the navy list. It would've been cool if she made her final stop at either Sioux City or Davenport. I believe Iowa battleships were the largest American battleships to fit through the Panama Canal. At some point, they were to be succeeded by Dakota-class, but that never came to fruition.

Yes, that would have been awesome. But he was very comfortable under the care of the Bay View Charter captains. They brought him some top-shelf Scotch that I bet they didn't have onboard the old battlewagon! LOL

@MrMsJAR Thank you!

@xdiesel76 Hahaha but would there be enough room for it to turn around

i think the final stop for the uss iowa should be dubuque iowa its right on the river and we have plenty of places for it

@Drewster327 Got a pic of one from the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. It was a WWII Navy airplane. WWII plane club pilots flew strafing runs, and volunteers helped with the O'Brien guns, as if they could really fire on the planes. What a grand experience! Fleet week aboard her was a blast too - literally! Wowee! You can see it if you are on FB. Look for their page. You will see recent posts from me there, one with a pic of the Navy plane. Enjoy!

@Drewster327 P51s were used in Europe and wild cats later replaced by hell cats were in the pacific. So it would be more of a hell cat over it.

Ah so that's what the new class was originally called. I think I remember seeing schematics for the Montana battleships. Not only was this class going to be larger, but it would've added one more aft turret making a total of 12 guns altogether. Of course the reason it never came to fruition was because carrier power took over as kings of the sea rendering battleships obsolete. The Battle of TenGo was proof of that.

Whether it's true or not I heard a story that ther was an agreement that 2of those ships were to be kept in ready conditions so they could be called back into service

i was thinking the same thing

@xdiesel76 Itd have to be pulled by a tug boat and the locks might notorious be deep/wide enough

@nvrsummer2 Hopefully we will see you down there soon! Maybe we will be like railfans and follow along the coast, hoping for good views! Or maybe we will just head to San Pedro and wait for her there!

@buidseach She was tugged to Mothballs and will be tugged to San Pedro. I don't think she runs anymore... but we will have a chance to meet some of the volunteers working on her soon, so I will ask!

Where did she go from here and what happened next?

Where is she docked now. I am only aware of where one of the Iowa Class ships is docked and that's BB 62.

What a sight, too bad that plane flying over wasn't a P51 or WWII aircraft, that would have been pretty awsome

i am sure they could have, if the Navy had bothered, tracked down members of her last crew. or at least the crews who commanded and ran her back in '91

IOWA is in outstanding condition. The exterior cosmetics are meaningless. She can. And should. Be reactivated.

They need to reactivate and deploy these fine warships they should never be allowed to sit idol!!

Hopefully she will comeback. I know the Marine Corp lobbies for her. Since the 5 inch gjn on todays ship are a joke and do nothing to help them for beach invasions.

these ships were obsolete the day they were launched. Aircraft sink huge ships, not other big ships that make for slow, easy targets for aircraft. The German 'Bismark' was done in by Englands relic bi-planes dropping torpedoes. once they got done with her fritz and his expensive ship could only go in circles till they sank the cursed thing. Yamato died in a kamikaze sail but made easy target practice for the US dive bombers that day. Japan fared better building Toyota's and Honda's which sank GM and rest of the US car biz for decades.

Ino ringht the iowas 16 inch guns and her sister ships can sink all carier fleets combined