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Hey Col_Nasty,
As others have said upgrading to the C hull will give you a lot better rudder shift time. The AA suit also changes I believe, you get less 20mm (close range) and get more bofors (middle range) which will help you deal damage to planes at a further range. My suggestion when you are looking at ships with multiple hulls is make sure you check the wiki: https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Iowa . There is a lot of valuable information there that will show you many of the things you are looking for.
The Iowa is a great ship if you play it correctly! Make sure you pay attention to where you are on the map because the speed of the Iowa can get you in trouble. Make sure you are also not one of the Iowa players that sits bow on and backs up, this is not what the Iowa is good at. The Iowa is great a being a mobile gun platform, use the speed to flank enemies. You will not be able to bow tank Yamatos and ships with large caliber guns so you need to maneuver to give yourself some added "armor".
Good luck and enjoy the Iowa!