When you think of Iowa you might think of cornfields, red barns, bad weather and Jello salads. But probably not submarines.
“We’re a landlocked state,” Kelly Sullivan observed to the Des Moines Register. Sullivan is the granddaughter and grandniece of the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, killed during World War II aboard the USS Juneau in 1942. “We don’t have an ocean nearby. But if you go into the history books, it’s Navy, Navy, Navy.”
On Father’s Day weekend, Sullivan and Christie Vilsack, wife of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack will have christened the U.S.S. Iowa, the Navy’s newest submarine. The Virginia-Class Attack sub, currently in Groton, Conn., weighs in at 7,800 tons, holds a crew of 135, runs at 29 mph and is 377 feet of bad news to anything that crosses its path.
During the Civil War, an Iowa steamship transported troops, the USS Iowa BB-4 battleship served during the Spanish-American War, USS Iowa BB-1 saw action in World War II and was used even as recently as the conflict in the Persian Gulf.
The USS Iowa (hull number SSN-797) is the first submarine named in Iowa’s honor. The honor of christening the sub goes to Christie Vilsack, famous around the state more for promoting literacy and visiting Iowa’s libraries than smashing champagne bottles over gigantic weapons of war. But Vilsack has a history of engaging with the crew of the battleship, the USS The Sullivan, bringing them to Waterloo for Iowa Irish Fest and the RAGBRAI bicycle ride across Iowa. She and crew members helped clean up after the derecho. There’s a great photo of Christie in the back of a pickup, holding a chainsaw.
The whole ritual of christening seems incongruous for the birth of a battleship. “Christening” literally means “to make Christian” which, if true, might mean the ship would have to confine itself to a lifetime of charity and good works. In ancient times, a ship was thought to have its own spirit like a person and needed to be blessed to keep it safe and manageable. The ritual might have begun with the Vikings. But instead of champagne, they used blood.
The USS Iowa submarine is the first of its kind designed to accommodate a crew of both men and women. This defies the ancient superstition of not allowing women on board ship. It was once thought that having a woman on a ship would cause the men to be distracted and not attend to their duties. It was also considered bad luck to have bananas on board ship. This probably started because so many ships disappeared between the Caribbean and Spain, where bananas were gathered. When these ships sank, the bananas floated to the surface so recovery crew claimed it was bananas that sank the ship.
The USS Iowa isn’t being sponsored by a banana company, but one of its contributors is Big Grove Brewery, based in Solon. They created a new cream ale in honor of the Iowa vessel, called Rack Stowed. And, yes, it’s made from corn.
Living in Iowa: Iowa has a new submarine and a new corn beer
June 22, 2023