Iowa

"Hi! I am the Iowa-class battleship, Iowa. You are the Admiral of this fleet? Not bad! Take care of us too!"

USS Iowa (BB-61) is the lead ship of her class of battleship and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named in honor of 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 have served 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 crucial 1943 meeting in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain and Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. She has a bathtub—an amenity installed for Roosevelt, along with an elevator to shuttle him between decks. When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, Iowa shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. She also served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Adm. William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. During the Korean War, Iowa was involved in raids on the North Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "mothball fleet." She was reactivated in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to counter the recently expanded Soviet Navy. In April 1989, an explosion of undetermined origin wrecked her No. 2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors.

The Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in the year 1990, and was initially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1995. She was reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of two Iowa-class battleships. In 2011 USS Iowa was donated to the Los Angeles–based non-profit Pacific Battleship Center and was permanently moved to Berth 87 at the Port of Los Angeles in 2012, where she was opened to the public as the USS Iowa Museum.

Appearance
Iowa has long blonde hair, with star-shaped pupils. She wears an outfit reminiscent of women featured on World War II American Navy pin-up posters and a pair of American flag-patterned leggings. The coloration of her costume also closely resembles the paint scheme of the real Iowa's deck.

Personality
Iowa is portrayed as a playful American girl who uses a bilingual pattern of speech, similar to Kongou, albeit with much heavier inclusion of English words and expressions. She takes great pride in being an American battleship and is not at all shy about demonstrating her firepower, as evident in her quotes. She's shown being good natured towards other Japanese ships with a friendly rivalry with Yamato, though she appears to be unaware that "Hotel" isn't a flattering nickname for the latter.

Trivia

 * Iowa is the first US Navy ship introduced in Kantai Collection, initially appearing in the PS Vita game Kancolle Kai before the PC version. She was introduced in the original PC browser game in the Spring 2016 Event as a reward for clearing E-7, the final map of that event.
 * Her introduction was preceded by the appearance of the 16inch Triple Gun Mount Mk.7 in the December 2015 Ranking Rewards.
 * The Iowa-class ships were the last battleships built and commissioned by the United States as it became clear that the future of naval power projection lay within aircraft carriers and submarines instead of big gun ships. Despite this, the USS Iowa herself participated in the Korean War, and in various naval exercises in the following decades.
 * Compared to other ships who were either sunk, scuttled, shipwrecked, or sold for scrap, Iowa is the first personification of a currently intact and floating ship in the game. Her historical counterpart was dismissed from active service in 1990 and is currently docked in the Port of Los Angeles as a museum ship.
 * During Operation Hailstone on February 19th, 1944, USS Iowa (BB-61) along with her sister ship USS New Jersey (BB-62) fired upon and sank the Japanese training cruiser Katori. In some fan materials, this manifests as Katori being fearful or vengeful towards her, though attempts at vengeance end up failing, often with humorous results.