Battleship Iowa in San Pedro

USS Iowa (BB-61) was commissioned in 1943 as the U.S. Navy's first Iowa-class fast battleship, displacing 45,000 tons.  During World War II and the Korean War, its armament earned it the nickname "The Big Stick," a nod to President Teddy Roosevelt's saying "Speak softly and carry a big stick."  Iowa was recommissioned in the Reagan era and armed with cruise missiles to support NATO operations. 

It was awarded eleven battlestars and over a dozen other awards before being finally decommissioned in 1990 and removed from the naval register in 2006.  Iowa is now a floating museum, the site of the Pacific Battleship Center in San Pedro.  It towers well above most other ships in the Port of Los Angeles, such as the tug in the foreground.