<p>The combatant that WP is referring to is the USS Iowa (BB-61). Battleship Iowa continues to be moored at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Benecia, California. She has, however, been made available for Donation as a Museum/Memorial. San Francisco was given first dibs on the Iowa; however, the anti-military pukes turned the offer down. A summary of the wording in the Federal Register (Vol 71, Number 60, pages 15707-15710) follows:</p>
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Summary: The Department of the Navy hereby gives notice of the availability for donation as a museum/memorial the battleship ex-IOWA (BB-61), located at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Benecia, CA. The availability of this battleship for donation is in compliance with Public Law 109-163, the FY 06 National Defense Authorization Act, and under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 7306. The Secretary of the Navy requires as a condition of transfer, that the donee locate ex-IOWA within the State of California.</p>
<p>The transfer of ships for donation under 10 U.S.C. 7306 shall be made at no cost to the United States Government. The donee will be required to maintain the ship as a static display in a condition that is satisfactory to the Secretary of the Navy. Prospective donees must submit a letter of intent to the Navy Inactive Ship Program Office within 45 days of this Federal Register notice. Upon receipt of the letter of intent, the Navy will contact the prospective donees to ensure a full understanding of the application requirements.</p>
<p>Qualified organizations in the state of California wishing to apply for ex-Iowa must submit a complete application to the Navy within six months of this notice, comprised of a business/financial plan, a technical plan (includes towing plan, mooring plan, maintenance plan, and environmental plan), a curatorial/museum plan, and a community support plan (includes information concerning support from the community and benefit to the Navy).</p>
<p>Evaluation of the applications will be performed by the Navy to ensure the applications are compliant with the minimum acceptable application criteria and requirements. In the event of multiple compliant applications for the same battleship, the Navy will perform a comparative evaluation of the applications to determine the best-qualified applicant.
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<p><a href=“http://www.ussiowa.com/Photos/USSIowaMain01.htm[/url] ”>http://www.ussiowa.com/Photos/USSIowaMain01.htm</a></p> ;