Sorry, Vallejo--the US Navy announced today that the highly sought-after USS Iowa battleship will be going to the Port of LA and not to NorCal. San Pedro has been fighting to bring the World War II-era ship to the Port and to open it as a museum and tourist attraction. The Daily Breeze reports that the Iowa will be docked at Berth 87--the website of cargo-handling company Pasha Stevedoring & Terminals, which operates that berth, says it's 27 acres and "Just yards away from the freeway entrance."
The Iowa is famous for serving as Franklin Roosevelt's shuttle across the Atlantic to the 1943 Tehran Conference and was specially outfitted with a bathtub for the president. It served in the Korean War, then went into retirement until it was recommissioned for Cold War duty in the early eighties. In April this year, NASA announced that the California Science Center would be getting the retired Space Shuttle Endeavour, so now SoCal just needs some impressive land vehicle to complete the set.
· BULLETIN: USS Iowa goes to Port of L.A. [Daily Breeze]
· USS Iowa May Finally Get the Crowds to San Pedro [Curbed LA]
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