About Us
USS IOWA VETERANS ASSOCIATION is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring our brotherhood lives on. We share information about current events associated with the USS IOWA, host a regular reunion, and sell merchandise allowing you to celebrate and identify your membership as a part of the crew. The organization was started by shipmates from the 1950s crew in the late 1970s. What began as an organization of just a few has now reached several thousand. We're dedicated to getting our shipmates together, having fun, and sharing experiences through our yearly reunions.
Ship's History
IOWA springs from a distinguished line of namesakes. The first IOWA, a 3,200-ton gunboat, dates back to 1864. The second, an 11,000-tonner, fired the first shot at Santiago Bay in the Spanish-American War and took the Spanish Admiral prisoner. Construction of the third IOWA was cancelled under the terms of the Washington Treaty. The present IOWA was conceived as the first of the 45,000-ton class of battleships on the drawing boards of the nation's marine and naval architects in the late 1930s.
