The Iowa-class vessels boasted massive anti-aircraft capability, along with propulsion plants that drove them through the water fast enough to keep up with carrier task forces.
precision firepower in the form of bombers and torpedo planes equipped with guidance systems known as pilots.
Thirty years ago last Friday the battleship USS
Wisconsin steamed out of Hampton Roads bound for the Persian Gulf. The battlewagon performed a variety of tasks once on station that September, from querying passing merchant ships about contraband goods to refueling vessels with less capacious tanks to receiving mail and supplies by helicopter for onward transfer to the fleet. Diplomatic functions were routine. A congressional delegation flew out to tour the ship and meet the crew. General Colin Powell, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put in an appearance, as did U.S. and allied dignitaries and military officers of all descriptions. Meanwhile preparations for war proceeded apace. Operation Desert Shield was a busy time.
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"Captain" Dan Johnson is in talks with the Racine Heritage Museum to donate artifacts related to shipwrecks that were found near Racine in Lake Michigan.