The final voyage of the USS Iowa

The USS Iowa (BB-61) is on it's way to it's final berthing place. Commissioned in February 1943, she was the first ship of her class. Along with her sister ship, the USS New Jersey (BB-62), the USS Missouri (BB-63) , and the USS Wisconsin (BB-64). Originally there were to have been two more sister ships, the USS Illinois (BB-65), and the USS Kentucky (BB-66), which were actually supposed to be the first two ship of the Montana Class. The USS Montana (BB-67) and the USS Ohio (BB-68). The Iowa served in in WWII and Korea, being Decommissioned in 1958. The Iowa was reactivated during Presidents Ronald Reagan term to help bring the US Navy up to it's 600 ship goal, and to deal with the Soviet Union's Kirov Class Battlecruiser. With the explosion of her #2 turret in 1989, and the fall of the Soviet Union, the was Decommissioned once again and mothballed. There have been plans for many year to turn her into a museum ship. Well now those plans are fully underway.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

The Iowa in currently underway by tugboat, leaving San Francisco, she is on her way to the Port of Los Angeles, where she will be berthed.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons
The Iowa Firing her guns after her modernization under Reagan

Photo via Wikimedia Commons
This famous photo of the Iowa firing a full broadside from all of her 16" guns at the Puerto Rico Firing range. Notice the shockwave of her firing in the water.

The Iowa with her sister ships made history, in war and peace. Now they can live on as a teaching moments to everyone who visits her at her new home.