 In June 1989 , Iowa , under Moosally 's command , departed for a training cruise and operational deployment to Europe and the Mediterranean . On August 2 , Iowa , in a shipyard at Marseilles , was ordered to join a force of US warships off the coast of Lebanon in response to threats by Shiite Muslim kidnappers to kill American hostages and threats to the US embassy by Maronite Christian demonstrators loyal to Michel Aoun . The ship remained off Lebanon until the crisis cooled a little over a week later , then departed for Italy . 
