Technically we won’t be in Los Angeles itself today, but we’re in the greater LA metropolitan area. Anyway, today our goal is to visit the Battleship Iowa, and Venice Beach. But first we drive towards Malibu along the coast. This is one of the roads Jonathan wanted to drive because of GTA V. It’s sometimes creepy how good that game recreated pars of this big city. We recognize the road along the coast with some landmarks and distinct intersections.
In Malibu we turn around and head South to LA Harbor, where the Iowa lies. I’m looking forward to visiting the battleship because I know it has a long history. Imagine, it was first commissioned in 1943, duringi WW2! It served for a total of 19 years in active duty till 1990 (she was decommissioned a couple of times, during which she was in the reserve fleet and not in active duty).
As can be expected, the ship is huge. We learn some facts from volunteers who did serve in the Navy and are around to explain things. For example, when all the big canons were fired, the ship did not move. And all crewmen had to be off the deck or they would be wounded by the force fields and the noise.
We also learn – and I did not know this – that President Roosevelt traveled across the Atlantic on the Iowa in 1943 for the famous meeting with Churchill and Stalin in Teheran. They built a special bedroom and bathroom for the president, who needed a big bath because of his condition. It was in the room in the picture above, that Roosevelt spoke with his war cabinet and most likely first proposed the division of Europe as was agreed on in Teheran. It felt weird to stand in that room with that knowledge, given how I love history!
In addition to the bridge above, Iowa has a second “Tactical Bridge” ( I think it was called ) where the officers in charge of a fleet or naval unit could work. Not every battleship had this, but Iowa did.
We also learn about life aboard the ship. It was pretty harsh in the old days. After the ship was refitted in 1984 it was a bit better, but still not much comfort or luxurious. There was no privacy, and there were many people crammed together in a small space. During WW2, about 2800 people serviced the ship. In later years it was less, but still about 1600 or so.
It was an honor to visit the Iowa. It is good that it is a museum, and hopefully can teach new generations about the service and sacrifices made by the crew to keep the world a safe and free place!
From the Iowa we drive North again till we are at Venice Beach. This is the last location we’ll visit in greater LA. We park the car (expensive!!) and saunter up and down along the Ocean Front Walk. It is very busy, and loud with different sources of music. Again, we remark how closely it resembles Venice Beach in GTA V. Which was the reason why Jonathan wanted to visit here.
