Having trouble viewing this email? Go Here
 

Sell your Timeshare during the Pandemic






















struction Main articles: Iowa-class battleship and Armament of the Iowa class battleship Ordered in July 1939, USS Iowa was laid down at New York Naval Shipyard in June 1940. She was launched on 27 August 1942, sponsored by Ilo Wallace (wife of Vice President Henry Wallace), and commissioned on 22 February 1943 with Captain John L. McCrea in command. USS Iowa's main battery consisted of nine 16 in (406 mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 guns, which could fire 2,700 lb (1,200 kg) armor-piercing shells 20 nmi (23 mi; 37 km). Her secondary battery consisted of twenty 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal guns in twin mounts, which could fire at targets up to 12 nmi (14 mi; 22 km) away. With the advent of air power and the need to gain and maintain air superiority came a need to protect the growing fleet of Allied aircraft carriers; to this end, Iowa was fitted with an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns to defend Allied carriers from enemy airstr ikes. World War II (1943–1945) Shakedown and service with the Atlantic Fleet On 24 February 1943, Iowa put to sea for a shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. She got underway on 27 August for Argentia, Newfoundland, to counter the threat of the German battleship Tirpitz which was reportedly operating in Norwegian waters, before returning to the United States on 25 October for two weeks of maintenance at the Norfolk Navy Yard. A small bathtub is visible in the center of the image. Bubbles, a rubber ducky, and a small floating boat can be seen in the tub, while two books, a soap bar, and a tooth paste tube can be seen around the rim of the bathtub. When Iowa was selected to ferry President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Cairo and Tehran Conferences, she was outfitted with a bathtub for Roosevelt's convenience. Roosevelt, who had been paralyzed in 1921, would have been unable to make effective use of a shower facility. In November 1943, Iowa carried Pres ident Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Chief of Staff Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff of the Army General George C. Marshall, Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King, Commanding General of the US Army Air Forces Henry "Hap" Arnold, Harry Hopkins, and other military leaders to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, on the first leg of the journey to the Tehran Conference. Among the vessels escorting Iowa on this trip was the destroyer William D. Porter which was involved in several mishaps, the most serious of which involved a torpedo drill which went awry when a torpedo from William D. Porter discharged from its tube and headed toward Iowa. On being warned, Iowa turned hard to avoid being hit by the torpedo and the torpedo detonated in the ship's wake. Iowa was unhurt and trained her main guns on William D. Porter, concerned that the smaller ship may have been involved in some sort of assassination plot. Iowa completed her presidential escort mission on 16 De cember by returning the President to the United States. Roosevelt addre