USS Iowa (BB-4)

History
Iowa entering drydock, 1898
United States
Name:	Iowa
Namesake:	State of Iowa
Builder:	William Cramp & Sons
Cost:	$3 million
Laid down:	5 August 1893
Launched:	28 March 1896
Sponsored by:	M. L. Drake
Commissioned:	16 June 1897
Recommissioned:	23 December 1903 2 May 1910
Decommissioned:	30 June 1908 27 May 1914 31 March 1919
Renamed:	Coast Battleship No. 4
Refit:	11 June 1899
Struck:	27 March 1923
Identification:	Hull symbol: BB-4
Fate:	Sunk as gunnery target, 23 March 1923.
Class overview
Preceded by:	Indiana class
Succeeded by:	Kearsarge class
General characteristics
Type:	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	11,346 long tons (11,528 t)
Length:	360 ft (110 m) (w/l) 362 ft 6 in (110.49 m)
Beam:	72 ft 3 in (22.02 m)
Draft:	28 ft (8.5 m) (maximum)
Installed power:	11,000 ihp (8,200 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × vertical triple expansion reciprocating engines 2 × screws
Speed:	17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement:	683
Armament:	4 × 12 in (300 mm)/35 caliber guns 8 × 8 in (200 mm)/35 cal guns 6 × 4 in (100 mm)/40 cal guns 20 × 6-pounder guns 4 × 1-pounder guns 4 × 6-pounder saluting guns
Armor:	Belt: 14–4 in (356–102 mm) Barbettes: 15–12.5 in (381–318 mm) Turrets : 15 - 17 in (432 mm) (main battery) Turrets : 4 - 8 in (203 mm) (secondary) Conning Tower: 10 in (254 mm) Deck: 3 in (76 mm)
Notes:	Armor is Harvey steel.

USS Iowa (BB-4) was a United States Navy battleship. It was the first ship commissioned in honor of Iowa and was America's first seagoing battleship. Iowa saw substantial action in the Spanish–American War. While she was an improvement over the Indiana class because of a superior design, the warship became obsolete quickly in the first quarter of the 20th century, and was used for target practice and sunk on 23 March 1923 in Panama Bay by a salvo of 14-inch shells.

On 19 July 1892, the Congress of the United States authorized a 9,000 long tons (9,100 t) warship; specifically, it was for a "seagoing coastline battleship" to fulfill the Navy's desire for a ship that could operate effectively in open waters. The preceding Indiana class, authorized by Congress as "coast-defense battleships", had many problems with endurance and speed.

Iowa had a unique design and did not belong to a specific ship class, but she represented an upgrade from the Indiana class.Iowa's keel was built by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia on 5 August 1893, who also built the coal-burning, 11,000 ihp (8,200 kW) vertical triple expansion reciprocating engines. She carried 1,795 short tons (1,628 t) of coal. Iowa was based on the earlier Indiana-class and carried a similar armament layout; she was armed with four 12-inch (305 mm) guns in twin turrets fore and aft, supplemented by eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns in four twin turrets and two above-board 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes. There was extensive testing of new armor plating; at one point, Iowa was fired on in testing to assess the strength of the steel shell. Like Indiana, Iowa was made using "Harveyized steel".

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