USS Iowa gun tube #270 –An amazing final journey, part I

ByMarcusRobbins

Norfolk Naval Shipyard

The USS Iowa (BB 61) has a proud early naval history of service to the United States by projecting our overseas strength and providing firepower soon after it was commissioned in early 1943 Iowa entered intoserviceatthemid-partofWorldWarII and was present at the surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 Later anothercalltodutywasissuedforservingin theKoreanconflictwhicheventuallyended withanarmisticeonJuly27,1953.

TheAmericanBattleshipisawonderment ofnavaltechnologyandprojectspowerfrom bowtostern.Specificallylookingbackupon Iowa’s construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, gun Tube #270 was installed in turret 1, left position till removal circa 1954 to be relined at the Naval Gun Factory, Washington Navy Yard and reproved at Dahlgren, Virginiaasareadyspare Fast forward 30 years and note that Iowa BB 61 and her sister battleships being the New Jersey (BB 62) Missouri (BB 63) and Wisconsin(BB64)areallreactivatedin1984 as part of the plan for a 600-ship Navy It is sometime shortly thereafter that 9 ready spare tubes arrive at the St Julien’s Creek Annex(SJCA)oftheNorfolkNavalShipyard (NNSY)tobeforwarddeployediftherewere everneedforvesselrepairs Irememberthis event well because I issued a small Public Works contract work order to prepare a 3-foot-deepstonefoundationbaseinagrass field before they arrived from Dahlgren for longtermstoragetoawaitasreadyspares

In 1995 one of these nine tubes makes the trip to NNSY’s historic Trophy Park to whereitisdisplayedtoday,thatisTube#290 which served upon USS New Jersey BB 62 throughoutbothWorldWarIIandKorea.

In June of 2011, the Coast Defense Study Groupwasaskedtohelpfindsafehomesfor the remaining eight historic 16-inch/Mark 7 barrels at SJCA or the would be sold for scrap and cut into eight-foot sections At almost70feetlongandweighingnearly120 tonsitbecamequitethelaboroflovetofind groupsthatmightbeinterestedyettodateall havebeenrelocatedtoeitherformercoastal batteries to help interpret the battle on the homefront or adjacent to ships or memorialparks Soasanasideitisimportanttounderstand that Gun #270 was the first 16-inch/Mark 7 gun ever built and is special representing advancements of American naval firepower.Thefinalmulti-stepdestinyofsame shallbesummarizedasfollows thusmytitle referenceofUSSIowa,GunTube#270-An AmazingFinalJourney,PartI.

Collaboration between the Navy and multiple private stakeholder organizations have already seen tangible portions of the visionaccomplishedlateJanuary2023

The existing uneven surrounding earth from when Tube #270 was repositioned in 2018 after three other adjacent tubes were removed was overcome by the US Navy’s finest,theSeabeesfromJointExpeditionary BaseLittleCreek-FortStory.Theyutilized skills with survey instruments to shoot elevationstodeterminecutandfillrequired beforeactivatingoftheirmassiveCaterpillar 120MRoadGrader

NextcamelocalcontractorBarnhartwith their self-designed 1 shot double gantry crane system capable of lifting 500 tons Powered by hydraulics this crane system never even recognized the almost 120 tons within the slings as it quietly lifted then loweredtheguntubeontoanequallyamazing120-wheelheavylifttrailer

A short night time road trip from SJCA to Marine Specialty Painting adjacent to NNSY followed soon thereafter It is here we shall seetheexistingcoatingsremovedandafresh coatofpreservationoverthenextmonthorso

What is next? Well, you can read about it here in a future issue of Service to the Fleet as we cover the USS Iowa Gun Tube #270AnAmazingFinalJourney,PartIIasittransits the roads of Portsmouth, Norfolk and Virginia Beach for a final display location adjacenttotheOldCapeHenryLighthouse atFortStorylaterthissummer.