The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-08-25

The five sister ships of the Iowa are being built at various yards throughout the country. They are the New Jersey, Missouri, Wiscon- sin, Illinois and Kentucky.
 Iowa Statistics
 Although most of the specified tions of the U. s. s. Iowa are mill tary secrets, some facts about the ship may be told.
 Her main battery will consist of 16 inch guns. Her length of 880 feet will be POO feet shorter than the largest ocean liner. AS she goes down the ways, she will be the heaviest vessel ever launched.
 History of Previous Iowas
 The U. s. s. Iowa is the fourth Navy ship to be so called, her prede- cessors having been post Civil war screw sloop; battleship which saw service in the Spanish-American war, and was used as training snip during the first World war, and another battleship which was scrapped before completion.
 The first Iowa was originally the 3.2OO ton U. s. s. Ammonoosuc which was started at the Boston navy yard in 1864 and finished at New York in 1867. The name was changed to Iowa on May Is, 1869, and A battery of g guns installed Stricken from the Navy Register in 1882. the ship was sold on Septem- Der 27, 1883 to Hubbel & Porter, Syracuse, N. Y, for $44.605.
 Authorized in 1892, the second IOWA was built by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa, launched March 28, 1896, and commissioned June 16 1897. The $3,010,000 vessel of II, 1,346 tons displacement carried a complement of forty-one officers and 789 men and mounted four 12" and four 4" guns. Within a year, she saw active service as flagship of Admiral Simpsons squadron. Later, joining Commodore Schley's flying squadron off Cien- feugos, Cuba, the second IOWA did blockade duty off Santiago de Cuba from May 28 to July 2, 1898, and on July 3, was the first to sight approaching Spanish ships. She fired the first shot in the battle of Santiago and though struck several times, suffered no casualties. AS a result of the engagement, the IOWA took abroad as prisoners of war Admiral Pascual Cervera, his son and officers and men of the Span ish gunboats FUROR and FULTON, and Captain Eulate and officers and crew of the Spanish vessel VIZ CANA. Captain Robley D. Evans of the IOWA declined to accept the sword of Captain Eulate who was wounded.
 The second IOWA made several cruises in home and foreign waters from October 12, 1898 until May B, 1914, when she was placed out of commission. The advent of World War I, however, saw her re-com- misisoned on April g, 1917 and after serving as receiving ship at Philadelphia for six months, she was sent to Hampton Roads, Va, re- maining there for the duration of the war, training men for other ships of the fleet, and doing guard duty at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.
 Again placed out of commission on March 31, 1919, her name was changed to Coast Battleship No. 4. She was used as target and sunk March 22, 1923 and was stricken from the Navy list five days later. As she sank, the then Secretary of the Navy Denby, on board the U. s. s. MARYLAND, ordered the band to play the Star Spangled Banner" while the national salute of 21 guns was fired. Almost 10000 officers and men aboard the battle ships MARYLAND, CALIFORNIA, PENNSYLVANIA and ARIZONA maned the rails while those vessels, as final tribute, circled the spot where the IOWA went down.
 The third IOWA was authorized May 1, 1918 and the keel was laid at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.,, May IT, 1920.
 Construction was discontinued on this vesel, however, and she was scrapped in accordance with the terms of the Washington Treaty limiting naval armament, effective August, 1923. The third IOWA was to have been 684 feet in length, 105 feet in breadth and of 43,20O tons displacement. She was to have car ried complement of 66 officers