After a hectic first month of combat, Iowa’s war slowed down. The second half of March and April were spent supporting the carrier groups, which at this point in the war were not facing a serious air threat. May 1st saw Iowa returning to action with the bombardment of Ponape Atoll, accompanied not only by New Jersey but also by Massachusetts, North Carolina, Alabama, and South Dakota. The Japanese were smart enough to keep their heads down this time, despite the extensive damage that was done to their infrastructure, primarily the island's three runways. After 70 minutes, the bombardment was terminated for lack of suitable targets.

Iowa firing her guns in the Pacific

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Although overshadowed in the public eye by the carriers, battleships played an important part in America's efforts during WWII. The battleships the US operated during WW2 fall very nicely into two categories: the 15 slow battleships built before the naval treaties, some dating back as far as 1910, and the 10 fast battleships, built under the naval treaties from 1937 onward.

USS Iowa, 1943

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I've discussed the matter of battleship fire control at some length, but I focused on the various mechanisms necessary to compensate for the difficulty of shooting at moving targets at sea. What I didn't cover in any detail is the equally intricate process of making sure that the shell lands where you want it to 20 miles away.

USS Iowa firing a broadside

Let's start with the forces on the projectile. The most important is gravity. Obviously, gravity pulls the projectile down, and makes it curve. In a vacuum, it would form a perfect parabola, returning at the same angle it departed at, and falling at the muzzle velocity. Read more...

For the past few weeks, I've been generating topic ideas a lot faster than I can write them up, so I thought I'd consult you guys for thoughts on how to prioritize the list. I'm not going to make any promises that I'll follow any suggestions made, but they'll definitely go into my decisions on which one to pursue.

Here's some of the topics on my current list:

• Updates/expansion on old technical posts (armor/weapons/engineering/survivability)
• Updates/expansion on old history posts
• More on design history (in the vein of Ironclads and Pre-dreadnoughts, I've written up one on Dreadnought already)
• Early battleship battles (I have a post on Lissa written, probably Spanish-American and Russo-Japanese wars)
• More on WWI (A Jutland repost is going to have to wait for me to find a good way of doing maps.)
• More on battleships in WW2
• Leyte Gulf
• Amphibious Warfare
• A spotter's guide to modern warships (similar to the one on WWI and WWII I did)
• More on Net-centric
• So you want to build a battleship - design, construction, finance, operations, disposal
• Torpedoes
• More on fire control and gunnery
• The USS Missouri on Thimble Shoal
• Mothballing
• Jackie Fisher
• The Falklands (War, or the Battle of the Falklands, I guess)
• Naval auxiliaries
• I have permission from Iowa's tour lead to repost some of his sea stories that he wrote up for the tour guides
• Ship control
• Merchant sailors in WWII/Operation Pedestal
• Never-realized ideas of various powers

Also, feel free to suggest things not on this list. It skews towards older stuff, and I expect to focus my energy there for the near future. I'm definitely committed to the Iowa series, and also to one on Russian battleships.

Last time, I talked about the origins of naval fire control, and the basic problems that fire control systems have to solve. The fire control systems on Iowa are recognizable as descendants of the early systems, solving the same problems, but in a much more integrated and sophisticated way.

Left to right: Mk 37 Secondary Battery Director, Mk 38 Main Battery Director, Aft Stack

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On January 7th, 1944, Iowa transited the Panama Canal, ending her wartime service in the Atlantic. She was en route to join the US offensive against Japan in the Central Pacific. Her newly-commissioned sister New Jersey joined her to form Battleship Division 7, with Iowa serving as the flagship. They joined the 5th Fleet on the 22nd, and the next day sailed as carrier-group escorts for the invasion of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. This invasion, though eventful on the ground, saw nothing of note for Iowa. Her first combat action came on February 17th, as part of a carrier raid on the Japanese naval base at Truk to cover the landings on Eniwetok Atoll. The raid began at dawn that day, as aircraft from nine carriers pounded airfields and shipping. To catch any escapees, Admiral Spruance, commanding the American fleet, ordered BatDiv 7, with escorting cruisers and destroyers, to make a sweep around Truk to intercept any escaping enemy ships.

Iowa at sea shortly after arriving in the Pacific

To quote Samuel Eliot Morison,¹ “As Spruance’s group steamed in the direction of reported enemy ships, mighty Iowa at 1118 was attacked by a bold ‘Zeke.’² It made a near-miss alongside the wing of the bridge where Admiral Hustvedt³ was eating his lunch. ‘That was my bomb’ said the Admiral, and went on eating. The ‘Zeke’ got away.” Read more...

A couple of things:

1. I was browsing the USNI Holiday Catalog, and ran across a fantastic deal. Probably my favorite naval history books are Samuel Eliot Morison's History of US Naval Operations in WW2. Right now, the USNI has the 14-volume set on sale for $105 while supplies last. I just ordered two as presents. This is a really good deal on books I cannot recommend highly enough. When I need an answer to a question about the USN in WW2 beyond what wiki can provide, they are always the first thing I reach for. I'm pretty sure this doesn't require membership, although if you're into naval stuff, the $40 web membership pays off fairly quickly. (Or it will, if you don't use it as an excuse to buy more naval books. Which is also a valid lifestyle choice.)

2. Iowa just opened the Full Steam Ahead tour, opening up the engine rooms, plots, and CEC. Previously, you had to be family or close friends of a volunteer (or a major donor) to get this. Highly recommended.

The longest-range hit ever by a battleship at sea was approximately 26,400 yards,⁴ made by KMS Scharnhorst on HMS Glorious in the North Sea.⁵ Glorious was making at least 17 knots at the time, and it only took Scharnhorst 3 salvos to make the hit. Iowa’s 16” guns themselves had a normal maximum range of approximately 40,000 yards.⁶ Coincidentally, that is almost exactly the distance from where the ship is moored to Catalina Island, visible on a clear day. What made gun ranges like these practical?

KMS Scharnhorst

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I've discussed in great detail many of Iowa's systems, but never really talked too much about her history, so I thought that would make a good topic to start out with here.

Iowa moored in San Pedro⁷

USS Iowa (BB-61) was the fourth ship of the US Navy to bear the name, although only one of the previous three ships actually saw service.⁸ Read more...

This is the topical index of Naval Gazing posts, both here and at SSC. As I update posts originally made there, I'll update the links to the latest version. This index may not have the absolute latest posts included, because I have to manually update it, but it should do the job.

Table of Contents

• History
• Technical
• Other

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