USS IOWA (Page 1/1) Jake_Dragon JUL 14, 09:42 PM https://www.pacificbattleship.com/ We visited the Iowa today. It was a nice visit but it brought out emotions I haven't had in a while. I was in the Navy when we lost the 47 shipmates. My cousin would have been on board if he would have reenlisted. Anyway I didn't take pictures but I did snap this one. All you crazy ****ers that served and those that flew I thank you for your service. For those that didn't return I bow my head and I thank you for your sacrifice maryjane JUL 15, 03:49 AM Them old HUPs were a thing of beauty and a hazard to navigation all rolled into one from everything I've read about them. That big pylon on the rear sticks up so high in order to allow one set of rotors to be above the other so they didn't have to worry about timing the tandem rotors to avaid interference. There was one in the hangar next to the classes I taught at Millington NATTC in 71-72. To get in one, you had to crawl in a hatch int the bottom front of the fuselage. That same Continental 9 cylinder radial engine was used in lots of tracked vehicles, including a WW2 tank destroyer, and until the M1Abrahms came along, held the world speed record for the fastest tracked military vehicle. The Army version was called the Mule. Jake_Dragon JUL 15, 03:02 PM Explosion within Turret Two kills 47 crewmen off the coast of Puerto Rico. Since USS IOWA’s initial commissioning date in 1943, a total of 11,834 16-inch rounds fired. Jake_Dragon JUL 15, 03:06 PM The navy shut us down when this happened. Full safety review for all stations. There was a lot of people upset about this, they didn't know what happened. A lot changed after that, then almost a year later I was discharged from active duty. Notorio JUL 17, 12:45 AM Gotta love those Iowa-class battleships! For me as engineering achievements they are right up there with the Golden Gate Bridge, the SR-71 and the Saturn V.