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Top Things to Do in Los Angeles: Experience the New Life of a Sailor at Battleship IOWA

When people think about things to do in Los Angeles, they often picture beaches, movie studios, amusement parks, and famous landmarks.

On the Los Angeles Waterfront, visitors can do something completely different: step aboard Battleship IOWA and experience the National Museum of the Surface Navy’s new Life of a Sailor experience.

Battleship IOWA is more than a historic ship. It is an active museum experience where visitors explore the people, skills, systems, and teamwork that keep a Navy ship operating at sea.

More Than Seeing a Battleship

Life of a Sailor moves the experience beyond simply looking at a ship.

Visitors discover:

  • How sailors find their roles aboard ship
  • How they live and work at sea
  • How a Navy ship operates like a floating city
  • Why teamwork matters in every mission
  • What skills sailors develop
  • How America’s Surface Navy operates today

The experience helps visitors understand not only what a battleship is, but how a crew makes it work.

Explore Seven Decks

Visitors explore seven decks aboard USS IOWA.

The route includes crew spaces, passageways, gun systems, command areas, weather decks, exhibits, and waterfront views.

Throughout the ship, visitors encounter stories, objects, spaces, and experiences that reveal how sailors live, train, work, and serve together.

Experience a Top Los Angeles Attraction

Battleship IOWA offers one of the most distinctive museum experiences in Los Angeles.

Families, tourists, veterans, history enthusiasts, students, and local residents can all experience the ship in different ways.

Children explore.

Adults discover the human stories behind the ship.

Veterans reconnect with service.

Visitors of all ages see how engineering, leadership, teamwork, and purpose come together aboard a Navy ship.

Visit the Los Angeles Waterfront

Battleship IOWA is located in San Pedro on the Los Angeles Waterfront, near the World Cruise Center, the Vincent Thomas Bridge, and the Port of Los Angeles.

The location makes the museum easy to include in a day exploring San Pedro, Long Beach, or the greater Los Angeles area.

Plan Your Visit

For visitors looking for a top thing to do in Los Angeles, Battleship IOWA offers more than a museum tour.

It offers the opportunity to step aboard, explore seven decks, and experience the Life of a Sailor.

Come aboard and discover the National Museum of the Surface Navy.

VISIT & EXPLORE

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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

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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.

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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.

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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 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

Navy ships operate around the world in service of our nation, often using powerful and complex weapons under demanding conditions.

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National Museum of the Surface Navy Plank Owner certificate

LIMITED TIME ONLY! Receive a digital commemorative Plank Owner certificate.

Join Free. Earn Points.

Become a Surface Navy Museum and Battleship IOWA Patron and, for a limited time, receive a free digital commemorative Plank Owner certificate.

Stay connected with special updates and invitations, earn points for your support, and redeem them for experiences, apparel, and more.

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