Latest on IOWA

[Dreadnought]

CBS News ran a 32 second blurb on KCAL-9 news today about the Iowa coming to San Pedro. things are moving faster.

I am seeing negative post on other message boards and comment pages but these are being posted by members of an oposing group...shame on them, they profess to support the saving of the Iowa but they are attacking the group that has the most advanced techinical team, education team and business connections. What is their agenda really???

*Its always the same. Sour grapes. We have experienced problems like this before. But, in the end, we won and I'm pretty sure you guys will too.

Their agenda....If we cant, then nobody can! Sounds like a familiar bunch.
Thats where you can see straight through them, Its supposed to be whats best for the ship and its future, not who will have their names in print and call the shots and so fourth. Petty, to say the least.

[Archdude]

I would recommend a call or email be made to Sean Hannity of Fox and ask him to assist in this effort. When San Francisco told the people trying to get the Iowa to that city, i recall he did part of his nightly program from the ship. Recently, he did some of his program right next to the ex USS Midway, the carrier museum in San Diego.

[tbm3fan]

Irregardless of who gets it I have to add "I'll wait till I see it" as these things take time and more time usually. Not to mention of bank account with many millions in it...

[Dreadnought]

You have to already have the millions set aside just to enter the bid process otherwise you wont even get considered to bid upon it.;)

[shadow01]

At the risk of asking a stupid question, what are those pictures of?

[Dreadnought]

At the risk of asking a stupid question, what are those pictures of?

Pictures taken aboard some of the ghost fleet ships.;)

[eocoolj]

Ironically, the rules do NOT say we cannot reactivate the guns.

Hmmmm. I don't think we can afford the ammunition though. With the new stupid law in California that starting Feb 1, 2010 we have to get fingerprinted to buy ammo, all of the gun shops I know have sold out all of their 5"/38 and 16"/50 ammo.

I know this was a joke, but is it at all possible to do something along the lines of an annual 4th of july broadside (obviously using powder only, no shells). I am too young to have ever seen the 16s fired in anger, and i would love to experience them even once.

[RustyBattleship]

I know this was a joke, but is it at all possible to do something along the lines of an annual 4th of july broadside (obviously using powder only, no shells). I am too young to have ever seen the 16s fired in anger, and i would love to experience them even once.

If you're willing to pay for all the broken windows in San Pedro, Wilmington and Palos Verdes you can fire "blanks". But you still have to have something in front of the powder bags to build up pressure to go BOOM instead of FIZZLE. Probably a few bags of straw would do the trick.

Actually, the North Carolina used to have a tremendous light show for night time entertainment using strobe lights and sound effects for the firing of the guns.

When the Battleships were active, even during practice firing all personnel on the weather decks had to wear double ear protection (at least on Missouri). That would be ear plugs PLUS the large cup type ear protectors. I used the cup protectors but never put in ear plugs. I just turned off my hearing aids instead.

[Dreadnought]

Mickey Mouse ears. Some even have wireless comms.:))

[eocoolj]

heh, i already double up on ear protection, and thats "just" for firing a garand...

dont want to have hearing aids to turn off when i'm older.

[tbm3fan]

You have to already have the millions set aside just to enter the bid process otherwise you wont even get considered to bid upon it.;)

From what I know of the Navsea process you don't need millions to submit your Phase I initial bid. The Ranger organization has already done that. Also judging from the Ranger again you don't need millions for the Phase II business/enviromental study since the Ranger is asking for donations to fund that $250,000 study. If they had millions I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be looking for $250,000. Last, is the Phase III study which probably costs as much or more than Phase II. My guess is that when a group is at that point then you need to show your $10 million bank account. I know the Hornet filed a bid for the Sea Shadow (why, I don't know?) and that was all they had to do to show an interest. They sure don't have the bank account.

Now according to a news source the group down south has submitted a 19 page proposal to the Port Commissioners. They then go on to say if the Port approves then the ship could be down and ready as early as summer? I didn't see anything in there pertaining to the Navsea application process. Obviously you need a Port first but still have all the other hoops to jump through. This should be interesting especially with the different politicians supporting the groups namely both Senators favoring Mare Island. On top of that there is now an ongoing negotiation to reopen the dry docks at Mare Island for commercial use by Dry Dock Solutions and they haven't been rejected. Part of what they know they have to do is dredge the channel out to San Pablo Bay to bring in old reserve fleet ships to dismantle. The channel would also make it easy for the Iowa now.

Sea Shadow 01/05/2010

[ErrantVenture11]

My personal dream was to see Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and the ghost of John Rockefeller buy up one of the Iowas and restore it to sea-worthy conditions, then operate it as an ocean-going museum/cruise ship of epic awesomeness.

Would never happen, but like I said, I can dream.

[bucephalus]

U.S.S.Iowa

Seeing as Iowa is my home state, I really do hope that a fitting home can be found for The IOWA. Does anybody know why the IOWA was the last of the 4 Iowa class battleships to be considered for being turned into a floating museum? I can see why the Missouri would have been first because of its historical significance. It just seems wrong for the ship that the class was named after has been left in the state that it currently is. Anyways, thanks for the update. You have my total support!

[Michigan_Guy]

Seeing as Iowa is my home state, I really do hope that a fitting home can be found for The IOWA. Does anybody know why the IOWA was the last of the 4 Iowa class battleships to be considered for being turned into a floating museum? I can see why the Missouri would have been first because of its historical significance. It just seems wrong for the ship that the class was named after has been left in the state that it currently is. Anyways, thanks for the update. You have my total support!

I believe it has to do with the restrictions the Iowa and Wisconsin were on and possibly because of the turret 2 accident. If it wasn't for the complete morons (waste of life) in San Francisco voting not to have the Iowa there, it would already be a museum!!

[Guest]

I had no idea San Francisco was thinking of not hosting the Iowa as a museum. Thanks for the heads up. I was hoping Mare Island was going to be the Iowa's last berth. I live in Iowa, so visiting the old girl is going to be a bit of a problem, let alone volunteering my time and labor to keeping her ship shape. However, I submit for your consideration my own USS Iowa, a 3D computer model that will be animated, big guns firing, sailing the high seas to preserve American freedoms once again. Any discrepancies in the model, please feel free to send me a email or comment here.



I'm new to this board so I hope I got the link insert right. if not it's set as my home page on this board. Previewed the post, guess I got it right! :)