USS IOWA, BB 61, on its way to the San Francisco waterfront?

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:a: HISTORIC SHIPS MEMORIAL AT PACIFIC SQUARE ("HSMPS" - http://www.battleshipiowa.org), is the leading organization working to place one of our nation's most treasured assets, the battleship U.S.S. Iowa ("IOWA"), in one of America's most visited cities, San Francisco, as a future museum and memorial and potential disaster response platform. This endeavor is founded on the tireless efforts of countless citizens across this great nation and dedicated to our Navy, the American People, and the remembrance of those who served and died in our country's defense during war as well as peace time.

As we progress into a distinctly new and redefined millennium after the terrorist attacks on September 11, we firmly believe that UNITED STATES SHIP IOWA can serve the Navy and the nation in unique ways on the homefront. As a memorial, potential disaster command and control response platform, training site, and much more, IOWA to this day is one of the nation's most dynamic and multifaceted ships.

Namesake of the most powerful and fastest class of battleships ever launched, the U.S.S. Iowa in San Francisco can serve again as a powerful beacon, reminding us of those who answered the call to sail in harms way. Cared for by some of our nation's most experienced hands in ship preservation and moored in one of our nation's largest inactive ship centers, she is a constant symbol of a proud and living naval legacy, in an area visited by millions annually.

We encourage you to support HSMPS by becoming a donor member, by contributing your time, by making a financial gift. Join the thousands who have written Congress and the Navy, donated funds, and have brought their skills and energy to bear on relocating the U.S.S. Iowa as a mobilization asset to the Bay Area and continue to work on ensuring that IOWA is preserved after she is stricken from the naval registry. IOWA arrived in Suisun Bay, just north of San Francisco, on April 20, 2001 and is now with the reserve fleet.

Information about HSMPS and the 7-year national effort to bring IOWA to the San Francisco Bay Area and eventually preserve her as a memorial and museum are provided at http://www.battleshipiowa.org. You will find these topics there:

HSMPS--Its Vision, Accomplishments, and Structure
History of HSMPS--a Story of Survival and Perseverance (Updated)

How to see the IOWA (Happening Every Month!)

IOWA Benefits the Nation, Navy, Community

A Record Tow from Rhode Island to San Francisco Bay via the Panama Canal

U.S.S. Iowa Arrives in the Bay in Style

HSMPS & IOWA's Crew

What Happens After IOWA Arrives

Maintaining a Battleship in Reserve Status

The Long-Term Goal photo by Mei Seitelman

HSMPS Reaches Out to the Community, Our Events and Activities U.S.S. IOWA FAIR & PICNIC, SEE THE IOWA, SATURDAY, JULY 19, MARTINEZ, CA.

IOWA's Illustrious History

Crewmember Log for Recording Shipboard Experiences

Ships Store & Membership become a member NOW

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Update information, 2 October 2003:

HISTORIC SHIPS MEMORIAL AT PACIFIC SQUARE
The foundation working to preserve U.S.S. Iowa as a museum and memorial


Her graceful lines hypnotized naval architects. Nearly three football fields long, with a displacement of 58,000 tons, she dwarfed anything afloat. Her speed, in excess of 33 knots, outran most ships. Sporting armor-plated authority sixteen inches thick, her massive guns could hurl a 2,300 lb shell the distance of 24 miles. Built to ensure freedom and liberty, she is the namesake of the most powerful and fastest class of battleships ever launched by the American People--U.S.S. Iowa--and with her three sisters, NEW JERSEY, MISSOURI, and WISCONSIN make up the Navy's illustrious ?Iowa'-class battleships. Having served over a quarter of our nation's history, each of the ?Iowas' have visited San Francisco in the past.

On the evening of April 20, 2001, U.S.S. Iowa arrived in San Francisco Bay following a 5,700 tow from Rhode Island and through the Panama Canal. This unprecedented relocation was afforded strong community support, Congressional endorsement and a $3 million appropriation. U.S.S. Iowa is currently moored as a Category B mobilization asset at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in Benicia, California. It is expected that the battleship will soon be reclassified from reserve status to donation status and made available to a qualified non-profit organization for use as a museum.

We are Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square, a non-profit public benefit corporation established in 1996 to acquire U.S.S. Iowa for use as a museum and memorial in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are recognized by the Department of the Navy, Congress, the States of California and Iowa, the City of San Francisco, the Navy League of the United States, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Veterans Association of the U.S.S. Iowa and numerous others as the lead organization with a proposal to the Navy to preserve IOWA for public appreciation. To this end, we submitted to the Navy over 700-pages of documentation addressing all aspects of IOWA's development as a museum including engineering studies, tow and mooring plans, financial analysis, maintenance protocols, environmental assessments, visitor and educational programs, curatorial and security plans, and staffing scales.

While supporting the Navy's decision to bring U.S.S. Iowa to the Bay Area as a reserve asset, Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square is currently working to secure a pier along the San Francisco waterfront for the battleship, continuing to build community support using the battleship's presence, and enhancing its work to submit a superior formal application to the Department of the Navy to gain custodianship of U.S.S. Iowa.

Help save a big piece of history by helping to keep U.S.S. Iowa in the San Francisco Bay Area as a museum and memorial. Please send and make checks payable to Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square, P. O. Box 191242, San Francisco, CA 94119-1242. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

We invite you to consider the multifaceted benefits that this premier, interactive living history museum will offer to the community. Visit our website at www:battleshipiowa.org

[Jerry D]

I would rather see the USS Iowa being moored off of Davenport, Iowa on the Mississippi river. Now that would be a site to have a floating museum! In the heartland of the USA where everyone could come to see one of the last big warships left floating after WWII.

[Boats]

I'd even like this puppy in the Great Lakes - Chicago side!!! hmmm.

[Jerry D]

Well Boats, if they can't navigate the Iowa up the Mississippi empty with a tug then by all means I would think the Docks at Chicago would be a good site also :ae: :) and it still would be in the middle of the country where the majority of the people could drive up and look at it :)

[locksly]

A ship of this size can only be preserved at a port with drydocks and skilled workers present,the amount of work needed to defeat the weather is enormous. The hull should be repainted ever 5 years.