You’ll Find the Russian Navy in New Jersey
A private emigre organization in New Jersey is caretaker for a unique collection of artifacts, books, and archives formerly known as the Admiral S. O. Makarov Russian Naval Museum.
The name honored the distinguished officer killed during the war with Japan and recognized the Association of Former Russian Naval Officers in America, whose historical collection and financial support made possible the museum’s creation in 1958.
A chronic lack of funds for upkeep, disinterest in the museum among younger generations, and the collapse of the Soviet Union all combined to make an issue of the collection’s disposal. To honor the founders’ wish that it not be sold but returned to Russia when a proper (non-Soviet) regime came into power, the caretakers allowed officials from the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow to retrieve 2,500 pieces, mostly uniforms. The desire to acquire portions of this valuable collection, including its rare publications, memoirs, and photographs for use in commemorating the Russian Navy’s 300th anniversary in 1996 has inspired the recent interest shown by Russian museums and archives. To a degree, however, Russia’s own precarious financial situation has stunted their plans.
Future entries will provide further details on this issue and next year’s anniversary celebrations in Russia.
— Richard A. Russell
Michigan Lighthouse Wins U.S. Stamp of Approval
The Great Lakes are dangerous; bad weather and accidents—including many of the most famous shipwrecks in North America—have claimed hundreds of large vessels. The 13,000-ton ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior 20 years ago, with the loss of 29 crew members.
More lighthouses have been built on Michigan’s shores than in any other state, according to the Michigan Maritime Museum. One of them, the Spectacle Reef Light on Lake Huron (third stamp from left), begun in 1869 and completed in 1873, was chosen by the U.S. Postal Service for a recent series of five lighthouse stamps (one for each of the Great Lakes). The Stannard Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior was located in such treacherous, isolated seas that lightkeepers often were stranded there for weeks at a time, leading to its nickname, “the loneliest place in America.”
A recent long-term loan from the U.S. Coast Guard to the Museum, the Fresnel lens used by the Detroit River Light Station, completed in 1885, will be the focal point of a new exhibit to commemorate the dynamic role of the U.S. Lighthouse Service in Michigan maritime history. For more information, contact the Michigan Maritime Museum, P.O. Box 534, South Haven, MI 49090; or call 616-637-9156.
Historic Navy Looking Shipshape for 1996
The recent annual meeting of the Historic Naval Ships Association, hosted by the USS Kidd (DD-661), highlighted great news in the fleet. Through the good services and cooperation of the Naval Institute, the Association now offers a new edition of the Historic Naval Ships Visitors Guide, which is available at the Naval Institute book store and in historic ship gift shops across the United States, Canada, and France. The new guide contains entries on more than 80 ships and small craft at more than 50 museum sites from Bordeaux to Pearl Harbor. Individuals can receive a complementary copy by joining the Historic Naval Ships Association. For an application, write to the Association, c/o U.S. Naval Academy Museum, 118 Maryland Ave., Annapolis, MD 21402-5034.
New fleet and associate members include the Croiseur Colbert at Bordeaux, France, and the USS New Jersey Battleship Commission, which is working to obtain the battleship from the Navy and move her from her berth in the inactive fleet at Bremerton, Washington, to a new slip at Liberty Park, New Jersey. The USS Missouri SFO MO [San Francisco organization for the Missouri] and USS Missouri Allied Forces Memorial also are newly formed, both working to obtain the Missouri as a museum for the San Francisco waterfront. Further action by the Navy Department to dispose of the four Iowa (BB-61)-class battleships is being held up by a bill pending in Congress that would have the Navy reinstate two battleships—the Missouri (BB-63) and Wisconsin (BB-64)—into its reserve fleet for possible future use.
The National LSM Association also joined Historic Ships recently. It is working to acquire and display for public visitation one of the famous landing craft of World War II.
Meanwhile, veterans of the Cabot (CVL-28), later the Spanish carrier Dedab, continue their efforts to rescue her from the scrapyard. The only surviving Independence (CVL-22)-class light carrier, she has been an unsuccessful project for several groups in the New Orleans area. If you would like to join the battle, write to Martin J. Hecker, P.O. Box 737, Crownsville, MD 21032.
Many concerned individuals also have written in an effort to save the USS Hornet (CVS-12), the Essex-class Cold Warrior, for exhibit on the West Coast. It remains to be seen whether the right authorities are listening and whether the funds exist to back such a project. The Navy Sea Systems Command office that administers the program that places ships for museum use has provided advice and encouragement, but there are limitations, particularly when so many assets are being decommissioned and scrapped.
The USS Constitution left drydock in September and is looking great. With much of her masting and rigging already set up, she will be in pristine condition for her 200th anniversary, just two years away. Over the summer the Constitution had a change of command, with Commander Michael C. Beck relieving Commander Richard B. Amirault. In July, a copper spike from “Old Ironsides” dating from her circumnavigation of the world under Captain “Mad Jack” Percival in 1846 orbited the earth on board the space shuttle Atlantis during its historic docking with the Russian space station Mir. But this was not the first time a part of this historic warship has flown in space: astronaut and Naval Academy alumnus Charlie Bolden carried a carved piece of wood from the Constitution from the Naval Academy Museum on the flight that launched the Hubble space telescope.
To date there are 23 submarines preserved in the historic fleet. Combined with exhibits ranging from models of Bushnell’s Turtle and the Confederate Hunley to the first nuclear-powered naval vessel, Nautilus (SSN-571), they provide the most complete preserved record of any class of warship.
The USS Pampanito (SS-383), which can be visited at Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, recently took a starring role in the comedy movie “Down Periscope.” She first was towed across the bay for a session with make-up artists, who gave her some Hollywood rust. She then was towed to the Pacific for her performance as a renegade, Third World diesel boat. Special-effects people provided the exhaust and cooling water discharge. Afterward, Hollywood paid to put the Pampanito back into her best dress for her visitors at Fisherman’s Wharf.
With all the base closings and scrapping of vessels, the pickings have been pretty good for historic ship scroungers looking for missing or replacement parts. The USS Cod (SS-224), on exhibit along Cleveland’s waterfront, received two Mk 14 torpedoes and a single-barrel 40-mm deck gun. The Kidd got a radio transmitter patch panel, a clothes shelf for an officer’s stateroom, and a Budd watertight door handwheel from the USS Tolman (DM-28); from the USS Gage (APA-168) and USS William C. Law (DD-763) she pulled off weatherdeck light fixtures, circuit breakers, a grill and coffee urn for the chief petty officer mess, washroom mirrors, 40-mm and 5-inch gun parts, messdeck benches, old-style quarterdeck desks, and more. Every part helps to improve the showcase ships in the historic fleet.
Some parts find their way into interesting situations on board existing historic ships. In the after battery well on board the Cod, a section of rusting metal support for a jack, holding up a deck in crew berthing, turned out to be an original deep fat fryer from the galley. The discovery was removed, cleaned up, and restored to its original purpose. The crew member who had jury rigged the support had unwittingly preserved a rare specimen of galley equipment.
In other news: you can receive a new booklet, Ships Built by the Charlestown Navy Yard 1814-1957, from the Boston National Historical Park, Boston, MA 02129. The battleship North Carolina now displays a scale model of her namesake ancestor, the armored cruiser North Carolina. The new Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) carries a small part of its namesake ancestor; Lieutenant Esther J. McClure, the chief engineer of the new ship and the first woman assigned as a department head on board an Arleigh Burke-class ship, obtained a fuel burner atomizer off the USS The Sullivans (DD-537), the old Fletcher-class tin can on exhibit at Buffalo’s Naval and Servicemen’s Park.
—James W. Cheevers
Marine Corps Publications Include Provide Comfort
Humanitarian Operations in Northern Iraq, 1991: With Marines in Operation Provide Comfort, by Lieutenant Colonel Ronald J. Brown, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, is the fifth volume in the series “U.S. Marines in the Persian Gulf.” Colonel Brown served as the field historian with Marine forces afloat in the Persian Gulf before volunteering to cover the relief operation in Northern Iraq. The History and Museums Division also has published The Right to Fight: African-American Marines in World War II, by Bernard C. Nalty; it is the 17th pamphlet in the 50th anniversary of World War II commemorative series. Order these publications from the Government Printing Office.
The success of its modular exhibits celebrating the 50th anniversary of World War II—featured in events throughout the Pacific and continental United States—has led the Marine Corps Museum to create a similar series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Korean War. More than 15,000 visitors saw the initial prototypes from this new series at the “Military Museum Tent” on the Mall during the dedication of the Korean War Memorial in July.
A major World War II exhibit at the Marine Corps Museum, Washington Navy Yard, includes the new settings for the two flags raised on Iwo Jima and many other displays. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday, 1000 to 1600; Sunday, 1200 to 1700; federal holidays, 1200 to 1700 (closed Christmas and New Year’s).
—Ann Ferrante
Remember Pearl Harbor—It’s the Law
Last year, President Bill Clinton signed into law “National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day” (Public Law 103- 308) to honor the more than 3,400 Americans killed and wounded in the 7 December 1941 attack. The President issued a proclamation and Congress passed a joint resolution urging all departments, agencies, organizations, and individuals to observe this day by flying the U.S. flag at half-staff and by conducting other appropriate activities. This year will mark the 54th anniversary of the United States’ entrance into World War II.
For more information, contact Richard Foltynewicz, The Foundation for a National Pearl Harbor Day, 920 Chestnut Street, Ottawa, 1L 61350; or call 815-433-4429.
Welcome Aboard for a Great Seafaring Celebration
Come one, come all to the eighth annual Seafaring Celebration at the Navy Museum at the Washington Navy Yard. Landlubbers and sailors alike are invited to spend Saturday, 4 November, celebrating maritime traditions with workshops, demonstrations, story telling, and musical performances. The celebration takes place from 1100 to 1600 and is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Navy Museum at 202-433-4882.
A 50-foot boat from the Vietnam era, the fast patrol craft PCF-1, recently joined the destroyer Barry (DD-33) at the Naval Historical Center as a symbol of the most controversial war in U.S. history. The Navy had 84 of these boats built in 1965-66. PCF-1 will serve as a tribute to and reminder of those who served and sacrificed in the littorals and rivers of Vietnam. Another survivor, the PCF-2, will begin a new life as an oceanographic research vessel for Tidewater Community College.
—Wendy Karppi
Cabot’s Fate Remains in Doubt
The World War II light carrier USS Cabot (CVL-28) may yet be preserved. The USS Cabot Association hopes that the American Academy of Industry in Chicago will acquire this national historical landmark from the Cabot/Dedalo Museum Foundation as the centerpiece of a new museum display in Chicago, but no final agreement has been reached.
Last year, the Cabot/Dedalo Museum applied to the U.S. Department of State for an export license, to save the small carrier from the scrapyard. Since then, the State Department, through a Section 106 review process under the requirements of the National Historical Preservation Act, has sought an alternative to exportation or sale for scrap for $1,400,000. Congress had provided for $2,000,000 for the preservation of the ship, but no alternative has been agreed on. Officials in the State Department want to end the review process now, and perhaps with it any hope for the Cabot. The Association has asked that any such “catastrophic” decision be delayed at least until the end of the year.