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A Night on the Battleship [USS Iowa] Overnight Tour $125
Atlas Obscura ^ | 10/05/16 | Atlas Obscura

Posted on 10/05/2016 11:19:15 AM PDT by BunnySlippers

The USS Iowa may have been the first of the Iowa-class battleships to be commissioned, but she was the last battleship to retire permanently.

Once called the "Battleship of Presidents" (having hosted FDR, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush), the USS Iowa had the biggest guns on any U.S. Navy ship, used primarily for anti-aircraft missions: nine 16-inch guns mounted on three stacked turrets on the flight deck (capable of carrying 2000 tons of firepower).

She was the lead ship of the last class of battleships in the Navy, having served in three significant commissions: World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War. And now, having emerged from the Navy's mothball fleet just four years ago, she has made the Port of LA in San Pedro her permanent home.

Join Field Agent Sandi Hemmerlein for a rare and immersive experience aboard the USS Iowa, now known as the Battleship Iowa Museum. In a "sleepover" excursion arranged exclusively for the Los Angeles Obscura Society—

(Excerpt) Read more at atlasobscura.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: battleship; ussiowa
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To: PapaBear3625

That’s true. The Iowa guns did have an obscure capability for AAA, and the Yamato and Musashi did too. But that was not the primary purpose of the 2 kiloton 16 inch guns in stacked turrets on the flight deck.


41 posted on 10/05/2016 12:27:29 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs are man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up....)
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To: mad_as_he$$

Related:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23202/do-you-know-what-to-do-with-15000-battleship-shells/


42 posted on 10/05/2016 12:31:47 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: GreyFriar

Follow up shots must have been a bitch when they missed.


43 posted on 10/05/2016 12:38:13 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: BunnySlippers
"the USS Iowa had the biggest guns on any U.S. Navy ship, used primarily for anti-aircraft missions: nine 16-inch guns mounted on three stacked turrets on the flight deck (capable of carrying 2000 tons of firepower)."

Anything from this author in the future should be banned. He's not smart enough on this subject.

44 posted on 10/05/2016 12:38:52 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: zaxtres

I did my 4 years on a ship. I don’t want to spend the night or eat horse**** sandwiches again.


45 posted on 10/05/2016 12:54:29 PM PDT by small business owner
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To: BenLurkin

I thought only the Seaview could do that.


46 posted on 10/05/2016 1:07:34 PM PDT by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: SkyDancer

Wife and I toured the Missouri at Pearl Harbor about five years ago. She had just emerged from dry dock with fresh paint seemingly a quarter inch thick.
There are pictures of the surrender, and a mark on the quarter deck where MacArthur stood. A small dent in her deck armor was the only indication of where a kamikaze had hit and apparently bounced off.
The officer’s dining area featured dinnerware settings from her WW 2 past. It looked like the room was five minutes away from a full sit-down.
The bridge was more or less what you might call a “highbred” control room. The Missouri had been fitted with missiles from when the Gipper ran the White House.
Today, with the jerk we have in office, they’d likely install unisex toilets...


47 posted on 10/05/2016 1:21:10 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
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To: BunnySlippers

I went on it about 4 years ago. Nothing quite like an Iowa class battlewagon.

(Re: no fishing equipment. One probably wouldn’t want eat anything caught within LA/LB harbors.)


48 posted on 10/05/2016 1:21:37 PM PDT by x1stcav (Leftism is like rust: It corrodes 24 hours a day until eradicated.)
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To: BunnySlippers

Does that price include someone stumbling loudly into your berthing area around 3:30am , shining a bright flashlight in your eyes and yelling, “NEXT WATCH!”

If not you are not getting the full experience.


49 posted on 10/05/2016 1:25:02 PM PDT by Delta 21 (Patiently waiting for the jack booted kick at my door.)
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To: BunnySlippers

Stayed overnight on two separate occasions on the USS Alabama in Mobile when my boys were going through boy scouts. The bunks (3 high hanging on chains) are surprisingly comfortable...or maybe I was just really tired.


50 posted on 10/05/2016 1:34:31 PM PDT by Drawsing (Fools show their annoyance at once, the prudent man overlooks an insult. Proverbs 12:16)
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To: Drawsing

We spent a full day aboard the USS Midway which has become a museum in the harbor at San Diego. The carrier deck is packed with airplanes from various wars. It’s a very cool tour...


51 posted on 10/05/2016 2:01:29 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
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To: BunnySlippers
I'm still shocked that San Francisco refused to take her, leaving the ship to rot in Suisun Bay for years. It was nice to catch a glimpse of it when driving across the Benicia Bridge.

-PJ

52 posted on 10/05/2016 2:09:23 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: 98ZJ USMC

And the 16” guns were used mostly for anti-aircraft...yeah...right.


53 posted on 10/05/2016 2:12:12 PM PDT by Redleg Duke (Okay, the Primaries are over and it is us against the DC Uni-Party!)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

I’ll check it out, I’m down there often!


54 posted on 10/05/2016 2:17:05 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (I Love Bull Markets!!!)
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To: small business owner

Somehow, I doubt they are going to serve slop. Besides, I’m inclined to pack some munchies.


55 posted on 10/05/2016 2:19:41 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (I Love Bull Markets!!!)
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To: BunnySlippers

$125? I don’t miss the Navy that much.


56 posted on 10/05/2016 2:21:26 PM PDT by yuleeyahoo (Those are my principles, and if you do not like them...well I have others. - Groucho Marx)
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To: DesertRhino

I know. They meant patio deck (well, it’s got wood planking laid on it)


57 posted on 10/05/2016 5:29:49 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy ("Laws are for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools" Solon, Lawmaker of Athens)
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To: KrisKrinkle
Maybe they loaded them with canister. Think about what a Zero would look like after flying through a cloud of one inch steel balls.
Iowa class battleships had 10 dual mounted turrets with 5 inch 38 caliber dual-purpose canon, 20 quad mounted 40mm cannon, and 50 20mm cannon. The 3 triple mounted 16" guns did not have anti-aircraft capabilities. Ironically, the Japanese did use canister rounds in their Yamato class. I have no idea how effective these were, but the Yamato and Musashi were sunk by aircraft.
The crew of the Bismarck tried to shoot down the Fairey Swordfish torpedoing it using the splash from 15" high explosive rounds, but these didn't do anything but get the shirts (and perhaps undergarments) of British aviators wet.
58 posted on 10/05/2016 6:05:37 PM PDT by rmlew ("Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.")
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To: zaxtres
Yeah. I got paid to stay on a destroyer. I decided the AIr Force was a better bet
59 posted on 02/10/2018 9:42:10 AM PST by JoeFromSidney (,uld')
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