Qualla: USS Iowa (BB-61)

USS Iowa (BB-61): Introduction

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Member of the Armed Forces of the United States, Public domain. On November 14, 1943, somewhere in the waters east of Bermuda, a torpedo streaked toward the USS Iowa. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was aboard, bound for Tehran to meet Churchill and Stalin. The destroyer USS William D. Porter, part of Iowa's anti-submarine screen, had accidentally fired a live torpedo during a drill. Iowa's lookouts spotted the incoming weapon; the battleship turned hard, and the torpedo detonated in her wake, 1,200 yards astern. Iowa trained her nine 16-inch guns on the smaller ship, briefly fearing an assassination plot before realizing the truth: the most important naval escort mission of the war had nearly ended in catastrophe through sheer accident. Roosevelt, who required a bathtub installed aboard Iowa because his paralysis prevented him from using showers, completed his journey. The incident was classified for years. Such was life aboard the last lead ship of any class of American battleships.

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Image: Member of the Armed Forces of the United States | Public domain

USS Iowa (BB-61): The President's Bathtub

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Newportm, CC BY-SA 3.0. USS Iowa was commissioned on February 22, 1943, at the New York Naval Shipyard. She was the fourth ship to bear the name Iowa, and she would become the most consequential. Her main battery consisted of nine 16-inch/50 caliber Mark 7 guns capable of hurling armor-piercing shells o...

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Image: Newportm | CC BY-SA 3.0

USS Iowa (BB-61): Pacific Thunder

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Public domain. In January 1944, Iowa transited the Panama Canal for the Pacific Theater. She supported carrier air strikes against Kwajalein and Eniwetok, shelling Japanese positions before Allied amphibious landings. At Truk, the major Japanese naval base in the Caroline Islands, Iowa and her ...

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Image: National Museum of the U.S. Navy | Public domain

USS Iowa (BB-61): Cold War Warrior

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PHC Jeff Hilton, Public domain. Iowa served in the Korean War, shelling North Korean coastal positions and destroying a major ammunition dump while General Mark Clark observed from her bridge. She was decommissioned in 1958, then reactivated in 1984 as part of the Reagan administration's 600-ship Navy plan. She...

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Image: PHC Jeff Hilton | Public domain

USS Iowa (BB-61): Turret Two

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit LT. Thomas Jarrell, Public domain. At 9:55 AM on April 19, 1989, an explosion ripped through Iowa's Number Two gun turret during a gunnery exercise. Forty-seven sailors died instantly. A gunner's mate in the powder magazine quickly flooded the compartment, likely preventing catastrophic damage to the entire ship. ...

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Image: LT. Thomas Jarrell | Public domain

USS Iowa (BB-61): The Battleship of Presidents

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ertly, CC BY 4.0. Iowa was decommissioned for the final time on October 26, 1990, after 19 total years of active service. She had earned nine battle stars in World War II and two in Korea. Congress, concerned about losing naval gunfire support capability, required that Iowa be maintained in a stat...

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Image: Ertly | CC BY 4.0