On Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:31:52 -0700, Calif Bill wrote:

I fish next to the Iowa at the Mothball Fleet in the Carquinez Straits.
Amazing how little freeboard the ship has. Family friend of my parents
was the smallest guy on the Battleship he served on in WW2. Part of his
job was cleaning the barrels. They would pull him through the guns with
a wire brush in hand.

He may have been pulling your leg, don't you think? If he wasn't, 16
inch guns or not, that wasn't a job I'd want.