Sunday, October 16, 2011

The battleship USS Iowa fires her nine 16-inch guns in a 1984 firepower demonstration.
PH1 Jeff Hilton

BOUND FOR SOCAL... Earlier last month, it was announced that the battleship USS Iowa would find a permanent home at the Port of Los Angeles. The famous warship is expected to be towed from her current location at Suisun Bay in Northern California to San Pedro in Southern California by early next year...depending on weather conditions in the Pacific in either December or January. The USS Iowa will be managed by the Pacific Battleship Center, a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles.

This is great news for SoCal. Along with the fact Los Angeles’ California Science Center will be getting space shuttle Endeavour (which is currently being decommissioned at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after being retired in June) as early as next August, 2012 looks to be a great year to be a space or military buff living in the City of Angels.

Of course, one wonders if there’ll eventually be Halloween tours onboard the USS Iowa (a la the Queen Mary’s annual Halloween haunt fest in Long Beach) after it arrives in LA. If you remember the tragic accident that took place onboard the Iowa in 1989, then you’ll know why I’m wondering that. Hey, it’s a legitimate (albeit tasteless) question...for the most part. Carry on.

Space shuttle Endeavour undergoes decommissioning at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA / Ken Shiflett

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