"Iowa" was ordered 1 July 1939, laid down 27 June 1940, launched 27 August 1942, and commissioned 22 February 1943. She conducted a shakedown cruise in Chesapeake Bay before sailing to Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland, to be ready in case the entered the Atlantic. Transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, "Iowa" made her combat debut in February and participated in the campaign for the Marshall Islands. The ship later escorted U.S. aircraft carriers conducting air raids in the Marianas campaign, and then was present at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. During the Korean War, "Iowa" bombarded enemy targets at Songjin, Hŭngnam, and Kojo, North Korea. "Iowa" returned to the US for operational and training exercises before being decommissioned on 24 February 1958. Reactivated in the early 1980s, "Iowa" operated in the Atlantic Fleet, cruising in North American and European waters for most of the decade and participating in joint military exercises with European ships. On 19 April 1989, 47 sailors were killed following an explosion in her No. 2 turret. In 1990, "Iowa" was decommissioned for the last time and placed in the mothball fleet. She was stricken from the "Naval Vessel Register" on 17 March 2006. "Iowa" was anchored as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay, California until October 2011, when she was towed from her mooring to Richmond, California for renovation as a museum ship. She was towed from Richmond in the San Francisco Bay on 26 May 2012, to San Pedro at the Los Angeles Waterfront to serve as a museum ship run by Pacific Battleship Center and opened to the public on 7 July 2012.