USS Iowa (BB-61)
Service
- 22 February 1943 — 26 October 1990923 days of the war
- Name
- USS Iowa
- Pennant / hull number
- BB-61
- Namesake
- State of Iowa
- Builder
- New York Naval Yard
- Ordered
- 1 July 1939
- Laid down
- 27 June 1940
- Launched
- 27 August 1942
- Commissioned
- 22 February 1943
- Decommissioned
- 24 March 1949
- Recommissioned
- 25 August 1951
- Struck
- 17 March 2006
- Fate
- Museum ship
- Status
- Preserved
Specifications
- Displacement, standard
- 48,110 long tons (48,882 t)
- Displacement, full load
- 57,540 long tons (58,463 t)
- Length
- 270.36 m (887 ft)
- Beam
- 32.92 m (108 ft)
- Draught
- 11.28 m (37 ft)
- Speed
- 33 knots (61.1 km/h, 38 mph)
- Complement
- 2,788
- Main gun
- 406 mm (16 in)
Iowa, the 29th state, was admitted to the Union, 28 December 1846, and was named for a Sioux Indian tribe that originally inhabited the Missouri Territory.
The third Iowa (BB-61) was laid down at New York. Navy Yard, 27 June 1940; launched 27 August 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Henry A. Wallace, wife of Vice President Wallace, and commissioned 22 February 1943, Capt. John L. McCrea in command.
On 24 February, Iowa put to sea for shakedown in Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. She got underway, 27 August for Argentia, Newfoundland to neutralize the threat of German Battleship Tirpitz which was reportedly operating in Norwegian waters.
Continue to the full service history About 1,321 words
From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Iowa III (BB-61)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 4 × steam turbines
- 4 × screw propellers
- Power
- 8 Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers
- 212000 shp
- Armament
- 1943:
- 9 × 16 in/50-caliber Mark 7 guns
- 20 × 5 in/38 cal Mark 12 guns
- 76 × 40 mm/56 cal anti-aircraft guns
- 52 × 20 mm/70 cal anti-aircraft guns
- 1984:
- 9 × 16 in/50-caliber Mark 7 guns
- 12 × 5 in/38 cal Mark 12 guns
- 32 × BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles
- 16 × RGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Ship missiles
- 4 × 20 mm/76 cal Phalanx CIWS
- Armour
- Belt: 12.1 in
- Bulkheads: 11.3 in
- Barbettes: 11.6 to 17.3 in
- Turrets: 19.5 in
- Decks:
- main 1.5 in
- second 6.0 in
- Aircraft
- floatplanes, helicopters, UAVs
Sister ships
Sources
- Facts harvested from USS Iowa (BB-61) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Service history reproduced verbatim from Iowa III (BB-61) , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships — public domain, a work of the United States Government.
- Photograph: PH1 Jeff Hilton — http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil (original source, no longer exists) — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons