The USS Iowa Museum Opens in Los Angeles

From the July 7th Yahoo! News Reuters "Thousands vivit battleship USS Iowa as museum opens in L.A." by Dana Feldman.

The gallant ship's sides were draped in red, white and blue ribbons as its new role as a museum ship commenced July 7th in the Port of Los Angeles.  World War II planes: a B-25 bomber, P-40 Warhawk and P-51 Mustang did a flyover in a triangular formation to honor the occasion.

The 887-foot-long battleship was commissioned in 1943 and decommissioned in 1990.  After that, it was mothballed in San Francisco Bay until towed to Los Angeles a few months ago.  A $7 million restoration has taken place with $3 million given by the State of Iowa (I kind of wish they would have had the final berth in that state).

In World War II, it ferried FDR across the Atlantic to a meeting with Churchill and Stalin and is called "The Battleship of Presidents" and "The Big Stick."

Attendance was brisk opening day with 1,500 tickets bought inadvance and another 1000 over the counter for Saturday's grand opening.

Visitors were able to view FDRs specially-built bathtub that he had to use because of his polio. 

One visitor was Paul Chiapoinelli, 86, who was a Navy radio man during World War II but did not serve on the Iowa.  Joe Nishimura, 78, served on the Iowa in 1953 when he was 18 and received his gunnery training inthe Atlantic.

The Pacific Battleship Center group operates the museum which is open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Something Else to See in L.A..  --GreGen