Iowa Class Battleship: Displacement 45,000 Tons, Dimensions, 887' 3" (oa) x 108' 2" x 37' 9" (Max). Armament 9 x 16"/50 20 x 5"/38AA, 80 x 40mm 49 x 20mm, 3 AC. Armor, 12 1/8" Belt, 17" Turrets, 1 1/2" +6" +5/8" Decks, 17 1/4" Conning Tower. Machinery, 212,000 SHP; G.E. Geared Turbines, 4 screws. Speed, 33 Knots, Crew 1921. Operational and Building Data: Laid down by New York Naval Ship Yard, January 6, 1941. Launched January 29, 1944. Commissioned June 11, 1944. Decommissioned February 26, 1955. Recommissioned May 10, 1986. Decommissioned March 31, 1992. Stricken for disposal January 12, 1995. Donated for preservation May 4, 1998. Fate: Preserved as a museum at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, June 1998.
A personal recollection of bringing the engineering plant of a battleship to life, with annotations which give insight into the vanishing art of operating a marine steam propulsion plant.
