https://www.dotphoto.com/Gallery.asp?Cat=334 dotPhoto gallery: Navy en-us 1440 6/21/2016 4:25:42 PM A chapter that shall not be overlooked or skimmed over. http://hquintana.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=Papawhiskey%5F&p=&AID=6740582 6/2/2012 7:30:45 PM Updated 06-03-2012. The USS Iowa Battleship BB61 (nicknamed “The Big Stick”) was ordered in July 1939, launched in August 1942, commissioned in February 1943, decommissioned in February 1958 then after modernization re-commissioned in April 1984, and finally decommissioned for good in October 1990. It was the lead battleship of the Iowa-Class which was the last battleship class for the United States. Its displacement is 45,000 tons, length is 887 feet, beam is 108 feet, draft is 37 feet, and speed was 33 knots (38 mph) with a complement of 151 officers & 2637 enlisted men. Armament at final decommissioning was 9 16-inch guns, 12 5-inch guns, 32 Tomahawk cruise missiles, 16 Harpoon Anti-Ship missiles, and 4 20mm Phalanx CIWS (Gatling gun) anti-ship missile defense systems. The armor included: Belt (hull above waterline) is 12.1 inches, Bulkheads (interior compartment walls) are 11.3 inches, Barbettes (protective circular armor around a cannon) is 11.6 to 17.3 inches, Turrets are 19.7 inches, and the Decks are 7.5 inches. During WWII she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Casablanca en route to a 1943 meeting in Tehran with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin. The Iowa has a bathtub — an amenity installed for Roosevelt, along with an elevator to shuttle him between decks. During gunnery exercises in April of 1989 there was an explosion that ripped through the #2 16-inch gun turret killing 47 crewman. http://hquintana.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=RickParkerPhoto&p=&AID=6537323