Los Angeles Tourist Attraction Gets Famed Titanic Explorer’s Other Discoveries
It is also a museum. In fact, it’s official name is the Battleship IOWA Museum and it has a display from one of the world’s great maritime explorers – certainly one of the most famous – Dr. Robert Ballard.
Known for being the man who discovered Titanic, Ballard also has many other finds, several of which are part of the Iowa’s “Lost at Sea: The Explorations of Dr. Robert Ballard.”
It features the luxury liner RMS Lusitania, sunk by the Germans during World War I, explored off the coast of Ireland in 1993; Titanic’s sister ship, HMHS Britannic, brought to the ocean’s floor by a World War I German mine; and PT-109, President John F. Kennedy’s boat, that at the age of 26, the future commander-in-chief risked his life to save his crew, becoming a war-hero and setting a future political stage.
Five additional wrecks including USS Thresher, USS Scorpion, Germany’s U-166 (part of Operation Drumbeat where Hitler’s U-boats prowled America’s coast), the mighty German battleship KM Bismarck, USS Yorktown and ships from The Battle of Guadalcanal will be explored as visitors tour through the newly created exhibition space throughout Battleship IOWA Museum.
“This exhibition features some of my most significant shipwreck expeditions,” Ballard said. “We are presenting not only the expeditions but the historical context of each incident. The excitement that each expedition presented, we should not lose sight of the significant toll of human life lost at sea that each shipwreck represents.”
“Battleship IOWA Museum is incredibly excited to produce the most comprehensive and educational experience on Dr. Ballard’s underwater findings,” states Jonathan Williams, CEO and President of Pacific Battleship Center, the museum’s non-profit entity. “We feel thankful that we can bring this experience to the masses. It showcases the ocean’s depths and rewards of STEM programs while engaging today’s youth and inspiring future generations.”
“Supervising the installation of the Lost at Sea exhibit with our crew has been a tremendously rewarding experience,” says Mike Getscher, Battleship IOWA Museum’s Executive Vice-President and COO. “We are immensely grateful to our crew for all of their hard work during the creation of this project and to Dr. Ballard for his cooperation. The effort involved thousands of hours of crew time to give you all an idea of the scope of the work involved.”
General Admission to the Battleship IOWA includes the exhibit. The Battleship IOWA Museum ticket office opens daily at 10:00 a.m. and the last tour ticket sold at 4:00 p.m. Tickets purchased at the box office are $19.95 for ages 12 – 61. Youth tickets (age 5 – 11) are $11.95. Senior admission (62 and over) are $9.95. Children under 5 are free. General admission for the military (active, retired and U.S. armed forces) is $14.95.
For Battleship IOWA museum and it’s curatorial team, there has been significant planning and implementation to show visitors nearly 200 individual graphical components, a dozen artifacts, and four ships’ models, installed with special exhibit lighting.
The Lost at Sea exhibit has been the most significant project for the institution since the Navy donated the ship to the Pacific Battleship Center, the museum’s official non-profit name.
“Lost at Sea: The Explorations of Dr. Robert Ballard” was made possible by a grant from the Confidence Foundation and sponsored by Dr. Robert Ballard, Port of Los Angeles, Ocean Exploration Trust, and AltaSea.
Battleship IOWA Museum Details
Address & Map: 250 S Harbor Blvd, Los Angeles
Website: PacificBattleship.com
Phone: 877-4-IOWA-61 (877-446-9261) or 310-971-4462
Instagram: @battleshipiowa
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pacificbattleship
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