San Francisco rejects USS Iowa

[dcunning30]

Kinda old story but new to me.

City of San Francisco board of supervisors reject  allowing the USS Iowa to berth at Fisherman's Warf and become a floating museum as a protest to the Iraq war and the military's position on gays.

Opinions?

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/20/D8C3PH0G0.html

[Felix/FFDS]

I think that Stockton CA should have it, over, for example, Sacramento, CA

Then again, I think the state of Iowa should raise the money and bring it to their state....

[dcunning30]

Then again, I think the state of Iowa should raise the money and bring it to their state....

Awesome!

[dcunning30]

...but my opinion of this is the history and value of the USS Iowa should be seperate from current political issues.

[Felix/FFDS]

[quote]...but my opinion of this is the history and value of the USS Iowa should be seperate from current political issues.

[Hagar]

None of my business really but this does seem a petty decision. I don't know the USN's position regarding gay people but that obviously has little bearing on this as the regulations regarding gay members of the armed forces were different in most countries at the time she was decommissioned. Does the USS Iowa have any connection with San Francisco or even California? If not, I wonder why she was brought there in the first place.

In the end the decision is down to the city supervisors. That's their right as official representatives of the city no matter what I or anyone else thinks. One would have thought that this would have all been sorted out before the ship was towed there.

[dcunning30]

The current matter re: gays in the military was a policy formulated during the Clinton administration called "don't ask - don't tell".

[Hagar]

[quote]Now, why San Fransisco?

[ozzy72]

I can't agree with their position, I remember Fishermans Wharf as a friendly place and home of some seriously good grub! But I feel a boat named after a State should be based in the State it is named after....

[Hagar]

I feel a boat named after a State should be based in the State it is named after....

On that basis HMS Belfast should be in Belfast where she was built. I suspect there might well be objections to that. To the best of my knowledge she was never based anywhere near London but I can think of worse locations.

I could be wrong but believe that some USN ships were named after places that are landlocked so that might be a tad difficult.

[Fozzer]

Interesting...
I know nothing of the history, but from referring to my maps of the Bay area, (and the Flight Sim!), I would be amazed if it was possible to float a full sized Battleship under the various bridges and islands and creeks on the Sacramento River up as far as Sacramento or Stockton...!

Stockton and the surrounding area seems to lie on a flood plain, with very shallow water.

...but I could be wrong...!
Enlighten me...LOL...!

Paul... ...!

[dcunning30]

The Missouri is berthed at Pearl Harbor.  I can't think of a better location for it.  Think of the symbolism....

There's the Arizona, representing the start of the war (for the US), and not very far away is the Missouri, representing the end of the war.

[TacitBlue]

It would be almost impossible to put ships in all of the places they are named after. Iowa for example is land-locked. I doubt that the Mississippi is deep enough along its whole channel to get it all the way there.

[H]

Only two of the Pearl Harbor "battleship row" ships never returned to service (Arizona and Oklahoma -- although the latter, under tow for scrap, sank enroute in 1946). Three others were named for, basically, land-locked states: Tennessee, West Virginia and Nevada. The Tennessee and West Virginia were scrapped in 1959. The Nevada was left radioactive after atomic tests but still afloat; it was deliberately sunk in 1948 (the Pennsylvania survived Pearl Harbor, contributed more firepower against Japan than any other ship and also survived atomic blasts; radioactive, it was scuttled). So much for memorials.

[denishc]

Interesting...
I know nothing of the history, but from referring to my maps of the Bay area, (and the Flight Sim!), I would be amazed if it was possible to float a full sized Battleship under the various bridges and islands and creeks on the Sacramento River up as far as Sacramento or Stockton...!

Stockton and the surrounding area seems to lie on a flood plain, with very shallow water.

...but I could be wrong...!
Enlighten me...LOL...!

Paul... ...!

 Actually a ship as large as a Destroyer Escort can sail up the Sacrmento River almost to Sacramento itself!  And the city of Stockton has quite a port facility going alread.  But perhaps a better docking facility for the Iowa would be the old naval air station of the city of Alameda (my home town).  NAS Alameda was once the home port for the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Carl Vincent(sp), before the station was de-activated.  The deep water births and sea wall are still there and the base presently is the home for the carrier Hornet, which is now a floating museum.