PIER.org.uk

The World War II battleship USS Iowa will get a final sendoff Sunday as it is towed to Southern California to become a museum.

A commissioning ceremony was under way today at Navy Pier, adjacent to the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, for the fourth Navy ship to be named after San Diego.

For more than a decade the USS Iowa sat quietly mothballed in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, luring military history junkies with her giant guns, sleek prow and romantic history who dreamed of making her a floating a museum -- and a big Bay Area tourist attraction.