USS IOWA

USS Iowa

Bay Ship & Yacht Co. partners with Pacific Battleship Center to save the USS Iowa, BB-61.

Alameda, June 18, 2012: In the Spring of 2012, Bay Ship & Yacht began the exciting experience of working on the legendary battleship USS Iowa. Having first worked on her several years ago as she was moored with the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet; Bay Ship & Yacht Co. was selected by the Pacific Battleship Center (PBC) as the preferred contractor tasked with preparing her to become Southern California’s newest maritime museum.

The US Navy still owns the USS Iowa (BB-61) but awarded PBC the custodianship of her as a museum piece. PBC was born, in part, out of the San Francisco effort to turn her into a local museum. When the San Francisco efforts became overwhelmed with difficulty, PBC found a partner in the Port of Los Angeles who welcomed her with open arms.

Currently carrying the largest guns on the West Coast, she is a massive ship measuring 887 feet long x 108 feet wide with a displacement of 45,000 tons. She was designed in the late 1930’s and was launched in 1942 amidst one of our nation’s greatest trials, WWII. Carrying up to 2,200 sailors, she saw service in the European Theater, Pacific Theater, was Admiral William F. (Bull) Halsey’s flagship in Tokyo Bay, Japan during the Japanese surrender in 1945. She saw further service in the Korean War, Viet Nam and other recent conflicts. Through her extensive battle experience she suffered many enemy attacks from gunfire, kamikaze aerial attacks, torpedo attacks, and a catastrophic explosion in one of the turrets in 1989. She became known as the battleship of Presidents for having carried Franklin D. Roosevelt to war meetings in Tehran in 1943; hosted Ronald Reagan during Liberty Weekend under the Statue of Liberty in 1986; and George H.W. Bush.

To prepare her to become America’s newest naval museum, Bay Ship & Yacht was chosen over several other contractors to preserve the ship. To make matters more difficult, the work wasn’t ready to start until a mere 10 weeks prior to departure from the San Francisco Bay which. Bay Ship heard the call, and although very busy with commercial work with other valuable clients; Bay Ship had to meet the challenge to save one of America’s honored veterans.

In that ten week timeframe, Hector Trujillo, Project Manager for Bay Ship and Yacht, lead the crews to mobilize on-site, wash the entire vessel, sandblast extensively, and apply multiple coats of PPG’s PSX One paint from the waterline to the tip of the mast. When she was placed into mothballs in 2001, her mast was cut off to fit under the Carquinez Bridge, so the mast needed to be repaired and re-stepped by derrick barge and in keeping with naval tradition a commemorative State of Iowa coin was placed at the mast base. To protect the environment, all waste water, dust, debris, and paint chips were captured and properly disposed of in accordance with the most stringent environmental regulations anywhere. Through the worst weather of the year the Bay Ship & Yacht crews persevered, working long days and well into each weekend to achieve the PBC’s required delivery date. Hector Trujillo commented on the PBC crew saying “Part of the success of the project was the cooperative nature of the PBC crew to ensure the ship looked its best and was ready for public viewing.”

David Ashton, Senior Project Manager for Bay Ship & Yacht, commented that “The USS Iowa is one of the world’s great ships and a significant part of the historical fabric of America. Bay Ship & Yacht was delighted to play such an important role in preserving her for future generations to understand her historical significance. We were faced with a massive challenge, and without hesitation, we knew we would accomplish it and we did. It was important to us to be part of this wonderful project.” Alan Cameron, General Manager of Bay Ship and Yacht, commented “We are so proud to participate in the restoration of the USS Iowa” when asked about the project.

Bay Ship & Yacht is America’s premier shipyard specializing in vessels of all sizes and complexities and capable of work in remote locations. Located in the San Francisco Bay, Bay Ship & Yacht attracts commercial vessels, private mega-yachts, historic and government vessels from the Pacific to Atlantic oceans including all coastal areas in-between due to its stellar reputation and ability to get projects done on time, on-budget, with unrivaled quality, and with a sincere dedication to customer satisfaction. Please contact Bay Ship for all your shipyard needs.

Photo taken by Training Coordinator, Chris Rochette.

Photo taken by Senior Project Manager, Dave Ashton.

2900 Main Street #2100 | Alameda, CA 94501 | 510-337-9122 | fax: 510-337-0154