The USS Iowa had an admirable track record in battle. It turned out to be a flexible ship. It was also resilient enough to sustain damage and carry on steaming.
Do not Mess With the “Big Stick,” USS Iowa The USS Iowa battleship, sometimes known as the “Big Stick,” got its nickname for performing valiantly and earning 11 battle stars during World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War. Iowa supported amphibious landings, assisted aircraft carriers, and destroyed enemy positions with powerful cannons. Even at the Japanese surrender ceremony ending World War Two, it followed the USS Missouri.
The captain of the class was Iowa. The 45,000-ton battleship was constructed and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard in 1943. Franklin D. Roosevelt travelled to and from the Casablanca Conference in Morocco in 1943 on Iowa, a ship that American presidents frequently used.
The next stop for the Japanese was the ocean. The Marshall, Mariana, and Okinawa campaigns and engagements in the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf all involved Iowa. Hokkaido and Honshu, the two islands that make up Japan, was also shelled. Throughout the Pacific War, Iowa attacked several islands. Later, in 1945, it helped with carrier operations.
Iowa was decommissioned in 1949, but it was quickly reactivated when the need for more fighting arose. It reappeared two years later during the Korean War and later served as the Seventh Fleet’s flagship. After that, it made voyages off the coast of Europe until 1958, when it was again retired. Iowa, on the other hand, was not finished. In order to oversee the Soviet Union’s fall during the last stages of the Cold War, it was brought out of retirement in 1984 with upgraded weaponry. In 1990, the battleship was taken out of service.
Over 3,000 sailors were aboard Iowa. Thanks to its four engines and four propellers, it produced 212,000 horsepower and 33 knots of speed. It had 20 five-inch cannons and nine 16-inch guns.
It sank the light cruiser Katori off the island of Truk in 1944 during World War Two, while two Japanese rounds struck it in March 1944. The second turret was destroyed by a 6-inch bullet, while a 5-inch round damaged the hull. However, because the enemy attack only did minor damage, Iowa could recover. Later, it retaliated against Kamikaze raids by destroying several Japanese aircraft.
During the Korean War, the 887-foot battleship threatened enemy land positions. It helped the ground forces and obstructed the North Koreans’ supply routes. Also, it shielded aircraft carriers. It participated in several European missions after the war until it decommissioned in 1958.
Iowa transformed into a sophisticated missile carrier in 1984, having four Phalanx close-in weapon systems, thirty-two Tomahawk cruise missiles, and sixteen Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The ship retained its nine 16-inch guns. It conducted patrols in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean in the following years. In 1989, Iowa suffered a string of misfortunes when an explosion caused the second 16-inch gun turret to catch fire. Forty-seven sailors perished in this accident. Iowa continued to patrol despite the damage until its final retirement in 1990.
Iowa had a sterling battle history. It turned out to be a flexible ship. It was also resilient enough to sustain damage and carry on steaming. After World War Two, the aircraft carrier surpassed the battleship in prominence. However, Iowa and her sister ships successfully adapted to a more contemporary duty after receiving missiles in the 1980s. Later, Iowa was converted into a museum ship with a home port in San Pedro, California, and will always be associated with the Hawkeye state.
