Saturday, May 4, 2013

Battleship Iowa at Long Beach CA

 Hi Kids,  Here we are in Long Beach CA, new home of BB 61, the Iowa.  It's a big honkin battlewagon, one of the four biggest the USA ever built.  She's fresh outta mothballs and still being prepared for display, so only the superstructure and the deck are open to the public.  Apparently there are all sorts of hazardous materials used during the ship's life and she gets inspected A LOT.  The lads gotta make sure the tourists don't keel over during the tour.
 Six of the nine 16 inch guns.

 Combat ribbons for the ship's history.
 Possibly the only combat damage still evident, this "handprint" is the impact point of a Japanese 6inch shell from a shore battery.  It is on the port side of the #2 turret.
 An original map of the D-Day beach, possibly from the planning sessions.
The secondary guns, 5 inch twin turrets.

 The view from the bridge.
 Phalanx gun, for anti-missile defense.  Guess you could use it against aircraft, too.  They called these "R2-D2's".
 Chaff launchers.
 Harpoon missile launchers.
Although it's hard to see, this is a B-17 Flying Fortress flying by.  Even harder to believe, this was not the only WW2 bomber in the area that weekend.  There was another B-17 and a B-24 at a nearby airport offering rides for US$425.00.  LA is tough to beat for cool stuff going on all the freaking time.

 Here's a shot of the aft turret.
 And another of the aft turret.
And here's a shot of typical LA freeway traffic, the aft end of a land battleship.  I think these things get about 10 mpg.  Good thing gas here is only $4/gal.

1 comment:

Orcyboy said...

I grew up in 80's the with USS Missouri at Long Beach. My father being in the USCG at the time, meant I got a few good tours of an active ship. I was disappointed when she left Long Beach but its nice see she's found a more appropriate home.

But I digress, Its wonderful Long Beach has another battleship in dock. Another "must visit" before summers end.

Thanks for sharing!