The USS Iowa was last actively engaged in conflict in the late 1980s, helping escort reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran-Iraq war.
Some 25 years later, following years of being mothballed, the 887-foot long ship that once carried President Franklin Roosevelt to a World War II summit is coming to life once again as it is being prepared for what is likely its final voyage.
At the Port of Richmond, Calif., the 58,000-ton battlewagon is undergoing a $4 million restoration before being towed May 20 through the Golden Gate, then several hundred miles south to the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. There it is to be transformed into an interactive naval museum. AP
