USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

Moored along the Norfolk waterfront, USS Wisconsin (BB-64) presents the architecture of American sea power at full scale. This Iowa-class fast battleship, completed in 1944, embodies the late evolution of the battleship concept: long, lean hull; heavy armor; and a machinery plant designed for speeds exceeding 30 knots. Her service record threads through three distinct conflicts. In the Pacific during the Second World War, Wisconsin supported major operations including the Philippines campaign and the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, later turning her guns on targets in the Japanese home islands in 1945. Recalled for the Korean War, she reverted to her original role as a gun platform for shore bombardment in support of United Nations forces. Modernized in the 1980s with contemporary combat systems, she fired again in anger during Operation Desert Storm, earning a Navy Unit Commendation. Now preserved as a museum ship beside Nauticus, Wisconsin offers a rare opportunity to study how one hull was adapted across eras—from analog fire control to missile-age warfare—while confronting the practical challenges of maintaining a 1940s capital ship in a modern urban harbor.