![]() ![]() ![]() She garnered the nickname of "The Big Stick" over her storied tenure.īy August of that year, the USS Iowa was already on open seas assignment, escorting ships in the Atlantic and transporting the United States President - Franklin Roosevelt - to North Africa. She set out from Chesapeake Bay that same month under the motto of "Our Liberties We Prize, Our Rights We Will Maintain". She was officially launched on February 27th, 1942 and was formally commissioned on February 22nd, 1943. The USS Iowa was ordered on July 1st, 1939 and laid down on June 27th, 1940 by the New York Naval Yard. The design challenge was in developing a vessel fast enough to do so while also providing the needed firepower of a traditional battlecruiser to combat Japanese vessels in turn. With the new and fast Essex-class aircraft carriers also being laid down for the US Navy at this time, the American fleet was in need of protection vessels that could keep pace with these new carriers, speeds in excess of 30 knots. The battleship was born out of a need to deter the Imperial Japanese Navy from continuing work on their new Washington Naval Treaty-violating designs and was therefore meant to pack quite a punch while offering adequate speed in deep waters. She was followed by sister ships USS New Jersey (BB-62), USS Missouri (BB-63) and USS Wisconsin (BB-64). The USS Iowa (BB-61) was the lead ship of the massive and powerful Iowa-class battleships of World War 2.
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