Commissioning ceremonies on the Iowa's after deck, at the New York Navy Yard, NY, 22 February 1943. Note: Mark 38 main battery director with Mark 8 fire control radar on top, 16”/50 triple gun turret, freshly raised National Ensign, and incomplete condition of some features of the ship’s after superstructure. USS Iowa (BB-61) is a retired battleship, the lead ship of her class, and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named after the state of Iowa. Owing to the cancellation of the Montana-class battleships, Iowa is the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships and was the only ship of her class to serve in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a conference of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. When transferred to the Pacific Fle...