UPDATE: Weather Cooperates, USS Iowa Leaves For L.A. May 26

May 24 Update: , May 26 at 11 a.m. for more details.

 

Headline, May 22: UPDATE: Gale Winds Pick Up, Continuing to Postpone Farewell to WW II Battleship USS Iowa BB 61 Sunday

May 22 Update From the Pacific Battleship Center's Facebook Page: "Tuesday Weather Update: the system has picked up a little bit with gale wind warnings on Weds/Thurs/Fri down the central and southern coasts. We are still looking late in the week for departure. As soon as we have more information we will put it out there."

May 21 Update From the Pacific Battleship Center's Facebook Page: Weather update: the system continues to be forecasted for late this week off of southern California, but looks to be tapering off late in the week."

Update: Weather in Southern California has postponed the departure of the U.S.S. Iowa on its planned journey to Los Angeles to become a museum. It remains in the Port of Richmond while waiting for the storm system to clear.

Lisa Lacher, a spokeswoman with with the Pacific Battleship Center, the nonprofit organization that has been restoring the ship, said high waves and strong winds expected with the approaching system would make it difficult to tow the 887-foot long, 58,000-ton battlewagon in the open ocean.

Officials from Crowley Maritime Corp., the tow boat operator charged with towing the ship, said all activities related to the movement of the Iowa will be rescheduled once the weather system passes. Lacher said officials will be evaluating the weather conditions on a day-to-day basis.

Meanwhile, the ship will be closed to visitors, as planned until its ribbon-cutting in San Pedro, the message said. Those wishing to receive updates can check at its Pacific Battleship Center website

The SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a restored World War II Liberty ship, which had planned to take well-wishers to cruise alongside the Iowa, changed plans to take visitors to view the Iowa at its berth in Richmond:

"The cruise on the SS JEREMIAH O'BRIEN will go on as planned today. Due to inclement weather in the south, the USS IOWA will not be leaving the Bay Area, but we will sail to Richmond to see the IOWA in her berth, having our champagne toast, gunnery salute, flags flying, band playing, and all festivities as planned."

If you read Patch writer Parke Ballantine's story about , the last of the battleships, while it was berthed in Richmond but didn't get there yourself, you have one last chance.

 Marking the end of an era in local maritime history, the U.S.S. Iowa will be towed out of San Francisco Bay on Sunday and taken to San Pedro in Southern California, where the World War II battleship will be turned into a museum ship later this year.

The historic vessel, which was launched in 1942 and served in the U.S. Navy until 1990, will not be leaving without a proper goodbye and send-off, however, as several special cruises and events are planned for Sunday afternoon.

The SS Jeremiah O'Brien, one of only two fully functioning World War II Liberty Ships left in the world, will be hosting "A Champagne Toast to the Iowa," an event that will feature a cruise where the ship will meet up with the Iowa in San Francisco Bay once the battleship departs its mooring at Richmond, scheduled to happen at around 2:30 p.m.

"We will escort her to the Golden Gate. When we get there we'll do a champagne salute and the blow the whistle for her, and see her off to her new home port of Los Angeles," said Capt. Patrick Buttner, 77, who will be at the helm of the Jeremiah O'Brien.

The Iowa will also be escorted by the U.S.S. Potomac, which was President Roosevelt's "floating White House" during World War II, and is expected to pass underneath the Golden Gate Bridge around 3:30 p.m.

Among the many notable historical events that Iowa took part in over its storied tenure was the transportation of Roosevelt to the Tehran Conference in 1943, and the ship was present in Tokyo Harbor when Japan surrendered to the U.S. in 1945.

"The Big Stick," nicknamed for its  16-inch guns, was mouldering in Suisun Bay, one of the dwindling numbers of ships in the so-called "Mothball Fleet."

The U.S.S. Iowa (BB-61) is the first of four “Iowa Class Battleships” from World War II. It is the last such ship to find a permanent home befitting its momentous past. The other three are the U.S.S. New Jersey (now in Camden, N.J.), U.S.S. Missouri (at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and historic, for Japan's unconditional surrender was signed on its decks), and U.S.S. Wisconsin (in Norfolk, VA).

"You can't honor a ship like that enough—I am flattered in being involved in saluting her, in any way that I can. It's a salute to the people that helped win World War II," said Buttner, a San Rafael resident who spent 40 years working in the maritime industry. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even if you're not a military buff, it is so unique to see a ship like that under way."

The "Champagne Toast to the Iowa" cruise is scheduled to take place 1-5 p.m., with boarding beginning at noon on Sunday aboard the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, located at Pier 45 in Fisherman's Wharf. Tickets are $85.

More information is available at www.ssjeremiahobrien.org and www.pacificbattleship.com.

By Bay City News

Los Altos Patch Editor L.A. Chung, KTVU.com, and CNN.com contributed to this story. 

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