page_title: USS Iowa (BB-4)
section_title: 1898–1904
hierarchical_section_title: USS Iowa (BB-4) / Service history / 1898–1904
caption_attribution_description: LC-DIG-DET-4a14261: USS Iowa (Battleship #4), port view, going under the Brooklyn Bridge. Photographed by Detroit Publishing, between 1897 and 1901. (6/12/2015).
context_page_description: USS Iowa (BB-4) was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the United States Navy in the mid-1890s. The ship was a marked improvement over the previous Indiana-class battleships, correcting many of the defects in the design of those vessels. Among the most important improvements were significantly better seaworthiness owing to her greater freeboard and a more efficient arrangement of the armament. Iowa was designed to operate on the high seas, which had been the impetus to increase the freeboard. She was armed with a battery of four 12-inch guns in two twin-gun turrets, supported by a secondary battery of eight 8-inch guns.
  Upon entering service in June 1897, Iowa conducted training operations in the Atlantic Ocean before moving to the Caribbean in early 1898 as tensions between the United States and Spain over Cuba grew, leading to the Spanish–American War. The ship took part in the bombardment of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then participated in the blockade of Cuba during the war, and after the Spanish cruiser squadron was found in Santiago de Cuba, she patrolled off the harbor to block their escape.
context_section_description: Iowa left Cuban waters after Spain surrendered in August, arriving in New York on 20 August. Captain Silas Terry took command of the ship on 24 September and on 12 October, she departed for the West Coast of the United States, where she was to join the Pacific Squadron. The next year passed uneventfully and Iowa put into the Puget Sound Navy Yard for an overhaul that began on 11 June 1899. She took part in training exercises off San Diego, California from 20 December to 15 January 1900. On the first day of the exercises, Iowa lost one of her Howell torpedoes after the practice warhead likely detached after it was launched. In March 2012, a pair of dolphins that were part of the Navy's Marine Mammal Program recovered the torpedo, which was missing the practice warhead; the section recovered was later transferred to the Underwater Archaeology Branch for preservation. The torpedo is one of three Howell torpedoes known to exist. During the period in San Diego, she received a pair of 3-inch field guns and four M1895 Colt-Brownings that were chambered in .30-40 Krag for use by landing parties ashore. After the training exercises, Iowa underwent a refit, after which she resumed her peacetime routine of training exercises, shooting practice, and cruises in the eastern Pacific. Captain Philip H. Cooper took command of the ship on 9 June, serving as her commander until 1 April 1901. On 8 September, the sailing ship Mary Flint collided with her while she was at anchor in San Francisco Bay and then collided with a barque and sank.
  In early February 1902, she was transferred to the South Atlantic Squadron to serve as its flagship. During this period, she visited a number of foreign ports, including Montevideo, Uruguay from late July to 2 August, Santos, Brazil from 6 to 7 August, Salvador, Brazil from 11 August to 8 September, Trade Island from 8 to 14 September, Montevideo again from 22 to 28 September, Puerto Belgrano, Argentina from 28 September to 19 October, Montevideo a third time from 22 October to 6 November, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 10 to 18 November. From there, she steamed north to the West Indies, stopping in the Gulf of Paria from 29 November to 4 December. She then took part in a search exercise off Mayagüez, Puerto Rico from 9 to 10 December. She then joined maneuvers off Culebra, Puerto Rico between 11 and 19 December, before steaming to visit Saint Lucia on 21 December. The next day, she traveled to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where she stayed until 28 December. Iowa returned to Culebra on 30 December and lay there through 1 February 1903. The ship visited St. Kitts from 2 to 6 February and Ponce, Puerto Rico from 6 to 11 February before turning north for New York the next day. She took an indirect route, visiting Galveston, Texas, from 18 to 26 February and Pensacola, Florida, from 28 February to 1 April. She took part in shooting practice there from 1 to 9 April, during which one of her main battery guns exploded. She underwent repairs at the Pensacola Navy Yard from 9 to 23 April, and then resumed her voyage northward. She reached Cape Henry, Virginia, staying there from 28 to 30 April, then Tompkinsville from 1 to 7 May; she finally reached the New York Navy Yard later on 7 May. She was decommissioned there on 30 June.
  On 23 December, Iowa was recommissioned and underwent a refit that included replacing the 4-inch guns on her aft superstructure with a pair of 6-pounder guns in early January 1904. She then joined the North Atlantic Squadron, which was then in European waters. She visited Piraeus, Greece, from 30 June to 6 July, the island of Corfu from 8 to 9 July, and then Trieste and Fiume in Austria-Hungary for the rest of the month. On 2 August, she crossed the Adriatic to Palermo, Italy, staying there for three days before getting underway for Gibraltar, which she visited from 9 to 13 August. She then re-crossed the Atlantic, stopping in Horta in the Azores from 18 to 20 August. The ship reached Menemsha, Massachusetts on 29 August and stayed there until 5 September, waiting for her turn at the Navy's tar
caption: Iowa passing under the Brooklyn Bridge
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