Figure 1: USS Iowa (Battleship No. 4) running builder's trials in 1897. She is flying the house flag of her builder, William Cramp & Sons, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Iowa (Battleship No. 4) running builder's trials in 1897. Note the house flag of her builder, William Cramp & Sons, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, flying from her mast head. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Iowa (Battleship No. 4) halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1897 or early 1898, with USS Columbia (Cruiser # 12) in the right background. Published in "Uncle Sam's Navy", 1898. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Iowa (Battleship No. 4) in drydock, circa 1897-1898. This is a relatively coarse halftone image. Courtesy of Erik Heyl. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Iowa (Battleship No. 4) at anchor, circa the early 1900s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Iowa (Battleship No. 4) anchored off New York City, 1905. Photographed by C.C. Langill, New York. Collection of Warren Beltramini, donated by Beryl Beltramini, 2007. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Iowa (Battleship No. 4) in New York Harbor during the Spanish-American War Victory Fleet Review, August 1898. Photographed by E.H. Hart, Brooklyn, New York. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: USS Iowa (Battleship No. 4) steaming in New York Harbor, escorted by tugs, yachts and other craft, during the Spanish-American War Victory Fleet Review, 21 August 1898. Photographed by F.P. Jewett, Orange, New Jersey. Donated by Rear Admiral St.C. Smith. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Iowa (Battleship # 4) anchored off New York City during the Spanish-American War Victory Fleet Review, August 1898. USS New York (Armored Cruiser No. 2) is in the right distance. Photographed by George P. Hall & Son, New York. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: Coast Battleship No. 4 (ex-USS Iowa, Battleship No. 4) steaming off the Virginia Capes, under radio control from USS Ohio (BB-10) five miles away, as bombing planes made attacks on her to determine their effectiveness, 29 June 1921. Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: Coast Battleship No. 4 (ex-USS Iowa, Battleship No. 4) maneuvering under fire by battleship guns, while in use as a radio-controlled target during Fleet gunnery practice off Panama, circa 22 March 1923. Note projectiles hitting the water on either side of the target. The ship was sunk as a result of damage received in this exercise. Collection of Vice Admiral Dixwell Ketcham, USN. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 12: Coast Battleship No. 4 (ex-USS Iowa, Battleship No. 4) under fire by battleship guns, while in use as a radio-controlled target during Fleet gunnery practice off Panama, 22 March 1923. Note projectiles hitting the water on either side of the target, and the ship's collapsed forward smokestack. Photographed by A.E. Wells. The ship was sunk as a result of damage received in this exercise. Collection of Commodore Norman C. Gillette, USN. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 13: Coast Battleship No. 4 (ex-USS Iowa, Battleship No. 4) damaged after use as a radio-controlled target during Fleet gunnery practice off Panama, 22 March 1923. Note shell holes in the ship's hull side, in line with the main mast, collapsed forward smokestack, and other damage to her superstructure. Also note numbers painted around her lower foretop, probably to indicate bearings, and F5L flying boat taxiing in the left background. The target ship was sunk as a result of damage received in this exercise. Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
USS Iowa (originally called Battleship No. 4) was an 11,346-ton battleship built by William Cramp & Sons at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned 16 June 1897. She was one of the first modern all-steel battleships in the US Navy and was approximately 360 feet long, 72 feet wide, had a top speed of 17 knots and a crew of 727 officers and men. Iowa was armed with four 12-inch guns, eight 8-inch guns, six 4-inch guns, 20 6-pounders and four 1-pounders.
After her shakedown cruise off America’s East Coast, Iowa was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and patrolled the Atlantic seaboard for the rest of 1897 and well into 1898. Once the Spanish-American War started, Iowa was ordered to help enforce the blockade of Spanish warships at Santiago de Cuba on 28 May 1898. On 3 July 1898, the trapped Spanish ships tried to escape and Iowa was the first American warship to sight the enemy. As the Spanish ships were leaving Santiago, Iowa was also the first US battleship to fire its guns at the Spaniards, beginning what would eventually be called the Battle of Santiago. In command of the Iowa was Captain Robley D. “Fighting Bob” Evans, who eventually became one of the most famous admirals in the US Navy.
Iowa’s role in the Battle of Santiago lasted roughly 20 minutes. In that space of time, Iowa’s accurate gunfire destroyed the Spanish cruisers Maria Teresa (flagship of the Spanish task force) and Oquendo, setting both ships on fire and forcing them to beach themselves. Iowa continued the battle and, while being escorted by the converted yacht Gloucester, sank the Spanish destroyer Pluton and severely damaged the destroyer Furor, forcing that ship to beach itself as well. Finally, Iowa’s guns reduced the Spanish cruiser Viscaya into a burning heap of steel, forcing that ship to run aground so as not to sink in deep water. After the battle was over, Iowa received on board approximately 300 survivors from the Spanish warships, including Admiral Pascual Cervera, commander of the Spanish task force. It was an enormous victory for America and firmly established the US Navy as a major naval power.
After the Battle of Santiago, Iowa steamed to New York, arriving there on 20 August 1898. In October, Iowa was sent around South America to join the Pacific Squadron. She patrolled the West Coast until February 1902 and then was assigned to the South Atlantic Squadron. Iowa returned to the East Coast in early 1903 and, after an extensive overhaul, joined the North Atlantic Fleet from late 1903 to mid-1907. She was then placed in reserve, but returned to active duty in May 1910 after being modernized and given a new “cage” mainmast. For the next four years, Iowa was used as a training ship and her duties included taking US Naval Academy Midshipmen to European waters for naval exercises. The battleship was again placed out of commission from May 1914 to April 1917, but then was re-commissioned and served during World War I as a Receiving Ship at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She also was used as a training and guard ship in the Chesapeake Bay region.
Iowa was decommissioned once again at the end of March 1919 and was renamed Coast Battleship No. 4 a month later to free up her name for use on a new battleship. In 1919, the now thoroughly obsolete battleship was selected to become the US Navy’s first radio-controlled target ship. The conversion took place at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and was completed in August 1920. All of the ship’s guns were removed, remote control equipment was installed, her after boilers were converted to burn oil instead of coal, and compartments were sealed and automatic pumps were installed to control water that would be admitted after the ship was struck by either gunfire or bombs from aircraft.
After almost three years of tests, modifications and preparations, the ship was finally ready. In February 1923, the battleship transited the Panama Canal into the Pacific, where she was to serve as a target for the battleship Mississippi. One month later on 23 March, Coast Battleship No. 4 was hit from 8,000 yards by the Mississippi’s five-inch secondary batteries. Then nearly three-dozen 14-inch shells hit the target ship. Shortly after that the old Iowa sank in the Gulf of Panama.
Iowa was one of the first modern battleships in America’s new steel navy and she was instrumental in the enormous naval victory at Santiago de Cuba. She helped make the United States a world naval power and served with distinction in the US Navy for roughly 26 years. Even at the end of her career, this tough battleship withstood numerous hits before finally succumbing and slipping beneath the waves. Iowa was a remarkable warship during a unique period in American naval history, a time that we will surely never see again.
