Retired USS Iowa Headed Inland After San Francisco's Antiwar Rejection

[cal04]

The USS Iowa joined in battles from World War II to Korea to the Persian Gulf. It carried President Franklin Roosevelt home from the Teheran conference of allied leaders, and four decades later, suffered one of the nation's most deadly military accidents. Veterans groups and history buffs had hoped that tourists in San Francisco could walk the same teak decks where sailors dodged Japanese machine-gun fire and fired 16-inch guns that helped win battles across the South Pacific. Instead, it appears that the retired battleship is headed about 80 miles inland, to Stockton, a gritty agricultural port town on the San Joaquin River and home of California's annual asparagus festival.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a former San Francisco mayor, helped secure $3 million to tow the Iowa from Rhode Island to the Bay Area in 2001 in hopes of making touristy Fisherman's Wharf its new home. But city supervisors voted 8-3 last month to oppose taking in the ship, citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military's stance on gays, among other things. "If I was going to commit any kind of money in recognition of war, then it should be toward peace, given what our war is in Iraq right now," Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said. Feinstein called it a "very petty decision." "This isn't the San Francisco that I've known and loved and grew up in and was born in," Feinstein said.

San Francisco's maritime museum already has one military vessel - the USS Pampanito, an attack submarine that sank six Japanese ships during World War II and has about 110,000 visitors a year. Officials in Stockton couldn't be happier. They've offered a dock on the river, a 90,000-square-foot waterfront building and a parking area, and hope to attract at least 125,000 annual visitors.

After the Korean war, the Iowa was decommissioned and placed in reserve in a Philadelphia shipyard for three decades. In 1988, it was recalled to duty escorting oil supply ships safely in and out danger in the Persian Gulf. In 1989, 47 sailors were killed in an explosion that tore through a gun turret during a training exercise. The warship, decommissioned by the Navy in 1990, is currently anchored with a mothballed fleet in Suisun Bay, near the mouth of the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. San Francisco's rejection of such a storied battleship is a slap in the nation's face, said Douglass Wilhoit, head of Stockton's Chamber of Commerce.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB8BHS2MCE.html

[acmejack]

1. Smart move by SF

Huge upkeep costs.

[Oerdin]

5. I'm not so sure.

I'm seeing it as a bit of worthless political grandstanding. The upkeep costs are pretty small; San Diego has the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier and it's expenses are less then $50,000 per year after tourist tickets, restaurant fees, and other things are considered. It's a big tourist draw.

I can't help but look upon this as bay area idiots acting emotionally instead of in the best interests of the city. Their mistake is someone else's gain however.

[acmejack]

7. The Texas is costing a lot more than that.

Took a lot to keep it in one piece not long ago. Probably not the best PR move though, as you rightly point out.

[Ernesto]

9. Alameda (Oakland) has the WWII aircraft carrier Hornet

It's a great floating museum that I would recommend to all.
I'm looking forward to viewing the Iowa as it goes by from my little cruiser as it is towed up-river past Rio Vista, near my moorage.

[ronnykmarshall]

10. I agree

sometime I just shake my head when the board of Sups pull shit like this.

[Kolesar]

2. Blamed an explosion on one of those battleships on a gay guy

Reagan had several of those Missouri class ships reconditioned (a waste of money). There was an explosion on one of them, and the Navy tried to pin the blame on an Ohio man named Clayton Hartwig. They claimed he was having a gay affair and it led to problems that led to the explosion.

It took years for Hartwig's family to clear his name. I recall the Navy gave the captain some kind of award after that calamity that was the result of his inept command.

[HawkerHurricane]

3. Bad navy joke

that we told after the incident.

"If you die in a accident, don't worry. The Naval Investigative Service will find the dead suicidal homosexual enlisted man responsible even if it takes all afternoon!"

We meant it, too. Naval Investigative Service existed to keep officers (especially Naval Acadamy Grads) from being blamed for anything. And they were quite happy to pin the crime on dead people who couldn't defend themselves.

(The Iowa disaster was the fault of the Gunnery Officer and the Captain, they were playing games with the gunpowder levels and had a undertrained gun crew.)

[Kolesar]

6. Captain ordered that the evidence be thrown overboard immediately

Investigators could have used the debris to determine what happened, so he ordered that any thing lying about be thrown into the sea. According to the documentary about that explosion on public television, that goes against procedure(s). I am sure the captain knew that.

He also wanted the gun turret to be cranked back to forward before steaming back to port, but the crew resisted and the ship came back to port with that turret pointed over the side so everyone could see what a mess they had created.

[democracyindanger]

4. Actually, it was the USS Iowa itself that Hartwig served on. nt

[davidinalameda]

8. Fisherman's Wharf doesn't need another tourist attraction

and DiFi can move to Stockton with the damn ship if it means so much to her

[Oerdin]

11. I am of the opinion

That a city can always use a new tourist attraction. Especially a new one so that people who have visited before have a new reason to come and visit again. Tourism is big business and it forms a big part of the economies of California's major cities (SF, LA, San Diego) so anything to pump up tourism is a step in the right direction.

At least one ot ehr other cities will be smart enough to pick up this incredible piece of history.