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| Country:
USA |
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Type: Battleship |
| Service:
1943 - 1990 |
| Ordered: 1 July 1939 |
| Laid down: 27 June 1940 |
| Launched: 27 August 1942 |
| Commissioned: 22 February 1943 |
| Decommissioned: 26 October 1990 |
| Struck: 17 March 2006 |
Fate: Mothballed |
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The Iowa-class battleships were a class of six fast battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 1939 and 1940 to escort the Fast Carrier Task Forces that would operate in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Four of the six laid down were completed. They comprised the final class of American battleships to be built.
The Iowa-class ships were built to steam at the same speed as the US Navy fleet of Essex-class aircraft carriers. Their main battery and secondary battery guns were designed to take on the ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy and to shell beachheads in advance of US Army and Marine Corps amphibious assaults. They carried a wide array of anti-aircraft guns to defend themselves and the carriers they escorted.
USS Iowa (BB-61) was the lead ship of the Iowa class battleship in service with the United States Navy. Iowa was launched on 27 August 1942 and commissioned on 22 February 1943. She engaged in combat during the Second World War and during the Korean War.
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