Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-02-18
upper Batf|eship Iowa
Looks Like Answerto
Air Power Menace
Latest Unit for Fleet
Bristles With Guns;
Grummun Plant BUSY
BY JAMES Y. NEWTON
star staff Corrnspondert

NEW YORK, Feb. l8.-The Nav,
believes it has the answer to tn,
airplane menace to sea power in tn,
SUPERINTENDENT Iowa, the $4,000
ton battleship which soon will JON
the feet bristling with more bac
news for Stukas and Zeros than eve
before protruded from the decks o
warship.
Correspondents on A tour of in
spection of the Nays latest comba,
weapons, most OF which are so closely
guarded that they cannot be men
toned even in general terms. spent
a half day observing performance OF
the newest carrier based fighters
and bombers at the nearby Grum.
man plant, home Of the Wildcat, the
plane which did so much to hole
and win Guadalcanal. A later visit
was made to the New York Navy
Yard. home of the Iowa, and some
equally bad medicine for the Axis
Convincing Display.
Newsmen were pretty we'll con-
vinced and-more mportant--some
air-minded officials were. too, that
the Iowa could take care of herself
in fight with anything the enemy
Is known to possess. Her decks lined
with 40 and 20 nm. anti aircraft
guns. and some of larger size
resembled an asparagus patch. Her
crew already was itching for action
A Junior officer, viewing the show.
summed up their attitude well with
Il would like to give this guy
Seversky a ride and let him watch
what happens"
The JapS may have some $4,000
ton ships with 16-inch guns" said
another officer, but with this baby
we believe we can more than hold
our own against anything We find
In the Pacific"
Another officer, who had partici-
pated in smuggling matches with the
japanese, expressed the opinion that
Dap gunnery was mot so hot" de-
spite a number of hits by enemy
shells on the vessel on which he was
then serving. IF we had had the
same crack at them that they had
at u.s." he said, I'VE would have
blasted them out of the water. And
they couldn't do that to u.s."
Want Umbrella of Planes.
Officers of the Iowa said that when
they 60 out to fight the Japs they
want to have an umbrella of air
planes to tangle with enemy planes
and shoot down good share of
them before they come within range
Of the battleship's devastating anti
aircraft fire, which will handle the
rest of them"
Public faith in big battle wagons
was renewed a few months ago when
one of our ships operating in the
Eolomons met three successive
waves of Jap torpedo and dive
bornbers and knocked a conserva-
tive 80 into the sea. The big ship
paused to brush off the Japs and
then went about her main task of
enemy warships. The Iowa,
1t was said, has even more guns
than the heroine of the South Seas.
Our Navy has built fleet of bat
tleships since the war began. They
are turned out much faster than
was believed possible earlier. A
number, though less powerful than
the Iowa, have more striking power
than anything believed in Axis
hands. The Iowa, first of her class,
is speedy (reportedly better than 80
knots, less vulnerable to torpedo
damage. more heavily armed. A
sistership, the New Jersey, also will
oe ready soon.
Speeded Ship Defenses.
During all the time the British,
the Germans, Italians and ourselves
were having little luck in trying to
match the airplane with big sea
craft the Navy quietly went about
the business of getting out battle
ships in hurry, experimenting with
methods of protecting them from
air attacks. They seem to have
succeeded.
Another little piece of unfinished
business the Navy would enjoy
taking on soon would be to lure the
famed German Won Tirpitz within
striking distance of the Iowa. Ex-
perts say it strictly would be no
contest" They know pretty well
our big boat is superior to the Nazi
In veery way.
The New York yard. one of our
biggest and best is teeming with
activity. The number Of workers
has been more than tripled since
midsummer Of last year. Thousands
Of these are used each day in fin
.shing and fitting the Iowa.
The Grammar plant on Long
Island has built far more fighters
and light bomber types for the Navy
than any other firm. officials
staged an air show for correspond
ents, taking the, wraps off some Of
their potent packages. The Wildcat
was seen in action and other planes
including the torpedo welding
AVenger, zoomed, climbed, rolled