rtech580 (June 4, 2008 at 11:53 am)

Thanks! It would be interesting to find out what the equipment the Navy leaves working.I read the turrents are welded down on 62, I assume the same is true on 63. 61 and 64 were "not to be altered" but I don't know for sure.

Cirux321 (June 4, 2008 at 9:26 am)

Quite a bit of asbestos was removed in the 80's modernizations. But there is still a lot of asbestos left. Regardless of that, the slow rate of opening processes is highly affected by funding. The Navy only appoints people to go aboard and deactivate critical systems that public will have "hands on" contact with. The money for such is from the museum organizations and state funding. As we all know, it takes a lot of time to make a vessel that size a "safe" environment for mass public access.

rtech580 (June 3, 2008 at 4:24 am)

I looked at the Missouri website, they offer an "Explorer's Tour". That's what I would like to take.

rtech580 (June 3, 2008 at 3:55 am)

Wow! I thought the Navy would not have exposed Sailors to asbestos in the 1980's.What's the tour where you have to wear a hard hat, mask and other safety equipment? Are they still offering that tour?

billgx (June 3, 2008 at 3:48 am)

Much of the ship is closed to the public due to health risks posed in many of the spaces. There is asbestos everywhere.And it's a huge ship. Can you imagine if someone fell down a ladder and went for days undiscovered? Sounds impossible until you've traversed as much of the ship as I have. If the whole thing were opened, it would take hours to do a sweep to ensure everyone had left the ship each day.

cdubois13 (June 2, 2008 at 10:33 pm)

I like this video alot because I have a real interest in the Iowa class battleships.Does anyone know where I can see this entire video and what documentary this footage came from?I'd like to see all the footage if available.

rtech580 (June 2, 2008 at 9:28 pm)

I guess I don't understand why Missouri is only 50% accessible. One would think the Navy would have removed items they didn't want the public to view. What good is a museum that's half open? I read that the New Jersey museum, the folks that run the ship, are working to open Broadway. Is it a mess or what could be so out of order that they have to raise money to repair? I'm in the dark on ship museums.

Cirux321 (June 2, 2008 at 6:42 pm)

From what I've been lead to understand, is that Missouri is only around 50% accessible with New Jersey around 40%. Wisconsin is only around 30% open for public and Iowa, of course, is currently not open for any public. Many of the control and command rooms are not accessible (for good reasons) and quite a bit of the below decks are still being prepped for public access.

rtech580 (May 28, 2008 at 12:43 pm)

From what I read on the Internet, Missouri is the one that the public is allowed to crawl around in and see almost every area of the ship. Maybe someone knows differently.

Lesh007 (May 28, 2008 at 3:38 am)

I would say the Wisconsin is the best bet to be reactivated if any of them were. The Iowa's #2 turret was never completely repaired after the 1980's accident. BB64 was still in mothballs last year even though the upper decks were open to the public. They are a great display of force projection. Their role in todays navy would be that of bombardment for the marines and a huge missile platform. It would probably have to go thru another upgrade to make it somewhat cost effective.