Boatlopnik: Good Ol' Iron

"FJ80WaitinForaLSV8" (fj80waitinforalsv8) 07/11/2014 at 10:00 • Filed to: boatlopnik

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The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) conducts an underway replenishment with the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61). Midway and Iowa were in the Persian Gulf area as part of Battle Group Alpha. December 1987.

Jcarr > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 10:04

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Man I love me some Iowa Class (probably because I'm from Iowa). Such a beautifully-shaped vessel.

Seeing all 4 of them in person is near the top of my bucket list.

Bandit > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 10:06

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Hands down the Iowa class battleships are the most beautiful war ships ever commissioned.

Leadbull > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 10:17

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Another shot of the USS Iowa:

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Bandit 07/11/2014 at 10:20

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They are certainly quite elegant - I might say that some of the sailing frigates during the civil war are equally as beautiful - but alas no 14" guns.

I've been on the New Jersey and the Wisconsin. Still need to hit up Iowa and Mighty Mo.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Jcarr 07/11/2014 at 10:21

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I've seen 2. Itching for an excuse to go to Pearl...

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Leadbull 07/11/2014 at 10:22

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Dat beam.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 10:22

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Lol I was 11..... months old.

Jcarr > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 10:27

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I've got my wife on board to do it in two trips some day; one for the two on the east coast and one for the two on the west coast/Pearl.

Just need to find the time and money...

What would have been really cool is if they had kept and preserved the Illinois and Kentucky in their semi-complete forms. Makes no sense fiscally, but would have been cool to see.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Jcarr 07/11/2014 at 10:32

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The condition these boats are in (at least the 2 on the east coast) will make you sad. The teak on the deck its rotted to pieces and the tin worm isn't treating the non-armored portions of the steel too well.

Lorinserc230 > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 10:35

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There is teak on the decks of those things? I guess thats ok when you have a bunch of sailors crawling all over it to make busy taking care of it, but damn is that a bitch to maintain.

Jcarr > Leadbull 07/11/2014 at 10:36

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Mind-boggling to think that it's launching 9 of these up to 24 miles .

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Lorinserc230 07/11/2014 at 10:37

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Yeah the way it was explained to me by the tour guides was that the teak is a great insulator (read no Air conditioning) and also helps muffle the noise/concussions from the gunfire.

Jcarr > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 10:38

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That's a shame. I sure hope they don't deteriorate to the point that they'd just give up and scrap them.

Lorinserc230 > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 10:42

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Makes sense, and quick googling shows you are right. Must have been really pretty to have those vast expanses of glowing teak, but I still have nightmares about redoing the teak decking on my fathers little sailboat. A whole battleship? *shudders*

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Jcarr 07/11/2014 at 10:43

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Me too, they also mentioned on the tour that they have to get permission from the navy before they make any modifications to the ships so clearly the navy is still keeping tabs on them to a certain degree.

Jcarr > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 11:07

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According to the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act the Wisconsin and Iowa have to be kept in a state of readiness in case they should ever be needed again. Didn't know that until just now.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Jcarr 07/11/2014 at 11:27

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Yup I wrote a paper in college on naval gun fire support in littoral operations. Fascinating topic where old school lead is arguably still superior to precision munitions.

Brodieman > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 11:28

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Over the years I've been aboard all 4 of them. 2 while they were still in active service. At the time the teak deals were coated over with "non-skid" as we called it.

When the Mo came to Pearl it's teak was also covered in non-skid and a long, painstakingly slow process of stripping that begun. It's in incredible shape now, but one of the yard workers doing the job told me (I used to work at Pearl after I was active duty myself) that they got some pointers from one of the other Iowa class restoration crews on how not to strip the non-skid, apparently one of them (not sure which) had it's non-skid stripped in a rather haphazard way that unsealed the teak and has led to severe rot.

If you can, get to Pearl and see the Mo, it's really in incredible shape. When she was first moored there I was lucky enough to go aboard with retired Master Chief Lassen (father of artist Christian Reese Lassen who I used to work for prior to joining the Navy) who was a CPO aboard the Mo during the surrender of Japan. He gave me the guided tour (some of the areas he took me are off limits from time to time depending on restoration work) and pointed out the many, many changes made to her since his days aboard. I joined the Navy the following summer, in no small part due to that man.

He passed on a couple years later while I was on active duty, but when I worked at Pearl after I got out of active duty I would stop by the Mo and give anyone who wanted it the same tour he gave me.

These boats have souls. It's a great feeling to experience it and be part of that.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Brodieman 07/11/2014 at 11:32

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Great post. They certainly do have souls and represent America's strong industrial past. As a lifelong sailor and can't help but look at them in complete awe. I'll have to go see the Mo soon.

Brodieman > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/11/2014 at 11:38

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Pearl is worth the trip. The Naval history there is immense and powerful. I still get choked up when I go aboard the Arizona memorial and stare down at the rusting tomb. It's nice to see Mo there, guns proud, standing the watch. Driving around Ford Island is cool too since the old bullet scarred hangars and control tower are still there from the attack.

If you go, get there early in the AM, the lines get crazy really fast.

I've still got a lot of friends out in HI and on Pearl, the GF wants to go soon too, I've got a feeling I'll be giving the MCPO's tour again.

Makoyouidiot > Bandit 07/11/2014 at 16:11

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I tend to prefer things a bit more...old school.

merlyn11a > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 07/13/2014 at 01:36

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I was just out East and missed the USS Mass but made the USS Nautilus and Constitution. Saw USS NC a couple of years ago along with Yorktown, Clamagore. It's too bad that many of these ships are getting parked in the ocean for so long without proper hull maintenance. USS Clamagore looks like an old peach can, it's so rotted out. Yorktown is pretty bad too. I missed USS Laffey as it was in for a hull refit which it apparently really needed as it was about to sink. I talked to one old hand who said that when USS Mass was checked sometime recently, it had lost something like 4 inches off the main armor belt. USS Iowa is moored in San Pedro now and is slowly being prepped (I'm a plank owner on her) and Missouri looks real nice. These kind of ships should be properly preserved.....