THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 21, 1995 TAG: 9501210181
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
The Navy has dealt a final blow to its mothballed battleships, ordering them stricken from the register of naval vessels and turned into memorials or scrap.
At least twice before, the World War II-era dreadnoughts were taken out of service only to be brought back again when the Navy needed their powerful guns against targets like Iraq. This time, though, there is no turning back.
The four Iowa-class battleships - Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri and Wisconsin - are being released from the Navy's reserve fleet. They are too expensive to operate compared with their value to the fleet, the Navy said.
``It's a shame,'' said Navy Capt. Emmett Smith of Norfolk. Smith was a supply officer aboard the Iowa, formerly based in Norfolk and now in storage in Philadephia.
``It is such a prestigious lady, so solidly built,'' he said. ``When you walk about a ship like that you get this secure feeling. Everything around you has such an endurable nature about it.
``Even the coffee pots look industrial strength.''
The cost to keep each of the ships in mothballs is about $100,000 a year, the Navy said. The Iowa, formerly based in Norfolk, is now in storage in Philadelphia. To return them to active duty would cost $95 million per ship, plus another $80 million annually to man and operate each one.
The Navy has estimated that building one today would cost $3 billion, nearly the price of a new aircraft carrier. They require a ship's crew about the size of a carrier's, too - around 1,600.
And there is little reason to keep the ships in production: Their nine 16-inch guns were used most recently to cover beach assaults, where they're outdistanced by modern tools such as helicopters and air-cushioned landing craft.
The last of the world's battleships, the Iowa class was surpassed in size among dreadnoughts by only two others - Japanese vessels built and sunk during World War II.
All four of the U.S. ships have been decommissioned at least twice since entering service between 1943 and 1944. During the Reagan era, from 1982 to 1988, they were brought back into service to ``rearm America'' at a cost of $425 million. They were returned to mothballs between 1990 and 1992, at a cost of $20 million each, as the military began downsizing.
The battleships last fired their guns in anger during the Persian Gulf war, when the Norfolk-based Wisconsin and the Washington-based Missouri hammered Iraqi troops for weeks. The ships also fired Tomahawk missiles at Baghdad the first night of the battle.
The Navy will dispose of the ships by offering them first to private organizations and municipalities as memorials or museums. The Navy already has inquiries from San Francisco and Hawaii about the Missouri, the ship where Gen. Douglas MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender during World War II.
There also is interest from the governor of New Jersey for its namesake ship. South Carolina, which already has its namesake battleship as a memorial, also has made inquiries, the Navy said.
With so much interest, a Navy official said, it is unlikely the high-profile ships will have to be scrapped.
Still, those who walked the teak decks of the iron ships and fired their thundering guns are saddened to see them leave the Navy.
Smith, who served aboard the Iowa from July 1989 to December 1990, said he is unaware of any interest in preserving his old ship. If the 50,000-ton Iowa does wind up in the scrap heap, Smith said, someone has a tough job ahead.
``I don't know of anybody who can cut them into pieces,'' he said. ``It would be a huge challenge. Today's ships . . . well, you can use a can opener.''
Tragedy marred the Iowa's modern service record when, on April 19, 1989, 47 crewmen were killed in a gun-turret explosion. The incident didn't tarnish memories of the ship for many of those who served aboard it.
``When you would pull into a foreign port, you could just see the pride on the chest of every sailor up and down the lifelines. You wore her name proudly,'' Smith said.
``You walk on the deck and it doesn't give way,'' he said. ``Like buying a car. You slam the doors and they go `bunk.' Other cars you hear a `clink.' It was just a solid ship. Built to last.''
KEYWORDS: BATTLESHIP DECOMMISSION by CNB