USS Iowa Leaves Ghost Fleet

For a decade, the USS Iowa has languished away as the largest and most prestigious member of the Navy’s "reserve fleet" — a.k.a, the mothball fleet — in Suisun Bay. Towed to the Bay Area from Rhode Island in ’01 in hopes of turning her into an attraction at Fisherman’s Wharf, an ’03 ‘no’ vote by the San Francisco supervisors left her future murky. But yesterday the 887-ft behemoth took her first steps toward becoming a permanent interactive museum and memorial to battleships.

In September, the Navy announced it had donated the WWII veteran to Los Angeles’ Pacific Battleship Center, which beat out Vallejo in a bid to restore the craft and turn her into a museum. Several tugs were on hand yesterday to guide Iowa as far as Benicia. Today, the trip will continue to Richmond, where she will spend the next few months undergoing a refit for the trip south.

Jim ‘Goose’ Gossman was on the scene aboard his West Wight Potter 14 Gale. "There were only a few boats out and a couple of helicopters," he said. "The Iowa is huge! And those tug boat captains are really good. It was flooding like crazy, but winds were light. We even got in a little sailing. Hanging with the Potter Yachters out of Richmond on Saturday, so we should get another look at the big bruiser."

If you can sneak out of work early today, be sure to keep an eye out for Iowa‘s transit to Richmond. And don’t forget your camera!