Dad's First Assignment
A brand new piece of Navy information discovered today.(5/23/12) We have always thought that Dad served exclusively aboard the USS Iowa. But he was first assigned to the US transport ship USS General Harry Taylor. The USS Taylor delivered supplies to the Pacific Theatre. Dad served on the Taylor from Aug 11, 1944 until Nov 14, 1944 when he was assigned to the USS Iowa.
Dad's Ship during WWII
Grandpa’s ship becomes a Museum: The Iowa will leave the Bay Area for the last time Sunday: The ship can be tracked on its journey to Los Angeles at pacificbattleship.com.
After seeing service in three wars and hosting more American presidents than any other battleship, the Iowa will take its final journey Sunday down the California coast to Los Angeles, where it will live out its days as a floating interactive museum.
When the Iowa leaves the Bay Area – its home for the past decade – it will mark the last time a World War II-era battleship passes under the Golden Gate Bridge, said Bob Rogers, Northern California spokesman for the nonprofit Pacific Battleship Center. The Iowa is the last of its kind.
“She was built to go to sea and to simply engage enemy ships and slug it out until one sank,” said Rogers, whose group will run the museum. “She and her sisters – the Missouri, the New Jersey and the Wisconsin – they were the mightiest and the most powerful battleships the United States ever made.”
The Iowa first saw service in 1943 and transported President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Iran late that year for the Tehran Conference, at which the Allies agreed to open up a second front against Germany.
The battleship served as Adm. William Halsey Jr.’s flagship during the surrender of Japan and broadcast the surrender ceremony from its sister ship the Missouri to the world
The ship also served “with distinction” in the Korean War, Rogers said, before being put into the reserve fleet. In 1984 it was reactivated and saw service during the first Gulf War, when it patrolled the Persian Gulf, before being put back in retirement in 1990.
The Iowa was also the scene of one of the Navy’s worst peacetime disasters, when one of its turrets exploded during gunnery practice off Puerto Rico in 1989. Forty-seven sailors were killed.
The ship had been docked in the Suisun Bay mothball fleet since 2001, and some naval enthusiasts hoped to transform it into a museum on San Francisco’s waterfront. The city’s Board of Supervisors voted against the idea in 2005, however, with opponents saying such a museum amounted to an endorsement of sorts for the Iraq war and for the ban that existed at the time on gays and lesbians in the military.
In recent months, the Iowa has been at the Port of Richmond, being prepared for its last journey and final task.
The ship will be flanked Sunday by the Coast Guard cutter Tern, the SS Jeremiah O’Brien and Roosevelt’s onetime yacht, the Potomac, as it leaves the bay. It is expected to pass through the Golden Gate at about 3:30 p.m.
The battleship’s departure marks the end of an era in the Bay Area, where naval installations once ringed the shoreline. But Rogers said the Pacific Battleship Center is excited about its new mission.
“Everyone is thrilled,” Rogers said.
Battleship’s departure
After seeing service in three wars and hosting more American presidents than any other battleship, the Iowa will take its final journey Sunday down the California coast to Los Angeles, where it will live out its days as a floating interactive museum.
When the Iowa leaves the Bay Area – its home for the past decade – it will mark the last time a World War II-era battleship passes under the Golden Gate Bridge, said Bob Rogers, Northern California spokesman for the nonprofit Pacific Battleship Center. The Iowa is the last of its kind.
“She was built to go to sea and to simply engage enemy ships and slug it out until one sank,” said Rogers, whose group will run the museum. “She and her sisters – the Missouri, the New Jersey and the Wisconsin – they were the mightiest and the most powerful battleships the United States ever made.”
The Iowa first saw service in 1943 and transported President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Iran late that year for the Tehran Conference, at which the Allies agreed to open up a second front against Germany.
The battleship served as Adm. William Halsey Jr.’s flagship during the surrender of Japan and broadcast the surrender ceremony from its sister ship the Missouri to the world
The ship also served “with distinction” in the Korean War, Rogers said, before being put into the reserve fleet. In 1984 it was reactivated and saw service during the first Gulf War, when it patrolled the Persian Gulf, before being put back in retirement in 1990.
The Iowa was also the scene of one of the Navy’s worst peacetime disasters, when one of its turrets exploded during gunnery practice off Puerto Rico in 1989. Forty-seven sailors were killed.
The ship had been docked in the Suisun Bay mothball fleet since 2001, and some naval enthusiasts hoped to transform it into a museum on San Francisco’s waterfront. The city’s Board of Supervisors voted against the idea in 2005, however, with opponents saying such a museum amounted to an endorsement of sorts for the Iraq war and for the ban that existed at the time on gays and lesbians in the military.
In recent months, the Iowa has been at the Port of Richmond, being prepared for its last journey and final task.
The ship will be flanked Sunday by the Coast Guard cutter Tern, the SS Jeremiah O’Brien and Roosevelt’s onetime yacht, the Potomac, as it leaves the bay. It is expected to pass through the Golden Gate at about 3:30 p.m.
The battleship’s departure marks the end of an era in the Bay Area, where naval installations once ringed the shoreline. But Rogers said the Pacific Battleship Center is excited about its new mission.
“Everyone is thrilled,” Rogers said.
Battleship’s departure