These are busy time for the World War II vintage Iowa Class battleships. The USS Iowa arrived yesterday in the Port of Los Angeles to tie up alongside her new permanent home, Berth 87, in San Pedro, California, where she will become a museum ship.

On the East coast, the USS New Jersey, a museum ship in Camden, NJ since 2001, has been suffering hard times financially due to a drop in tourism and a cut in state funding.  Last Wednesday, it received a a $900,000 loan guarantee from the Delaware River Port Authority.  This doesn’t solve the ship’s financial problems, but certainly buys some time.

In Hawaii, the USS Missouri, a museum ship since 1999, helped to fight off an alien invasion and save the the world.  OK, it actually fought off the alien invasion in the big budget movie, Battleship.  Apparently, the rest of the navy is blocked by an impenetrable force filed so a group of renegade officers and World War II vets and museum volunteers put the USS Missouri to sea to save the planet.  The movie only got a 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but we hear that the USS Missouri gave a wonderful performance.

There is apparently no new news on the forth Iowa class battleship, the USS Wisconsin, at the Nauticus maritime museum in Norfolk, Virginia.  Nevertheless, it is good to know that she is there in case of an alien invasion, or more  likely, a movie sequel.  Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.