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From: roth@smoot.enet.dec.com (Lee Roth)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: USS IOWA
Message-ID: <1990Jun4.194240.4316@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 4 Jun 90 19:42:40 GMT
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Organization: DEC - Field Service Networks - Columbus, Ohio
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From: roth@smoot.enet.dec.com (Lee Roth)



When the number two turret on USS Iowa (BB61) suffered damage last year,
I wondered if the US Navy still had the ability to repair the 16" guns.
The four Iowa's were the only US ships to mount 50 cal. guns, so spare
parts are unlikely to be found on the surviving South Dakota class units
as they mounted 45 cal. guns. 

This brings me to a question I have been unable to have answered. When
and why were the optical range finders removed from turret one of the
four Iowa class battleships? Photos of the ships clearly show them in
1945, but missing during Korea. I've read that a Navy unit in Kentucky
recently repaired Iowa's damaged range finder. While this is great
news, I would like to know if the removed range finders were torched
or saved.

Terry L. Fouts

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 |  "No mattter how thin you slice it, it's still baloney."                  |
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