USS Iowa Battleship

A bow view of the battleship USS IOWA (BB-61) firing its Mark 7 16-inch/50-caliber guns
off the starboard side during a fire power demonstration.

Arrived in Long Beach. 

While getting the ground work started to receive the TBM, I had a chance to go and check out the USS Iowa,

USSA Iowa is USA World War 2, Korean War and Cold War battleship, which is docked at the harbor here.




 

Iowa fires a full broadside of nine 16-inch (410 mm)/50-caliber and six 5-inch (130 mm)/38 cal guns during a
target exercise near Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, on 1 July 1984. Shock waves are visible in the water.

During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a meeting of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain and Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union.

Here are pictures I took today in the stateroom and Captain's cabin, which is where President Roosevelt stayed and slept for 2 weeks on the trip to Algeria.

Here to the right is the ship's mascot, Vickey, short for Victory.

Vickey stayed with President Roosevelt during the entire voyage.

Panoramic of Captain's state room, which was part of a suite where President Roosevelt stayed.

When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, Iowa shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. She also served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Adm. William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.

Iowa in the Pacific; Indiana can be seen in the distance.

Missouri (left) transfers personnel to Iowa in advance of the surrender ceremony planned for 2 September.



Today - Guns 1 and 2

Today - Gun 1

 
 

All 16 inchs at the muzzle - note the deep rifling twist

5 inch guns, mainly used for anti-aircraft defense

Inside a 5 inch gun battery

View from the underside hatch at the number 3 main guns

View inside the underside hatch at the number 3 main guns

Above: Super close up view inside the underside hatch at the number 3 main guns

Below: Video of the Conning Tower,
protected by 18 inch solid steel





This is a view straight down a vertical delivery shaft. Note the powder charge on the upper left. 
6 eighteen inch long charges were loaded for each shell fired. 
Maximum effective distance was over the sight horizon of 25 miles.