A personal favorite of mine.
This is IOWA (BB-61) in December of 1944, while the ship was at the ABSD-2 floating drydock at Ulithi for hull repair. BB-61 is painted in Measure 32/1B, a design originally submitted for the NORTH CAROLINA class battleships but adapted to the IOWA, probably at Norfolk in late 1943. This scheme has been erroneously shown with Dull Black (BK) disruptive shapes, but the correct color (as defined in SHIPS-2) was actually Navy Blue (5-N). These two colors are almost identical in the black-and-white photos of the era, hence the confusion. The base color was Haze Grey (5-H), with Deck Blue (20-B) on the horizontal surfaces.
A notable feature of IOWA's early configuration is the lack of the big enclosed pilot house most modern viewers associate with the class. Originally, IOWA had only a small catwalk around the conning tower for ship control, and this was found to be unsatisfactory during her shakedown and an open conn was added immediately aft of the conning tower around the forward Mark 37 director ("Sky One"). This position was fitted with prominent wind baffles, which are also visible on the platform halfway up the fire control tower. IOWA mounts a fairly standard electronics fit for a mid-war large combatant, with the SK air search radar on the foremast, and two SG surface search sets (one on the main top and one ahead of and just below the air defense level). The scaffolding aft of the forward SG mounts a small reflector screen, I suspect to deflect the microwaves away from the personnel inside the structure behind it. IOWA's Mark 37 directors mount Mark 4 "FD" radars, and the Mark 40 GFCS inside the upper level of the conning tower is fitted with a Mark 3 "FC" set for backup ranging. TDY jammer screens sit on either side of the forward tower, at the same level as the forward SG set, and the yardarms show the "double cone" AS-56 receiving antennas associated with the SPR-1 radar countermeasures system. Companion AS-37 "wagon wheel" antennas (with flat ground plane elements) are mounted to the front of the air defense level. A Vought OS2U Kingfisher of Battleship Observation Squadron SEVEN (VO-7) is spotted on the stern catapult.
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