Since 2012, retired Battleship USS IOWA has served as a popular attraction and community platform, proudly representing the ships and sailors that have served in America’s Surface Navy since 1775. If this iconic vessel is to continue creating connection to their legacies and the importance of Freedom of the Seas, ongoing crucial preservation and maintenance must be addressed.
To ensure the ship and her mission endure, our annual campaign champions efforts to preserve and maintain Battleship IOWA. Thank you for your consideration of making a donation toward these crucial, continuing needs.
Your campaign contributions aid us in our pursuit of establishing a $50 million endowment to support these preservation and maintenance efforts in perpetuity.
Ranked #4 out of 929 “things to do in Los Angeles” on TripAdvisor, Battleship IOWA reaches over 400,000 people annually through tours, events, and programming focused on education, veterans, and community. This success has been fueled by the generosity of donors who have volunteered countless hours, contributed millions of dollars, and advocated for the ship and her important role as a museum.
Your support will help the Pacific Battleship Center continue to ignite curiosity, connect communities, and enhance understanding of America’s role in maritime peace and prosperity for generations to come.
Deck
Preservation
Look at the history of battleships and you’ll find photos of hundreds of sailors polishing the gleaming teak decks – extraordinary images that stay with us always. Here aboard IOWA, with deck ranging in age from twenty to nearly eighty years, we have a problem.
Sun and weather have taken their toll. Decaying wood allows water to become trapped against bulkheads and to pool underneath deck boards. That moisture erodes the steel and allows water to seep into the interior of the vessel, instigating a cascade of further damage.
Speaking of deck wood… We get questions all the time about the ship’s degraded decking. The most frequent query is if we plan to restore it with traditional teak. While emotionally we would love to do that, it isn’t feasible.
Teak takes 80-100 years to mature and consequently has become much more expensive and difficult to obtain. Douglas fir, which we have used in recent years to restore portions of the deck, isn’t as durable as teak and therefore requires more frequent replacement.
For long term sustainability (and to better steward our resources) we explored and have begun to utilize wood-look synthetics that have seen acceptance and use in the cruise ship and yachting industries.
How can you help? Any contribution – be it financial or even spreading the word about the need – makes a difference.
July 2025 Update
We’re excited to announce that the restoration of the decking on the entire 01 level veranda area is complete! Both port and starboard are looking great and the corrosion has been abated.
We’ve also been able to preserve some remarkable “battleship archaeology” finds from World War II – battle damage to the deck and the sites of the 40mm gun mounts that originally resided there.
Click the button below to check out photos of the project and a new video showing the finished decking.
Hull
Maintenance
We’re fortunate. Battleship IOWA’s hull is largely in great shape, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a major challenge.
The hull is protected from the waterline down by an impressed current cathodic protection system that creates a small electric charge underwater and prevents corrosion from taking hold. We also have an internal version of it to protect the ship from the inside.
Our area of concern is the wind and water line, where oxygen and wave action combine. These elements cause rust and decay. We have a method for dealing with this issue: we deploy cofferdams so we can work in that region.
What’s the problem? Finding the time and manpower to deal with 887 some odd feet of waterline. If we could dedicate two people to full time cofferdam work, it would go a long way toward keeping us ahead of the deterioration curve.
What’s stopping us from doing that? Funding.
What can you do? Any way you can help us raise the funds to pay for materials and labor will make a significant difference. Donate, spread the word, encourage others to contribute – it all adds up.
