This being a Navy-friendly region, Southern California residents are expected to descend when the treasured battleship USS Iowa finally arrives from Northern California to local waters. But as of early Thursday, the ETA is for a departure no sooner than Memorial Day Weekend.
The three-to-four day journey is being weighed on a day-to-day basis, and there is still plenty of time for its final trip to the Port of Los Angeles, where it will star as a ship museum by summer.
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Rough seas expected off Central California this week delayed Monday's planned departure of the historic battleship USS Iowa on her final voyage from the San Francisco Bay to the port town of San Pedro.
Volunteers planning to refurbish the mighty battleship decided not to risk a towing accident on the trip down the coast, where large swells are expected midweek.
The storied battleship will be converted into a permanent museum in prime waterfront space at the Port of Los Angeles.
Ship operations director Mike Getscher told the Oakland Tribune that it's not worth any extra risk on the warship's last voyage.
"We could get out but we'd hit something on the way down," he told the Tribune. "With a tow of this magnitude, you don't take any risks."
Towboats will guide the 45,000-ton veteran of World War II and the Korean War south when the weather forecasts are more kind, he said.
Built in 1940, the Iowa has been called "the world's greatest Naval ship." She hosted more U.S. presidents than any other ship in the Naval Fleet, and saw combat in World War II and the Korean War. In 1989, the Iowa was the scene of one the largest noncombat catastrophes in the military, when an explosion ripped through a gun turret during a training exercise, killing 47 crewmen.
The USS Iowa is the first of four “Iowa Class Battleships” from World War II. It is the last such ship to find a permanent home befitting its momentous past. The other three are the U.S.S. New Jersey (now in Camden, N.J.), U.S.S. Missouri (at Pearl Harbor), and U.S.S. Wisconsin (in Norfolk, VA).
For history and military buffs, this is a great opportunity to walk the decks of the Iowa, the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships.
The Iowa launched in Aug. 27, 1942, was sent to the Marshall Islands to start off her long history. She served in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in the Philippine Sea, considered by some to be the largest naval battle in history. The Iowa class of battleships are the longest battleships ever made (887 feet), but the Japanese battleship Yamato was the heaviest (it also served in the Battle of Leyte Gulf).
The ship museum plans to offer overnight stays and at least five tours, including tours focusing on life at sea, engineering and armor, and tours of the ship's weapons.
It ferried President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his top military advisers to and from the Tehran Conference in advance of World War II. It later served in the Pacific Fleet, shelling beachheads in the Marshall Islands. The ship was at the battle of Okinawa and was the among the first to enter Tokyo Bay after Japan's surrender.
In 1989, during a training mission off Puerto Rico, the 16-inch gun in Turret No. 2 exploded, killing 47 sailors, and the ship was decommissioned the next year.
The ship museum plans to offer overnight stays and at least five tours, including tours focusing on life at sea, engineering and armor, and tours of the ship's weapons.
The nonprofit Pacifica Battleship Center raised about $9 million to move and restore the ship, including $3 million from the state of Iowa. The group took out another $5 million in loans and raised the rest through donations and pro bono work.
Navy veterans who served on the World War II-era battleship are scheduled to hold a reunion in San Pedro over the Fourth of July holiday in conjunction with the grand opening of the ship's reincarnation as a floating museum.
"As America's leading port, Los Angeles is the ideal home for the leading ship of her class," said Robert Kent, director of the Pacific Battleship Center, which will operate the museum. "This national gateway for global trade will be the new base from which this great ship will begin a new era of public service."
