By Logan D
The USS (United States Ship) Iowa was a U.S. Navy Battleship. There are many different types of ships meant for combat, and not. The five main types of U.S. Navy ships are Aircraft Carriers, Destroyers, Cruisers, Support, and Battleships. For a short comparison, Aircraft Carriers are floating airports which have the ability to launch, land, and maintain aircraft of all types and sizes. They are one of the largest ships in the U.S. Navy. Then there are Destroyers, which are smaller than Aircraft Carriers. Destroyers are faster, and generally used for their anti-submarine capabilities. Destroyers also have torpedoes and missiles for anti-ship and anti-air defence, respectively. Cruisers are medium-sized ships with heavier firepower than Destroyers and, depending on the purpose of the specific ship, they may be of different sizes, speeds, and firepower. They generally have anti-air, anti-ship, and land shelling/bombarding capabilities. Support ships (In this writing) combine together all other types of ships that support the Navy warships in any way, such as tankers, cargo, medical, and transport ships. Battleships are huge ships that were the biggest to rule the sea until Aircraft Carriers were invented. Battleships used to be the dominator of the seas, and were believed to be the most important ships until the start of WWII, which demonstrated the real ruler of the sea (Aircraft Carriers). Built in 1940, the USS Iowa is the first ship of her class (named the Iowa Class after the first ship in the class). The Iowa was built to be a more modern battleship with modern speed, firepower, and technology. The Iowa has 9 identical 16 inch guns in turrets of three. The Iowa has extremely good armour, very good speed for a ship of her size (fast, in general). The Iowa had many anti-air guns and many 5 inch guns. The Iowa served in WWII in the Pacific theatre. Because of the new dominance of the Aircraft Carrier, the Iowa’s primary purposes were: (1) anti-air when at sea; and (2) U.S. Marine support for land invasions – where she would act as a floating artillery platform using her 16 inch guns to bring devastating fire on the enemy. Then ships of her class provided fire support for troops on the ground in Korea, Vietnam, and all other conflicts that were in range of their guns. Because of evolving warfare they were upgraded with improved radar, missiles, missile defence, and even a nuclear shell with a yield of 15-18 kilotons.
During our tour of the Iowa, the guides took us around the ship and showed us all of the areas of interest with a full explanation of the history of the ship and the purpose of the areas. For example, they showed us the CIC (Combat information Center) whose purpose was to calculate and control the guns and missiles (mostly the latter because the guns could generally control themselves). After showing us around the ship we were brought back to the bedding quarters that were assigned to us, and left to play games or do whatever we wanted to do until 10:00 PM (which was lights out). Not many people slept well because of the high temperature. The trip was very fun and it was an amazing experience.
