Escape the Fleet Adventure Tour

Your Mission: Save the Ship

Your experience begins with a mission briefing. You'll learn about the real effort to save Battleship IOWA and the extraordinary challenges faced by the team responsible for bringing her to Los Angeles.

Then the clock starts.

Working together in a small team, you'll navigate the ship, uncover clues, solve puzzles, and gather the information necessary to complete your rescue mission. Along the way, you'll venture into spaces normally closed to museum visitors, discovering just how challenging it can be to find your way around an enormous battleship.

The ship itself becomes part of the challenge. Narrow passageways, steep Navy ladders, and unfamiliar compartments test your navigation skills, while puzzles and clues require observation, communication, and teamwork.

You'll have two hours to complete your mission. The challenge is designed to make you think, work together, and experience some of the uncertainty faced by the people who helped save IOWA.

A trained member of our support crew will accompany your group for safety, but don't expect them to solve the puzzles for you. That's your job.

An Adventure Inspired by a True Story

Escape the Fleet isn't simply a fictional game set aboard a battleship. Its inspiration comes from the real events surrounding USS IOWA's preservation.

After decades of service spanning World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War, IOWA was decommissioned for the final time in 1990. The ship eventually entered the Navy's reserve fleet, where her future remained uncertain.

In 2011, the Pacific Battleship Center received the opportunity to preserve IOWA as a museum. The organization faced an extraordinary undertaking: assembling the people, resources, plans, and support necessary to rescue an enormous warship and establish a new home for her on the Los Angeles waterfront.

The real-life effort required perseverance, ingenuity, teamwork, and an unwavering belief that the impossible could be accomplished.

Escape the Fleet transforms elements of that story into an interactive adventure. You'll experience a fictionalized rescue mission while exploring the ship that the original team fought to save.

Explore Parts of IOWA Most Visitors Never See

Battleship IOWA stretches nearly three football fields from bow to stern and contains an intricate network of compartments and passageways built for thousands of sailors.

During Escape the Fleet, your adventure takes you beyond the normal self-guided visitor route into rarely seen sections of the ship. You'll climb ladders, navigate confined spaces, and discover how complicated life aboard a massive warship could be.

Unlike walking through a conventional museum gallery, this experience requires active participation. Success depends on your group's ability to communicate, solve problems, and work toward a common goal.

It's an especially memorable experience for friends, families with older teenagers, and small groups looking for something different to do in Los Angeles.

What to Expect

Escape the Fleet Adventure is designed for teams of two to six participants, ages 16 and older. Participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult, with one adult required for each minor.

The adventure lasts approximately two hours and involves considerable walking, steep shipboard ladders, tight passageways, and time spent standing. Closed-toe shoes are required.

Because the experience accesses spaces not normally open to visitors, participation is limited and advance reservations are required. The experience may not be suitable for guests with mobility limitations or medical conditions that make climbing ladders, navigating confined spaces, or standing for extended periods difficult.

Your booking also includes the self-guided Battleship IOWA museum experience, allowing you to explore additional decks, exhibitions, and the Life of a Sailor experience at your own pace.

Are You Ready to Escape the Fleet?

Most people visit historic ships to learn about their past. Escape the Fleet gives you the opportunity to step into a mission inspired by the people who helped preserve that history.

Gather your crew, accept your assignment, and discover whether you have the teamwork, determination, and problem-solving skills to save one of America's most famous battleships.

The clock is ticking. The ship is counting on you.

Reserve your Escape the Fleet Adventure aboard Battleship IOWA in Los Angeles.