USS Iowa reaches California, will become museum
May 30, 2012, 10:40 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The USS Iowa, a World War II-era battleship, was at anchor Wednesday off the Port of Los Angeles, where it will become a museum.
The decommissioned warship arrived after being towed down the California coast from the Port of Richmond.
The Iowa will be permanently berthed in the port and operated as a museum by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Pacific Battleship Center, which was selected over a San Francisco Bay area organization.
The battleship was first commissioned in 1943 and saw action in World War II and the Korean War. It was decommissioned for the final time in 1990 and spent the past decade in the Suisun Bay mothball fleet.
The vessel’s hull will be cleaned before it is brought into the harbor Saturday.
A tugboat will initially tow the Iowa to a temporary mooring, then lead it down the harbor’s main channel to its permanent berth June 9, Crowley Maritime Corp. said.
The museum is scheduled to open July 7, following a reunion of USS Iowa veterans.
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