Pacific Battleship Center
A community organization

Donate

Join

Login

Contact

Things to Do Near Long Beach: Discover Battleship IOWA and the Life of a Sailor

Cross the harbor for a one-of-a-kind Southern California waterfront experience.

If you are looking for something memorable to do near Long Beach, cross the harbor and step aboard one of Southern California's most distinctive attractions.

Battleship IOWA is located on the LA Waterfront in San Pedro, a short drive from downtown Long Beach. Visitors can explore a real U.S. Navy battleship and experience Life of a Sailor, an immersive journey into the people, skills, and teamwork behind America's Surface Navy.

A Hidden Gem Across the Harbor

Long Beach is known for its aquarium, waterfront, restaurants, shopping, and maritime attractions. Just across the harbor, Battleship IOWA offers an experience that cannot be recreated anywhere else.

This is not a replica or a building designed to look like a ship. Visitors climb aboard USS Iowa itself.

The ship is nearly three football fields long and once carried more than 2,700 sailors. Guests explore seven decks, walk through historic passageways, enter crew spaces, stand beneath massive guns, and look across one of the busiest working harbors in the world.

Become a Sailor for a Day

Life of a Sailor turns the visit into a mission.

Guests receive a sailor card with orders to complete aboard the ship. As they explore, they hone sailor skills, discover different Navy jobs, learn how a warship functions like a city at sea, and follow the story of a real sailor.

The experience reveals how sailors learn their responsibilities, develop technical and maritime skills, live and work together at sea, communicate across an enormous ship, respond to challenges, and become part of a crew united by purpose.

Families with younger children can also join Vicky the Dog on a scavenger hunt throughout the visitor route.

Pair It With a Long Beach Waterfront Day

Battleship IOWA can be visited on its own or combined with other destinations around the harbor, including the Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach waterfront, Queen Mary, San Pedro dining, harbor sightseeing, or a visit before or after a cruise.

Most visitors should allow approximately two to three hours aboard Battleship IOWA. Travel time between San Pedro and Long Beach can vary with bridge, port, and freeway traffic, so check current directions before departing.

An Experience for More Than History Enthusiasts

You do not have to be a naval-history expert to enjoy Battleship IOWA.

Families find a shared adventure. Children explore a ship unlike anything they have seen before. Veterans reconnect with the experience of service. Visitors interested in engineering, technology, leadership, or maritime careers discover how thousands of people and systems work together.

The ship's history is extraordinary, but the heart of the experience is human.

Discover Another Side of the Harbor

Long Beach and San Pedro share one remarkable harbor, but each offers a different experience.

Crossing to Battleship IOWA allows visitors to enter the world of the sailors who lived and served at sea - not through a screen or reproduction, but aboard the ship itself.

Receive your orders. Hone your skills. Discover your sailor. Become part of the crew.

Plan your visit to Battleship IOWA on the LA Waterfront.

TICKETS

Experience the Life of a Sailor.

A smiling family of four poses on a battleship deck, capturing the spirit of sailor life. Three give a thumbs-up. An emblem at the bottom left says Self-Guided with map and play icons. The battleship and a partly cloudy sky are in the background.

Life of a Sailor

Our general admission experience shows how sailors live, work, and serve.

Learn More
A white bathtub with bubbles holds a toy ship, rubber duck, and a book. Towels hang on metal bars by the tub. Blue tile is visible on the floor. An illustrated Guided badge appears in the lower left corner, hinting at an imaginative President’s Tour through bathtime adventures.

President’s Tour

It’s November 1943, and Battleship IOWA is on a covert mission. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his entire staff are aboard, headed for top-secret meetings with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.

Learn More
A museum guide offers an engaging overview to visitors near a large shell and diagrams on a wall, enhancing their experience. The blue guided tour icon is visible in the foreground.

Overview Experience

The overview experience is a 90-minute crew-led tour that brings the ship’s legacy to life through the stories of those who served, and those who preserve her today.

Learn More
A tour guide in a blue cap speaks to visitors, holding a clear folder with papers. A wall with diagrams and text is behind him. A Guided tour icon appears in the foreground.

Gun Tour Experience

This exclusive, behind-the-scenes journey puts you inside the systems that made Battleship IOWA one of the most powerful warships ever built.

Learn More
A tour guide points to a map on a wall while three visitors listen inside an industrial-looking room with exposed pipes, capturing the essence of an immersive Engineering Tour Experience. A blue Guided tour icon appears in the foreground.

Engineering Tour Experience

The Engineering Tour takes you below into the hidden heart of Battleship IOWA, where eight boilers and four steam turbines once generated 212,000 shaft horsepower, enough to power 650 Ford F-150 trucks, and drove IOWA to a blistering 35 knots, the fastest of any battleship ever built.

Learn More
A battleship deck painted with a large American flag and cannons aimed forward under a cloudy sky, setting the stage for a thrilling Fleet Adventure. An adventure game-inspired Guided tour icon appears in the lower left corner.

Escape the Fleet Adventure

In 2011, a small team raced against time to pull Battleship IOWA out of the Navy’s reserve “ghost fleet” — or watch her be scrapped forever. Now it’s your turn to live that mission.

Learn More
45

Included with Admission

A smiling family of four poses on a battleship deck, capturing the spirit of sailor life. Three give a thumbs-up. An emblem at the bottom left says Self-Guided with map and play icons. The battleship and a partly cloudy sky are in the background.

Life of a Sailor

Our general admission experience shows how sailors live, work, and serve.

A boy in glasses stands in front of an illuminated wall display of ships at a museum exhibit commemorating America 250. Signs, ropes, and informational posters are visible, with a woman in the background.

Great Ships

Explore the ships of America’s Surface Navy.

A man and woman observe a large, detailed cutaway model of an aircraft carrier—an impressive symbol of Surface Navy strength—displayed in a modern, spacious exhibit room with panoramic lighting and a blue sky background.

Ship Cutaway

See inside a Navy ship from bow to stern.

Three girls, including Vicky, look at a display on a ship wall featuring a photo of a dog in a vest labeled with a red number 1. One girl in front has a large red bow in her blonde hair.

Vicky’s Scavenger Hunt

Find Vicky throughout your shipboard adventure.

A futuristic, neon-lit room with blue and purple lights, metallic pipes, railings, and labeled panels, resembling a sci-fi spaceship interior aboard The Broadside. A workstation emits an orange glow in the background.

Living Blueprint

Immerse yourself in a blueprint of a Navy ship.

Immerse yourself in this interactive Navy museum exhibit featuring blue-lit displays, touch screens, and educational panels about ocean stewardship. The space offers industrial ceilings and a central digital kiosk labeled Navy Look for a truly engaging Experience.

Stewards of the Sea

Explore how the Navy protects the seas.

A room with navy-themed displays; a mannequin dressed as a sailor stands near large informational posters and a digital screen showing a sailors image. The lighting is dim with blue accents.

What’s My Rate?

Find the Navy career that fits you.

Exhibit with dim blue lighting, crates, rope barriers, life-size cutouts of people in uniforms, and a background resembling a ships interior and a library area.

Every Sailor has a Story

Meet the people who serve.

A large battleship with three massive gun turrets and a blue helicopter displayed on its deck at night, with visitors walking nearby and bright lights illuminating the scene.

HUP-2 Retriever Helicopter

Korean War-Era HUP-2 Retriever Helicopter.

Dimly lit museum exhibit with large panels displaying historic photos and illustrations of battleships, Navy personnel, and World War II scenes, surrounded by pipes and industrial decor.

Sticks Art Gallery

Discover IOWA’s story through art.

Exhibit Description: Museum exhibit featuring panels on the USS Mississippi, the first Iowa battleship, and naval history. A large artillery shell stands in the foreground, with photos, artifacts, and an American flag displayed throughout the exhibit.

Gunnery Incidents

A dive into Navy gunnery incidents over the years.

45
M
Smiling man and child stand on a ship deck near large equipment. Text reads Kids Board Free Launching Labor Day Weekend. Promo details mention free admission for children with a paid adult.

Limited time only!

Kids Board Free

In the all-new Life of a Sailor experience, kids become sailor recruits, building their skills, following the story of a famous sailor, and joining Vicky the Dog on a scavenger hunt through Battleship IOWA.

Kids board free with a paid adult.

Learn About the Experience