USS Iowa spared from scrap heap

BENICIA, Calif. (AP) - The federal government is making plans to remove a decaying armada of military vessels dating to World War II from a San Francisco Bay waterway that has been polluted by the boats for decades. Most of the vessels, including some that chased submarines during World War II and others that delivered troops and supplies to battlefields in subsequent wars, are destined for the recycling yard, the U.S.

Maritime Administration, or MARAD, said Wednes­day. The USS Iowa, the iconic battleship that once served as transport to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is among about a dozen ships still considered useful that will remain anchored in the bay.

MARAD said it settled a lawsuit and agreed to remove most of the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, known as the 'ghost fleet,' a collection of mostly obsolete military boats.

The gray and rust-red hulks, some stretching between two-and-three football fields long, are anchored in rows in Suisun Bay, a shallow estuary between San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Studies by the administration have suggested the old warships have dumped more than 20 tons of copper, lead, zinc and other metals into the estuary, a critical habitat for a number of endangered species.

'We are moving expeditiously to remove the worst polluting ships first and diligently moving to clean the rest,' said David Matsuda, acting administrator of MARAD.

The settlement involving MARAD, environmental groups and state water quality regulators will see half of the ships deemed obsolete - the 25 worst polluters - removed by September 2012, with the rest gone by September 2017. In all, 52 ships eventually will be recycled at various MARAD yards or other facilities it contracts with. The USS Iowa, built between 1940 and 1942, was instrumental in World War II battles in the South Pacific. It sailed into Tokyo Bay on Jan.

27, 1946, as flagship of the 5th Fleet. It also saw action off the coast of Korea in 1952.