Battleship Happenings
The final disposition of the battleship New Jersey (BB-62) is uncertain; while Congress already has agreed to release the ship to her namesake state so that she could be turned into a permanent museum, three port cities within New Jersey are now competing for possession of the battlewagon. Bayonne, Jersey City, and Camden submitted applications to the state Battleship Commission, which voted overwhelmingly in favor of Bayonne on 10 September.
The following month, however, a congressional inquiry into the Commission’s decision postponed the final release of the ship from the Navy. In addition, the county of Camden has filed a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey, claiming the Commission's decision was unfair.
Camden officials claim that since the ship was built in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, just across the Delaware River from Camden, their city would make “a very suitable location.” Being berthed in the Philadelphia metropolitan area would also mean the New Jersey would not have to compete for visitors with the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in Manhattan. Both of these considerations were outweighed, however, by Bayonne’s offer of leasing berthing space at the currently unused Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal for $1 a year, and its proximity to an metropolitan area of more than 22 million people. The availability of existing large-vessel dockage at Bayonne also made Jersey City’s plan—to anchor the battleship in the Hudson and build an 800 foot, $10 million walkway out to the ship—look less than attractive.
Despite the postponement of the decision on which city in which to berth the ship, plans are under way to tow the New Jersey from the Bremerton Naval Shipyard in Washington, through the Panama Canal, and to Bayonne for restoration. The move could occur as early as 1 March 1999, and is expected to take about 56 days.
After two long periods of lying dormant at Bremerton Naval Shipyard, separated by the brief revival of her career in the 1980s and early 1990s—which included service in the Gulf War—the battleship Missouri (BB-63) has found a permanent berth as a floating museum next to the Arizona (BB-39) memorial on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. The ship arrived on 22 June, and since then has been refurbished by the efforts of nearly 5,000 volunteers getting the Missouri ready for visitors. The museum opened its gates on 29 January, with exhibits centered around the Surrender Deck, where Japan accepted articles of unconditional surrender on 2 September 1945 and brought World War II to an end. Other exhibits open to the public include the bridge, engine room, and living quarters, as well as displays on the ship’s history through three wars. The museum is expected to draw 600,000 to 800,000 visitors a year. Because Ford Island is still an active Navy base, visitors must be bused from the mainland.
For the first time since her service in World War II, the battleship Massachusetts (BB-59) went into dry dock in Boston for much needed repairs on 8 November 1998. “Big Mamie” saw service in the Atlantic as well Pacific Theaters, suffering her only battle damage off North Africa during the Torch landings in 1942. The ship, one of currently five World War II battleships preserved as floating museums in the United States, has been at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts since 1965. Her current overhaul is intended primarily to repair leaking rivets and hull plating; some 225,000 pounds of steel will be installed below her waterline, giving her a second “skin.” The repairs to the Massachusetts are scheduled to be finished on 1 March 1999, when she will be towed back to Battleship Cove.
Congress Establishes National Maritime Museum
Congress has designated the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, and the South Street Seaport in New York as America’s National Maritime Museum. Legislation was introduced last June by Senators John Warner of Virginia and Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, and was signed into law in October by President Clinton. The two museums formed the National Maritime Museum Initiative in June 1997 to begin a joint collaboration involving the sharing of collections, exhibitions, and publications while retaining their individual identities. “The prosperity of the United States has always been linked to the sea,” Senator Warner said of the bill. “Our national security, economic or military, depends on our ability to use the oceans such that commerce is healthy and sea lanes are free for navigation. The passage of this legislation signals a strong desire to recognize the important role of America’s maritime heritage in the building and growth of our nation.”
The legislation, which is an amendment to the 1999 Defense budget, contains a provision that allows other museums to join in partnership with the two already designated as the National Maritime Museum. Maritime museums can receive recognition in the future if they demonstrate that they house collections of maritime artifacts “clearly representing America’s maritime heritage,” and if they provide outreach programs to the public that deal with maritime history education.
Marine Corps Historian Retires
Dr. Jack Shulimson, senior historian at the Marine Corps Historical Center in Washington, D.C., retired on 2 January after 40 years of combined military and civilian service. He joined the Marine Corps’ History and Museums Division in 1964, following military and government service with the U.S. Army’s Center for Military History and the National Archives. As a member of the staff and head of the History Writing Unit, he was the primary editor of the division’s operational history series on the Marine Corps’ participation in the Vietnam War and authored three volumes, including the final volume, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Defining Year, 1968 (1997).
Ann A. Ferrante
Maritime Conference To Look at 2000 Years of History
In November 1999, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts will host the World Marine Millennial Conference. Felipe Femandez-Armesto, Professor of History at Oxford University and author of the book Millenium, will be the keynote speaker. The conference, while nominally considering topics in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the museum, will also deal with the broader achievements of man on the sea over the past 2000 years. To be held 10-14 November, and co-sponsored by the National Maritime Historical Society, the Peabody Essex Museum welcomes the submissions of papers dealing with topics such as underwater archaeology, women at sea, whaling, piracy and privateering, maritime technology, and many others. For information on the submission of papers or attending the conference, call the museum at (978) 745-1876, ext. 3172.
Historic Naval Ships Association News
With the national economy doing well, funds are becoming available for historic naval ship preservation. The National Park Service has announced the awarding of 39 grants totaling $650,000 under the National Maritime Heritage Act. Eight members of the Historic Naval Ships Association were successful in applying for these grants, providing important resources to care for the two Confederate hulls at the Woodruff Museum of Civil War Naval History in Columbus, Georgia; the U.S. sloop of war Constellation in Baltimore, Maryland; the aircraft carrier Hornet Museum in Alameda, California; the tug Luna in Charlestown, Massachusetts; the USS Massachusetts Memorial in Fall River, Massachusetts; the Maritime Museum of San Diego, California; the USS Olympia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and the dredge William M. Black in Dubuque, Iowa.
Financial conditions for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City are looking good too, because of a $13 million grant which includes the reconstruction of Intrepid’s (CV-11) flight deck. The theater in the exhibition area on board the carrier and its entire heating and airconditioning system will also be overhauled over a two-year period. Zachary Fisher, the great philanthropist who underwrote the establishment of the Intrepid Museum among his many generous contributions to the U.S. Armed Forces, has been awarded the Medal of Freedom by the President, the highest civilian award in our nation.
The Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut has begun work on its addition to the museum facility. Requested funds for the dry docking of the USS Nautilus (SSN-571)—the museum’s largest artifact—in 2002 have been approved at the local level and sent on to the Department of the Navy for consideration.
Project Liberty Ship is having good success in raising funds through its “Rivet Drive 2000,” which will underwrite the next dry docking of SS John W. Brown, one of two surviving World War II Liberty ships. Patterned on the wartime bond drives, each bond finances a future rivet and awards the bond holder an original rivet removed during her 1997 dry docking. This spring and summer the John W. Brown will get underway during three scheduled Chesapeake Bay living history voyages. To book a voyage, on 22 May, 17 July, or 4 September, call (410) 661-1550 or e-mail at [email protected]. The keepers of the John W. Brown are also looking for any copies of The Mast, published at Sheepshead Bay by the U.S. Maritime Service during World War II.
Gifts-in-kind also are welcomed among our historic naval ship museums. Friends of “Old Ironsides” in Rutland, Vermont recently donated 14 massive white pine logs for use as future yards on board the venerable USS Constitution in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The huge shipment down the roads of New England required a special police escort. Yards on board the Constitution require replacement every ten years.
Several new attractions have opened to the public over the past several months. The USS Hornet (CV-12) is now a museum at Alameda Naval Air Station near Oakland, California. LSM- 45 (landing craft medium) recently returned to the United States from Greece, arrived at New Orleans, journeyed up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, and then continued up the Missouri River to Omaha, Nebraska. She joins USS Hazard (AM-240) and USS Marlin (SST-2) on exhibition at Omaha’s Freedom Park. HMCS Fraser (DDH-233) has opened to visitors at Bridgewater, Nova Scotia in Canada.
The first steel ship designated a museum ship in the United States, the USS Texas (BB-35), will mark the 85th birthday of her commissioning on 12 March. A veteran of the 1914 action at Veracruz, Mexico and both world wars, the Texas became a floating museum at La- Porte, Texas in 1948. One of our good Canadian members, HMCS Sackville in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the only surviving Canadian corvette, was recently featured on a postage stamp and will help her host city celebrate its 250th anniversary this year. The corvette educated and entertained 62,000 visitors last year. Museum ships in warmer water do better in attendance records; the USS Lexington (CV-16) recorded her two millionth person as she celebrated her sixth year as a floating tourist attraction last year. Lady Lex, berthed in Corpus Christi, Texas, has daily re-enactments of historical events which took place on board the ship during her service in the Navy.
When New Jersey was removed from “mobilization category B,” the Navy put Iowa (BB-61) onto the list as a replacement weapons platform. This could have a serious effect on the folks of the Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square in San Francisco, who are pursuing Iowa to exhibit. Meanwhile, Iowa, Forrestal (CV-59), and Saratoga (CV-60) have now all been removed from inactive status in Philadelphia to moorings at Naval Station, Newport, Rhode Island. The two carriers also have their enthusiastic admirers, with a group in Rhode Island hoping to capture Big Sara for a permanent attraction at nearby Quonset Point. Interests in the Forrestal remain aimed at bringing her to Baltimore or the Delaware River.
The Association’s annual mid-winter meeting will be held in Annapolis, Maryland, on 15-16 March, and its fall conference will be hosted by the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay in Corpus Christi, Texas, on 4-7 October. The United States is the proud host this year of the 10th International Congress of Maritime Museums. It will be held at Philadelphia’s Independence Seaport Museum on 12-17 September 1999.
James W. Cheevers