USS Iowa

Our friend Michael came down to Southern California for a visit, so we decided to take a day to go exploring.  Owen and I have been on a WWII kick lately, watching  Enemy at the Gates, World Wars, and The Pacific. We thought this was a good opportunity to check out the USS Iowa since she served in the Pacific during WWII.
P.S. 10 points to anyone who knows why all boats/cars are ladies...

The ship came to the harbor in Long Beach in 2011 and serves as a museum.  Obviously, they've kid-proofed everything so that you can't hurt yourself or slide down anything and get stuck.  Bummer.  I DID ask if all of the kid-proofing was reversible and was told that, if need be, the Iowa would be battle ready in a few months.

The Iowa brought Roosevelt to Europe during WWII and is the only battleship in the history of the United States that has a bath tub instead of a shower to accommodate his needs.  

Our amazing tour guide, Roger, had to explain to a young museum goer what Polio was and why it was significant that a bathtub was built into a battleship.   

This is the Bridge! Can you imagine what would happen if you pushed the wrong button!

This is the navigation room, which is normally roped off but Roger let us come inside.  This is one room that was NOT kid proofed and I literally was a step away from knocking myself out!  There are two parascopes in here.  I ran into one and bounced off the other.  The first time, Roger said "Whoops! Watch your head."  The second time he said, "I said WATCH YOUR HEAD!"  I'm going to go ahead an assume that the little black dots on the wood floor by the wheel are blood stains from previous head wounds.

These were super high-tech navigation tools from back in the day.  Roger did explain how they worked, but I must have been concussed because I don't remember the specifics.

A film reel we watched said that these guns could hit a target dead-on from 40 miles away!

These two were loving every second!