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Friday, December 23, 2005

Last battleships to become museums

USS Iowa
WASHINGTON - Congress has signed off on a measure to turn the Navy's last two battleships, the USS Iowa and the USS Wisconsin, into museums.

The fiscal year 2006 defense appropriations bill, passed Wednesday night by the Senate and by the House of Representatives on Thursday, contained a provision that decommissioned the two vessels. The Iowa will be given to the state of California, and the Wisconsin will remain in Norfolk, Va., where it's been docked for five years.
The action closes out a struggle by a small group of advocates who wanted the Navy to modernize the ships with up-to-date munitions and technology.

The Navy believes that most wars in the future will be fought in or near coastal waters.

Members of the United States Naval Fire Support Association argued that only the 16-inch guns aboard the two battleships could provide the huge amounts of firepower needed to support a full-scale amphibious landing by Marines if the United States fought in a war in such places as Taiwan or North Korea.

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