USS Iowa?

[SOAR21]

Wow, there's a battleship thread on this forum. Cool.

Anyway, a quick question. I've often seen the Soison Mothball Fleet on the way to Vallejo. I believe its in a landlocked lake. And wow, the USS Iowa is in it. Just wondering what they had to do to get it in there.

[Stitch]

Wow, there's a battleship thread on this forum. Cool.

Anyway, a quick question. I've often seen the Soison Mothball Fleet on the way to Vallejo. I believe its in a landlocked lake. And wow, the USS Iowa is in it. Just wondering what they had to do to get it in there.

Actually, no, it's not a "landlocked lake"; it's a fresh water bay which adjoines the San Francisco Bay. I used to live a few miles from there. It wasn't that hard to get it in there, there's a shipping channel dredged from the San Francisco Bay (out here, we just call it "the Bay"), all the way out to the port of Stockton, about 50 miles east of Suisun Bay. The Iowa is tied up with a bunch of old ships in the so-called "Mothball Fleet".

BTW, does anybody besides me remember seeing the Glomar Explorer out there back in the '70's & '80's?

Also, there's already another thread more or less on this topic; go here.

[connaye]

I remember an article prepared for "Our Weekly Reader" when I attended gradeschool in the 60's. The article reported on the mission of the "Explorer" to collect samples of rock and dirt from the oceans floor and learn about the origins of Earth. The ships reported designed allowed for a head start to collect samples closer to the Earth's core, i.e. less material to drill through).

Anyway, 30 years later we watch the History Channel and understand what Howard Hughes company could really dig up off the ocean floor......

Wonder what our grandkids will learn about 30 years from now about today's Navy?

[Dreadnought]

Wow, there's a battleship thread on this forum. Cool.

Anyway, a quick question. I've often seen the Soison Mothball Fleet on the way to Vallejo. I believe its in a landlocked lake. And wow, the USS Iowa is in it. Just wondering what they had to do to get it in there.

*In most cases the tripod mast is disassembled and aerials removed to allow them to pass underneath bridges and so fourth. In most cases when moving them they are center channel (deepest part in alot of cases) and tractor tugs. When transiting the current locks of the Panama Canal the get approximately 3" inches on each side if you include the flair of the hull where it meets the main deck. It gets a few inches more under her hull when transiting at full displacement. We have some people here that are very familiar with Iowa.

[RustyBattleship]

To get under the Railroad bridge to Benicia (where the "ghost fleet" is) they cut off most of the foremast -- in pieces -- and "stowed" them on the helicopter deck back aft.

Took these photos in August of 2006 during a personal inspection of the ship.

[connaye]

The mast of the New Jersey was removed and reassembled, the black paint is still visable.

[SOAR21]

Thanks. So the Iowa just sailed into the Bay? The passage was large enough?

[dundonrl]

Thanks. So the Iowa just sailed into the Bay? The passage was large enough?

towed, not sailed.. you can find plenty of photos of her going under the bridges there, (why they had to cut the mast off)..

[connaye]

To get under the Railroad bridge to Benicia (where the "ghost fleet" is) they cut off most of the foremast -- in pieces -- and "stowed" them on the helicopter deck back aft.

Took these photos in August of 2006 during a personal inspection of the ship.

Large & cLear enough to understand what I was looking at on BB-62 and all that "black paint".

[Stitch]

To get under the Railroad bridge to Benicia (where the "ghost fleet" is) they cut off most of the foremast -- in pieces -- and "stowed" them on the helicopter deck back aft.

Took these photos in August of 2006 during a personal inspection of the ship.

Looks like she could use a good pressure washing and another coat of paint in the near future.

[Dreadnought]

Soon.

[tbm3fan]

Apparently some private contractor guy who felt the ships here were his according to some MARAD guys did spend some time with a crew painting the superstructure from O1 up. Did seem to do a good job of it before he stopped for whatever reason.

Anyway a leisurely lunch aboard Iowa on the 17th and another stroll around her decks and find an open hatch to peek in.

[Dreadnought]

The open hatch pic looks as though its aft on the starboard side (before turret three), if correct that ladder to the left leads down into the Crews messing area.

Note the painted arrow on the green tiled floor. Somebody has gotten lost before.)

[Stitch]

The first of the old Liberty ships will be towed out of Suisun Bay today to the drydocks in San Francisco; dunno which one it will be, but anyone who happens to be driving over the Benicia bridge this morning should be able to see it.

[tbm3fan]

The open hatch pic looks as though its aft on the starboard side (before turret three), if correct that ladder to the left leads down into the Crews messing area.

Note the painted arrow on the green tiled floor. Somebody has gotten lost before.)

Actually port side mid ships...