USS Iowa BB-4
By Germà Coendersi

1/350  USS Iowa BB-4  (Iron Shipwrights)


The Iowa was the most powerful unit of the squadron that fought the Santiago Battle and of the entire US Navy; it also was one of the most modern. Compared to the other US first class battleships of the Indiana class, it had a larger displacement, higher free board, higher speed, protection distributed over a larger area of the hull, and a more powerful quick firing gun battery, that proved very effective at the close ranges at which the battle was fought. It had a major participation at the battle and delivered the deadly shots that disabled the Infanta Maria Teresa, flag of the Spanish Squadron. In spite of its
successful design, she was alone in her class of ships.
Vital statistics
  •  History. Laid down: 1893; launched: 1896; completed: 1897; sunk as target: 1923
  • Dimensions: length: 110m; beam: 22 m; draught: 7.2 m; displacement: 11400 tons
  • Armament: 4x12 in. (305 mm.) in twin turrets fore and aft, 8x8 in. (203 mm.) in twin turrets at either beam, 6x4 in (102 mm) 2 on aft bridge in open mounts and 4 in main deck casemates, 20x 57mm, 4x37 mm, 4 machine guns, 4 torpedo tubes.
  • Armor: Harvey steel. 14 in (357 mm.) max. belt; 5 in (127 mm.) amidships upper belt and 4 in gun casemates; 15 in (381 mm.) main barbettes and turrets; 6-8 in (152-203 mm.) secondary barbettes and turrets; 3 in (76 mm) deck.
  • Engines: 2 VTE engines; 5 cylindrical boilers; 11,800 hp; 17 knots. Endurance @10 knots: 5140 miles.
  • Complement: 727
One of the photos shows Iowa side by side with Cristóbal Colón, the best ship in the Spanish squadron of Admiral Cervera, that was inferior to her in everything but speed.
 

The main changes during the build were:

  • add light guns in the amidships boat well, with scratch built platforms.
  • add aft bridge supports made of photo etch spares
  • scratch build the forward torpedo tube
  • scratch build the anchor handling crane
I used no weathering. I like the bright colors in which warships were painted at that time to be shining.

The major sources I used were photographs in:

Details about the ship and its history can be found here:

Germà Coenders



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