USS Lexington No Longer in Debt to City
Posted: Feb 14, 2012 7:11 PM
KRIS Corpus Christi News

CORPUS CHRISTI - It was a big day for the U.S.S. Lexington as caretakers of the aircraft carrier delivered the final bond payment for the ‘Grey Ghost.'

Members of the Landing Force 16 Task Force, which originally petitioned the Navy to bring the ship to town more than 20 years ago, were pleased to deliver the balance of the $3 million bond payment.

Since 1992, seven million people have visited the bayside museum.

USS Lexington No Longer in Debt to City
Posted: Feb 14, 2012 7:11 PM
KRIS Corpus Christi News

CORPUS CHRISTI - It was a big day for the U.S.S. Lexington as caretakers of the aircraft carrier delivered the final bond payment for the ‘Grey Ghost.'

Members of the Landing Force 16 Task Force, which originally petitioned the Navy to bring the ship to town more than 20 years ago, were pleased to deliver the balance of the $3 million bond payment.

Since 1992, seven million people have visited the bayside museum.

WWII ship to be artificial reef off FMB
Posted: Feb 14, 2012 1:40 PM EST
NBC2 News

LEE COUNTY, FL -

A World War II ship will soon be 100 feet below the Gulf near Fort Myers Beach.

On Tuesday, Lee County Commissioners voted to move forward with a plan to turn the 165-foot USS Mohawk into an underwater reef.

Lee County scuba shops hope the sunken ship will increase scuba tourism in Southwest Florida.

The Mohawk will be studied top to bottom to make sure she's environmentally safe.

She could be the newest reef as early as next summer.

Huge gift could land Cold War sub
By NICK LYPACZEWSKI, ST. THOMAS TIMES-JOURNAL
February 8, 2012

Former Elgin teacher Dorothy Fay Palmer has left a record $300,000 in her estate to help bring a unique tourist attraction to tiny Port Burwell.

Estate trustee Andrew Gunn was at the Elgin Military Museum to celebrate the gift to help locate the decommissioned HMCS Ojibwa submarine to the Lake Erie port.

"The focus (of these donations) is really on giving opportunities to young people and taking care of young people. If we're going to sort of rejuvenate our local economy, it begins with young people," Gunn said after the announcement.

The Palmer estate has supported a number of commun- ity-building initiatives.

Elgin Military Museum has been working on making the submarine a permanent Port Burwell museum piece since 2009 but only got approval from Department of National Defence to do so in November.

Gunn says the submarine provides a rare opportunity for school tours even up to the university level, an important component in where Palmer's money gets spent.

Gunn adds the positive effects the 300-foot sub will have on the local economy are a great bonus. A consultant company commissioned by the Municipality of Bayham projected the Ojibwa would generate $14 million in extra revenue for the area.

Gunn says a community's educational and economic features go hand-in-hand.

"The bottom line for me is educational initiatives are crucial in the economy."

"Communities that are most successful are the ones that can unite their educational programming with their businesses and manufacturing because that creates a pool of knowledge that's hard to move and we've had too many industries locally that have been too easy to move."

While Gunn says some skeptics didn't think the submarine would be enough of an attraction to generate a constant stream of visitors, those same skeptics also said they'd check it out.

Elgin Military Museum executive director Ian Raven told the Times-Journal this is the largest non-government museum contribution in its 30-year history.

"We are very, very pleased to receive that and it certainly gives a definite show of community support," he adds.

Raven says museum staff project 40 new full-time, part-time and seasonal museum positions totalling over $500,000 in annual payroll as a result of the project.

But besides the economic, tourist and educational benefits, Raven adds it bolsters the museum's own reputation.

"It's a quantum leap for the museum."

"We move from being a small community museum to probably quite literally a museum that's on the national stage . . . We happen to be the catalyst for it but we're being pulled along by it as much as we're pushing it forward."

The sub acquisition, however, isn't a done deal. Staff must show the Royal Canadian Navy they can secure about $6 million in project funding. The Navy has asked them to do so by the end of March.

A big part of that is a federal grant for about $1.9 million as part of Community Adjustment Fund. The museum is awaiting confirmation of continuation of that grant.

Adams promoters asking for money to hire staff, open office
Submitted by Jeff Brumley on February 7, 2012 - 4:57pm
The Florida Times-Union

Those campaigning to have a decommissioned U.S. Navy destroyer towed to and displayed in Jacksonville say they've reached a critical moment and need their supporters to donate more money.

The Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Museum and Adams Class Museum issued an email appeal recently for $250,000 in donations to open an office and hire staff to help get the Charles F. Adams to Florida from Pennsylvania.

"With in-kind donations from major ship yard repair facilities and friends we will be prepared to tow the Adams from Philadelphia; and, after repairs, present the refurbished Adams for public display," the email said.

It added the Navy has determined the ship is safe to be towed and that plans are underway to design and build the pier where they want the ship displayed.

"The JHNSA needs to demonstrate immediate further progress, with new funding and support, to avoid having the Adams removed from 'hold' and scrapped," the group said.

It gave April 15 as the deadline for making donations. It also invited supporters to attend a meeting 5:30 to 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Jacksonville Maritime Heritage Center, which is located at the Jacksonville Landing downtown.

Iowa's governor signs bill authorizing donation to USS Iowa project
By Donna Littlejohn, Daily Breeze Staff Writer
Posted:   02/01/2012 01:46:24 PM PST

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on Wednesday signed a bill that clears the way for the state's $3 million donation for the USS Iowa battleship's preservation, according to a blog published by the Des Moines Register.

The World War II vessel will be permanently berthed in the Port of Los Angeles later this year as a tourist attraction and memorial.

The Iowa legislature last year allocated $3 million to the Department of Cultural Affairs to go toward the preservation of the ship once it was donated to a nonprofit group as a museum.

The ship was donated last September to the Pacific Battleship Center which is overseeing its refurbishment. The ship currently is in the Port of Richmond in Northern California but will be brought to San Pedro sometime this spring.

The bill signed by the governor outlines how the money should be spent and also provides a timeline and reporting requirements.

Rust threatens to mothball Science Center's Requin submarine
By Sam Spatter and Rachel Weaver, FOR THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, January 28, 2012

Lee Bookwalter knows it takes a special type of person to serve aboard a submarine.

The Navy veteran spent five years aboard the USS Pargo in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

"It's very difficult to explain to somebody who's never been on a submarine what the camaraderie is like," said Bookwalter, 58, of Plum. He is a member of the Southwestern Pennsylvania chapter of U.S. Submarine Veterans Inc., known as the Requin Base.

Now the organization's namesake is in need of repair -- maybe up to $2 million worth.

The USS Requin, one of the most popular attractions at the Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore, is showing its age. The exterior of the World War II-era submarine, which attracts about 160,000 visitors annually, has rusted below the water level, the elements gnawing several holes.

Science Center officials are quick to say there is no danger that the sub will sink, and visitors are still welcome.

"But we want to correct the problem as quickly as we can," said Ann Metzger, co-director of the center.

To that end, the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County on Friday approved a $125,000 grant from the Allegheny County Community Infrastructure & Tourism Fund to begin determining the damage.

"We will use the funds to conduct an official maritime assessment of the situation, as well as for engineering work, to determine what needs to be done," Metzger said.

Although the Navy annually inspects the sub, moored on the Ohio River, it does not have money to conduct the assessment, she said, which may not occur until spring.

Once center officials have an idea of the scope and cost of repairs, they will begin fundraising, said Ron Baillie, center co-director. Repairs could cost as much as $2 million.

The Navy launched the submarine on New Year's Day 1945. Commissioned as a standard fleet submarine in April before joining the Pacific Fleet, the Requin did not see active duty during World War II. But the vessel was at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the war ended in August that year.

Its journeys and missions took it from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic Circle and the Mediterranean Sea before it was decommissioned in 1968. The sub served for training until 1971, according to the Requin's biography on the Science Center website.

Eventually acquired for display in Tampa, the Requin has been in Pittsburgh since 1990, educating thousands about undersea Navy life, service and technology from more than 50 years ago. Visitors can see everything from how its crew submerged the sub, to how cooks used a tiny kitchen to feed servicemen, to the cramped bunks in which they slept.

Baillie helped oversee its voyage from Tampa, up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, 20 years ago.

"It is the farthest a submarine has ever been taken inland in the world," he said. "It was no small task at all."

Since then, 3 million people have toured the Requin. Submarine veterans, some of whom served in World War II, work to keep it "as shiny and new as it was when it first launched," Baillie said. A Science Center study conducted last year showed the sub ranked among the top visitor experiences.

"It's a chance to see and experience something really different and new," Baillie said.

Repairs could be made on a dry dock at Neville Island. Baillie said another option is to make the repairs in place by installing an underwater sea wall and pumping out the river water. That way, visitors could watch the progress.

Baillie said there are no chemicals or unusual substances in the river affecting rust progress. Saltwater is far more damaging for the sub.

"It's normal deterioration," he said.

Bookwalter said fixing the problem is of utmost importance to local submarine veterans. The Requin Base holds a ceremony each Memorial Day weekend, during which members toll a bell for each boat lost during service.

"(The Requin is) basically our namesake," Bookwalter said. "It's gone a long way in helping veterans find us."

Huey Dietrich, commander of Requin Base, called the submarine a "living monument."

"It is the centerpiece of Pittsburgh," he said. "People in Pittsburgh love it."

Full steam ahead for battleship
8:17 AM, Jan. 23, 2012
Cherry Hill Courier Post

CAMDEN — The Battleship New Jersey museum is still coping with a whopping reduction in state aid that is causing problems with a loan and is fending off old foes who want to take the ship upstate.

Despite all this, the museum leadership has a positive message for the public.

If piped over the once-active and historic ship’s intercom system, that announcement would say: “Now hear this. Now hear this. The ship is not closing up shop and is not moving elsewhere.”

The Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial on the Camden waterfront has trimmed employees, curtailed winter hours and reduced other operating costs as its state aid — once $3.4 million — has steadily fallen to near zero.

State aid for utilities and operating expenses dwindled to nothing in the current fiscal year under the Christie administration except for a $32,500 grant from the New Jersey Historic Commission. Now the $3.2 million ship museum budget is less than half of what it once was and less than the state aid amount it received in 2004.

This week it was disclosed the ship did not have the money to pay another principal payment on $900,000 of a $1 million loan dating to 2003 — the year before the ship received any state aid. That loan was guaranteed by the Delaware River Port Authority.

On Wednesday the port authority agreed to a 90-day extension of the remaining loan amount with the lender, TD Bank, pending further consideration by the DRPA. If the loan is called, authority members were told by their staff this week that the DRPA would have to repay it for the museum.

The ship is owned by the Navy and is not collateral for the loan.

Jim Schuck, president and chief executive officer of the museum, said the battleship will be making another $50,000 principal payment on the loan but could not say how soon.

“We have paid the interest on the loan every year and have made two $50,000 payments toward the principal, and the bank has regularly extended the loan,” he said.

Schuck said the battleship has paid off a separate $500,000 unsecured loan to the bank that was not guaranteed by the DRPA.

‘Big J’ coming to JC?
Campaign building to bring famed Battleship New Jersey to Liberty State Park
by E. Assata Wright
Reporter staff writer Hudson Reporter
01.22.12 - 12:05 am

A behind-the-scenes campaign to relocate the U.S. Navy’s most decorated war ship from Camden to Jersey City is now underway, a campaign that threatens to revive an old tug of war between north and south Jersey.

A decade has passed since the Battleship USS New Jersey sailed around the U.S. and landed in Camden, after Jersey City, Bayonne, and Camden waged a bitter battle over where the ship would be docked. At the time, many were surprised that Camden won out over Jersey City and Bayonne. But it was assumed the ship, which was turned into a museum, would help vitalize Camden’s waterfront and feed off of tourism in Philadelphia.

That hasn’t happened. Disappointing tourism along Camden’s Delaware River waterfront, according to some sources, has made the USS New Jersey a forgotten relic tucked behind the city’s underutilized aquarium.

“This is a national treasure. It’s been given its best shot in Camden,” said one source. “But it simply isn’t viable [as a tourist attraction] where it is now.”

Thus, there’s now a move afoot to build political pressure to bring the ship north to Jersey City, where tourism traffic is greater. But Camden, south Jersey, and Philadelphia are sure to mount their own campaign to keep the battleship docked where it is.

Old idea resurfaces

The move to relocate this historic war ship is being spearheaded by the USS New Jersey Battleship Foundation, various veterans groups, and groups of volunteers who believe the ship – which is now operating as a museum in Camden – is not sustainable in its current location.

They argue the battleship, which could be a major tourist attraction, is not getting the foot traffic it should, largely because the Delaware River waterfront and Camden are not attractive destinations for visitors.

“After 10 years and $42 million in state and other aid, that location has failed to sustain the New Jersey,” the foundation’s executive director, vice president, and secretary write in a letter addressed to USS New Jersey supporters. “The battleship should be moved to Liberty State Park where
attendance revenue will forever support its self-sufficient operation and create hundreds of new jobs.”

In their new vision for the battleship, they see it as part of a “freedom trilogy” in the New York Harbor that will eventually include the USS New Jersey, the Statue of Liberty, and 1 World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, in lower Manhattan.

Representatives from the USS New Jersey Battleship Foundation have been meeting with key political leaders in Hudson County and Trenton to get their support for the move. Thus far, Hudson County Executive Thomas DeGise and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy are on board.

Earlier this month, on Jan. 13, DeGise sent a letter of support to Gov. Christopher Christie which stated, in part: “I am writing to express my support for the [foundation’s] ‘Complete the Mission Campaign’ to bring this famed vessel here for permanent mooring beside Liberty State Park in Jersey City…The ship would instantly enjoy new visibility and profitability as an exciting point of destination for more than 50 million people who visit New York City annually. The foundation, with our support, seeks to raise the funds necessary to relocate, renovate, and ready a proper final berth for the Battleship New Jersey anchored off Liberty State Park, within a metropolitan area rich with tourism, and marketing opportunities.”

Healy plans to voice his support soon, according to his spokesperson.

“The mayor has met with representatives of the organization,” said city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill. “The mayor supports the concept. However, the city cannot commit financial resources. The mayor will send a letter of support to the governor.”

In addition to DeGise and Healy, foundation representatives have also met with the governor’s staff and have reached out to State Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City).

One source recently said the Battleship Foundation is already working with the fundraising organization that helped raise millions for the World Trade Center Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, and the World War II Memorial. They hope to raise about $15 million from private sources to relocate the Battleship New Jersey in 2013.

‘The Big J’

One of the four Iowa class ships that have been taken out of active duty, the Battleship USS New Jersey served in World War II, the Korean conflict, Vietnam, and in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and the 1990 Operation Desert Shield. Like the Battleship New Jersey, three other Iowa
class ships – the Battleship Missouri, the Illinois, and the Kentucky – have also been taken out of active duty by the Navy. The Navy keeps two other ships in this class, the Battleship Iowa and the Battleship Wisconsin, in its reserve fleet.

The four that have been permanently decommissioned now operate as museums at various sites across the country.

Built in the early 1940s, the Iowa class ships were at the time considered to be state-of the-art vessels for their speed and ability to provide cover for U.S. aircraft carriers, according to the Navy’s web site. Although other ships were built during this same period and were also used during World War II, notably the Montana class warships, the Iowa class ships saw more years of service and are considered by some sources to be among the Navy’s best warship designs.

The Big J, as the Battleship New Jersey was nicknamed, was built in the Philadelphia Naval Yard and was commissioned for duty in 1943. During its years of service the New Jersey received nine battle stars for World War II, four for the conflict in Korea, three Campaign Stars for its service in the Persian Gulf, and two stars for the Vietnam War. The Battleship New Jersey is the most decorated ship in U.S. Navy history.

At least 55,000 Navy vets served aboard the Battleship New Jersey, according to the Battleship New Jersey museum.

Location, location, location – or politics?

When the Navy decommissioned the Battleship New Jersey for the last time in 1991, the vessel sat for years in Bremerton, Wash., until the USS New Jersey Battleship Foundation, with the help of veterans and volunteers in New Jersey, launched an effort to “bring her home.” That is, to bring the Battleship New Jersey home to her namesake.

When the Navy began looking for suitable sites in New Jersey to dock the decorated war ship, three sites emerged as frontrunners: Jersey City’s Liberty State Park, the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne, and the Delaware River waterfront in Camden, which is across the harbor from the Philadelphia Navy Yard where the ship was built.

In 2000, Navy Secretary Richard Danzig announced that the Battleship New Jersey would be donated to the Home Port Alliance and berthed in Camden. At the time the Navy insisted that Camden was selected because the city had promised to create a number of exhibits in on its waterfront that would tie
in to the ship’s history. Other infrastructural developments that could have increased local tourism were also planned at the time, although it’s unclear whether they ever materialized.

But other sources claim politics played a much bigger role in the decision to dock the ship in Camden. These sources argue that the Democratic administration of President Bill Clinton selected Camden as a gift to former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, who at the time was chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Whatever the reasons, the ship has not thrived in Camden, according to many sources.

In 2010, the museum laid off a dozen employees, according to local news reports, and cut back on its weekday hours. According to the museum’s web site, the battleship is currently closed for the entire month of January and won’t reopen for tours until Feb. 3.

“This is unheard of,” said one source. “For this museum to be closed for an entire month shows you this museum simply isn’t attracting enough people where it is now.”

When it does reopen, the battleship will again offer regular tours to the public – but only on weekends, or by appointment during the week for large groups.

The USS New Jersey Battleship Foundation is now making the case that this valuable naval asset would be better served in a region of the state that sees more tourism. Yet, any push to relocate the battleship is sure to anger Camden and Philadelphia, which see the battleship as an anchor that brings tourism to the Delaware River waterfront, no matter how sparse.

For now, Camden’s Home Port Alliance holds a contract with the U.S. Navy to operate and manage the ship museum. Any decision to relocate the Battleship New Jersey would have to be made by the Naval Sea Systems Command, a division of the U.S. Navy.

Laffey on way home to Patriots
Museum closes for a week starting Sunday
By Warren Wise, Post and Courier
Saturday, January 21, 2012

Patriots Point, a military backdrop and favorite stumping ground for several Republican presidential candidates leading up to today's primary election, will close at 9 a.m. Sunday for a week to reberth the hull-repaired World War II destroyer Laffey. The 377-foot-long Laffey is moored at Shipyard Creek in North Charleston.

The old warship -- which remains moored at Shipyard Creek in North Charleston after undergoing repairs at a cost of more than $9 million in 2009 -- is set to be brought home next week.

The Laffey will be docked parallel to the Yorktown, the World War II aircraft carrier that anchors one of the Charleston area's top tourist attractions.

The naval and maritime museum on the edge of Charleston Harbor in Mount Pleasant was originally set to shut down Jan. 9 for a week, but opted to delay work for two weeks to a predetermined backup week so it could line up all the contractors for the intricate task of repositioning the ship.

At least two GOP candidates, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, used Patriots Point during the last two weeks as campaign stops, but Patriots Point Executive Director Mac Burdette said work wasn't delayed so the candidates could stump there in the two crucial weeks leading up to today's GOP primary.

"We originally picked two different weeks, and next week was our backup week," Burdette said. "This is the most important event in my life right now. We wouldn't have stopped it for the president of the United States if he was coming here."

Patriots Point will be closed a full week during one of its slowest times of the year. The weeklong closing is the longest Burdette can remember for Patriots Point during his short tenure, and it's possibly the longest shutdown since Hurricane Hugo devastated Charleston in 1989, but he couldn't say for sure.

The closure will cost Patriots Point about $17,000 in lost revenue, Burdette said.

Known as "The Ship That Would Not Die" for withstanding Japanese bombs and kamikaze attacks, the Laffey will be docked where the submarine Clamagore
now sits. The Clamagore will be moved to the south end of the Yorktown
where the Coast Guard cutter Ingham once sat near the marina. The cutter
was transferred to Key West, Fla., in 2009.

Laffey's return will require a 60-foot section of the concrete pier leading to the ships to be removed so the ship can be anchored next to the Yorktown.

Crews are expected to start work Sunday on the $1 million project by cutting into the pier and underlying electrical, water and sewer lines. It's possible the pier section could be moved onto a barge late Sunday, but it could happen Monday, Burdette said.

"We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will go according to plan," Burdette said.

Several Laffey veterans want to see the ship come home, including Bill Stegall of Charlotte, who served aboard the ship during the Korean War in the early 1950s.

The ship took the former radar room sailor around the world during a two-year stint that included blockading a harbor in North Korea, where Stegall remembers the Laffey exchanging fire with the enemy's artillery emplacements embedded in mountain caves.

Stegall, a retired law enforcement officer who is 79, has visited the Laffey several times since it docked at Patriots Point 30 years ago.

"I'm happy she is coming home," he said. "She took me on a long ride and that was home for two years, and I would like to see her again."

Patriots Point will mark the Laffey's return in a special ceremony during the spring. Plans have not been arranged.

LST could find a new home in Peoria
By ANDY KRAVETZ of the Journal Star
Posted Jan 20, 2012 @ 10:17 PM

PEORIA —

The captain of a vintage World War II Navy ship-turned-traveling-museum says Peoria could be the vessel's next home.

While in very preliminary stages, Capt. Robert Jornlin, commanding officer of LST 325, said he and the other board members of the USS LST Ship Memorial are weighing their options with regard to where to berth the ship after 2015, when their current contract with Evansville, Ind., expires.

"Evansville says they want to keep us, but our contract runs out in 2015 and we can't wait that long to find another city," Jornlin said Friday. "If things fall apart in Evansville, what would the city of Peoria do to encourage us to come here?"

Jornlin was supposed to drive to Peoria on Friday for some exploratory talks, but the weather nixed those plans.

Jornlin, one of nine people on the memorial's board, said the overall goal is to stay where they are.

The ship, used in the D-Day invasion, could carry as many as 20 Sherman tanks, delivering them directly at the beachheads. Once there, its bow doors would open, and a steel ramp lowered, allowing its lethal force out and into battle.

The LST 325 was salvaged from a Greek shipyard by a group of veterans who purchased the ship in 2000, rehabbing it and returning it to the United States, where it now serves as a war memorial. Evansville has been her home since 2004, and the city ponied up $3 million to build a dock and other facilities.

Jornlin said he's happy with Evansville and the facilities but decried the lack of marketing by the Ohio River city.

"It really kind of depends upon what Peoria could do for us. The other part is that we may very well stay in Evansville if they continue to do what they promised and what the contract says," he said.

Earlier this week, the Evansville Courier & Press reported that city's mayor had offered a few incentives such as help with repairing the ship and possible storage options. Additionally, the newspaper reported that Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said, "They don't want to leave, I don't get that impression at all."

When reached by phone, Peoria City Manager Patrick Urich said any thought of the ship coming to Peoria is in its "infancy." But the city manager also said trying to land the LST could be a boon to the city.

"If we could find a home for the LST on the riverfront, it would be a fantastic addition," he said.

The ship docked in Peoria in 2007 and again in 2011, drawing thousands of visitors.

Mare Island group seeks more time to raise money in bid for the USS Olympia
By Sarah Rohrs, Vallejo Times Herald
Posted: 01/18/2012 01:03:14 AM PST

A local group trying to secure the USS Olympia for the Mare Island shoreline wants more time to raise money and remain a contender, according to a letter sent to the Philadelphia museum holding the war ship.

The Mare Island Historic Park Foundation last week forwarded a request to the Independence Seaport Museum asking for a deadline for submission of a second phase application from May to April of 2014.

The time, according to the letter, is needed to complete required studies and raise money.

"If the project is to be successful we need money," foundation board president Ken Zadwick said. "We need more time to plan and carry out a fundraising effort. It's not just an overnight job."

A museum representative said he will consider the Mare Island group's request.

A request for an extension would need to go before the museum's board of directors, said Jesse Lebovics, the museum's historic ships manager. He added he is aware of one other organization seeking an extension.

The Mare Island Historic Park Foundation is one of four finalists given a green light to proceed to the second phase of securing the ship, a one-of-a-kind steel cruiser from the Spanish-American War.

The aim is to bring the ship to Mare Island's Dry Dock 1.

The various organizations trying to secure the historic ship is encouraging, Lebovics said.

"A year ago this month it looked like there was no hope for the Olympia," he said.

The ultimate goal is for the Philadelphia museum to find the ship a new home so an extension for a group which proved successful in the bidding process might be appropriate, Lebovics said.

The Mare Island foundation's letter notes that Vallejo is proceeding as rapidly as possible to complete the reports. It also notes that the city's proposal has "significant merit" because the Vallejo group will display the vessel out of water which means the hull will no longer be subject to corrosion.

Further, the Olympia has a strong tie to Vallejo as the ship underwent repairs at Mare Island prior to fighting in the 1898 Spanish Fleet in Manila Bay.

USS Edson expected to begin trip to Bay City in March
By MacKenzie Burger | The Bay City Times
Published: Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 2:45 PM

BANGOR TOWNSHIP — Following approval from the Navy, the USS Edson destroyer could deport for Bay City by spring.

Mike Kegley, Saginaw Valley Naval Museum president, said he spoke with NAVSEA (Naval Sea Systems Command) officials this morning who stated that they are working on the final steps in the process to bring the destroyer to Bay City. A formal announcement on the status of the Edson is expected to be made by Naval officials in Bay City in the coming weeks.

"It's coming," Kegley said. "I was a young man back when we started this program in 1997 — we're definitely excited, and it is something we have been looking forward to a long time."

Once the ship arrives in Bay City, it will dock at the Independence Park Boat Launch in Bangor Township, near the Independence Bridge, where it will become a floating museum and tourist attraction, said Kegley.

"It can take up to six weeks — depending on the weather — for the Edson to make the trip," Kegley said. "The lakes need to be free of ice and the St. Lawrence Seaway needs to be open, but, following an announcement, it could begin the trip at the end of March."

The USS Edson is currently located at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard — two tug boats are needed to assist the ship to Bay City.

"It will take 93,000 gallons of diesel fuel," Kegley said. "We are at the mercy of gas prices and we are continuing fundraising efforts."

Kegley said that the last step that the Saginaw Valley Naval Museum had to complete was updating a loan guarantee from the Bay County Growth Alliance. This was completed between Christmas and Jan. 1.

In 2004, the museum began efforts to secure the Edson for Bay City. Previously, they had worked towards bringing another ship to the area, but changed focus when the cost became prohibitive.

The USS Edson was commissioned in 1958 and decommissioned in 1988. The ship is named after Merritt Austin Edson, who received the Medal of Honor near the end of his 30-year military career for his heroism in successfully withdrawing units to a reserve line with minimum casualties during a heavy attack in the Soloman Islands by the Japanese in September 1942.

NAVSEA is the largest of the Navy's five system commands. Naval Sea Systems Command works to engineer, build, buy and maintain ships and combat systems.

Complete Civil War submarine unveiled for first time

NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Confederate Civil War vessel H.L. Hunley, the world's first successful combat submarine when it sank a Union ship in 1864, was unveiled in full and unobstructed for the first time on Thursday, capping a decade of careful preservation.

"No one alive has ever seen the Hunley complete. We're going to see it today," said engineer John King as a crane at a Charleston conservation laboratory slowly lifted a massive steel truss covering the top of the submarine.

About 20 engineers and scientists applauded as they caught the first glimpse of the intact 42-foot-long narrow iron cylinder, which was raised from the ocean floor near Charleston more than a decade ago. The public will see the same view but in a water tank to keep it from rusting.

"It's like looking at the sub for the first time. It's like the end of a long night," said Paul Mardikian, senior conservator since 1999 of the project to raise, excavate and conserve the Hunley.

In the summer of 2000, an expedition led by adventurer Clive Cussler raised the Hunley and delivered it to the conservatory on Charleston's old Navy base, where it sat in a 90,000-gallon tank of fresh water to leech salt out of its iron hull.

On weekdays, scientists drain the tank and work on the sub. On weekends, tourists who before this week could only see an obstructed view of the vessel in the water tank, now will be able to see it unimpeded.

Considered the Confederacy's stealth weapon, the Hunley sank the Union warship Housatonic in winter 1864, and then disappeared with all eight Confederate sailors inside.

The narrow, top-secret "torpedo fish," built in Mobile, Alabama by Horace Hunley from cast iron and wrought iron with a hand-cranked propeller, arrived in Charleston in 1863 while the city was under siege by Union troops and ships.

In the ensuing few months, it sank twice after sea trial accidents, killing 13 crew members including Horace Hunley, who was steering.

"There are historical references that the bodies of one crew had to be cut into pieces to remove them from the submarine," Mardikian told Reuters. "There was forensic evidence when they found the bones (between 1993 and 2004 in a Confederate graveyard beneath a football stadium in Charleston) that that was true."

The Confederate Navy hauled the sub up twice, recovered the bodies of the crew, and planned a winter attack.

On the night of February 17, 1864, its captain and seven crew left Sullivan's Island near Charleston, and hand-powered the sub to the Union warship four miles offshore. From a metal spar on its bow, the Hunley planted a 135-pound torpedo in the hull of the ship, which burned and sank.

Some historians say that the submarine showed a mission-accomplished lantern signal from its hatch to troops back on shore before it disappeared.

Mardikian has the lantern, which archaeologists found in the submarine more than a century later, in his laboratory.

Scientists removed 10 tons of sediment from the submarine, along with the bones, skulls and even brain matter of the crew members, Mardikian told Reuters. They also found fabric and sailors' personal belongings.

Facial reconstructions were made of each member of the third and final crew. They are displayed along with other artifacts in a museum near the submarine. In a nearby vault is a bent gold coin that archaeologists also found in the submarine. It was carried by the sub's captain, Lieutenant George Dixon, for good luck after it stopped a bullet from entering his leg during the Battle of Shiloh in 1862.

"The submarine was a perfect time capsule of everything inside," said Ben Rennison, one of three maritime archaeologists on the project.

The Hunley Project is a partnership among the South Carolina Hunley Commission, Clemson University Restoration Institute, the Naval Historical Center and the nonprofit Friends of the Hunley. The nonprofit group raised and spent $22 million on the project through 2010, a spokeswoman told Reuters.

The next phase of the project will be to remove corrosion on the iron hull and reveal the submarine's skin, preserve it with chemicals, and eventually display it in open air, Mardikian said.

Scientists have found the vessel to be a more sophisticated feat of engineering than historians had thought, said Michael Drews, director of Clemson's Warren Lasch Conservation Center.

"It has the ballast tanks fore and aft, the dive planes were counterbalanced, the propeller was shrouded," Drews said. "It's just got all of the elements that the modern submarines have, updated."

There were previous submarines, Drews said, but the Hunley, designed to sail in the open ocean and built for warfare, was cutting-edge technology at the time.

"Dixon's mission was to attack and sink an enemy ship and he did," Drews said. "At that particular time, the mindset of naval warfare was, basically, big ships sink little ships. Little ships do not sink big ships. And the Hunley turned that upside down."

(Editing by Greg McCune)    Click here for photo.

San Francisco Famous Tourist Attraction Enters Drydock for Refurbishment
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ --

The SS Jeremiah O'Brien (Pier 45) is about to begin one of the most extensive preservation efforts in the last two decades.  This landmark World War II Liberty ship, moored at Fisherman's Wharf, is a living museum on the water.  Built in 1943, the O'Brien is one of only two remaining fully functional Liberty ships and a premier San Francisco attraction.

On January 23rd, the O'Brien will head to Pier 70 for twenty-eight days "on the blocks" where the ship will undergo the first stages of her facelift.

"This will be the first time in 20 years that we take her down to the bare metal on the hull and really prime and paint her," said Captain Patrick Moloney, Port Captain and Master. "Our ship is 68 years old, but when she returns from drydock she'll look and act like a 20 year old. We are preparing for the O'Brien's immediate future."

In 2013, America's Cup will come to San Francisco, offering new opportunities for the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, including hospitality for spectators and media looking for a unique vantage point from which to observe this historic event.

"We can take spectators out on the water where the race is held," said Dennis Koller, Executive Director of the O'Brien. "We offer a viewing platform that is mobile, stable, and has height. The perfect place from which to watch the America's Cup races."

About the SS Jeremiah O'Brien

Of the 2,710 Liberty ships built and launched during WWII, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien is one of only two remaining in the world. The O'Brien has the distinction of being the last unaltered Liberty ship and takes pride in her historical accuracy. A veteran of D-Day, the O'Brien sailed from San Francisco to the beaches of Normandy in 1994, the 50th anniversary of D-Day.  Of the 6,000 ship armada that was at the D-Day landings in June of 1944, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien was the only one to make it back 50 years later.

Berthed at historic Pier 45 on Fisherman's Wharf, she is a premier San Francisco attraction. A living museum on the National Register of Historic Places and a National Historic Landmark, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien's triple expansion steam engines were featured in the blockbuster movie Titanic.  The O'Brien offers 6 Bay cruises a year, including a special Ghirardelli Chocolate cruise on July 21st, as well as providing an unparalleled venue for corporate events, private parties, weddings, and educational overnight adventures for youth groups.

Open every day from 9 AM to 5 PM, the O'Brien transports you back almost seven decades to when sailors braved the harshest of high seas and threat of enemy attack.

USS Cod repair sparks memories of old Cleveland Diesel Engine plants in World War II
Published: Saturday, January 07, 2012, 5:10 AM
By Brian Albrecht, Plain Dealer

A little memory motor sputtered to life in Jim Jaworski when he heard recent news that the vintage World War II engines of the USS Cod Memorial submarine in Cleveland are being refurbished.

The sub's twin 1,600hp engines were made by General Motors' Cleveland Diesel Engine division where Jaworski's father, uncle and about 5,000 other Northeast Ohioans worked during the 1940s.

Though Cleveland Diesel may not be as renown as the old Cleveland Bomber Plant (now the International Exposition Center) where about 15,000 workers made B-29 bombers, its contributions were just as vital to the war effort.

Some 70 percent of the U.S. Navy's submarine engines came from the Cleveland Diesel Engine plants on West 106th Street and Clinton Road, which also produced engines for 48 types of Navy ships.

Jaworski, 70, of Berea, said the firm originated with Cleveland auto manufacturer Alexander Winton, who switched from cars in the early 1900s to diesel engine production for maritime vessels and locomotives. GM bought the company in 1938.

Jaworski's uncle, Leo Vosniak, started working at the plant as a machinist in 1939.

"That's why I smoke a pipe and became a mechanic, because my uncle did," said Jaworski, seated in his Berea Motor Works shop, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling parts bins, assorted engines, and classic cars, primarily Rolls Royces.

His father, Nick Jaworski, was foreman in an area of the plant that produced engine fuel injectors. But Jaworski said most of the stories heheard about the factory came from his uncle.

There was the tale of how these massive, two-story-high engines initially had bronze flywheels -- until one blew through the side of an engine on a ship, through the ship's side and then through both sides of an adjoining ship. The bronze flywheels were promptly replaced with cast iron versions, Jaworski said.

Engines produced at the plant were tested at a slant, reflecting real-world usage aboard ships commonly tilted by waves. Jaworski said that when it was discovered that engine studs could snap when subs were depth-charged, the studs were re-machined to allow for that stress.

The importance of their work was not lost on Cleveland Diesel employees, according to Jaworski.

"Lives depended on them," he said. "So whatever they sent out to sea had to be as right as it could be."

He noted that his uncle once said that before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, parts ordered from suppliers might take weeks to arrive. "He said that after the war broke out, they'd order something and it'd get there still hot off the lathe," Jaworski added.

After the war, production and employment at the plants fell with decreased demand. But Cleveland Diesel continued making engines for Navy ships, including stainless steel versions during the Korean War which wouldn't trigger magnetic mines.

As the Navy converted to nuclear-powered submarines, there was less need for diesel engines, and GM closed the Cleveland plant in 1962.

Looking back on its World War II heyday, Jaworski said Cleveland Diesel might not have gotten its due historic recognition because of the secrecy that workers were sworn to uphold. "They couldn't talk about their work," he said.

But as far as he's concerned, those bygone home-front factory workers are his heroes of the war.

"They had to come up with new ideas and develop stuff that nobody had ever done before," he said. "The work that they did was really technically challenging in terms of the design and machining process.

"It's really a wonderful story."

Muskegon's historic LST 393 organization has change of leadership
Published: Monday, December 12, 2011, 10:25 AM
By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

MUSKEGON — The nonprofit organization entrusted with the USS LST 393 is
going through a change of command.

The man primarily responsible for restoring LST 393 to its current
status as a memorial for all LST vessels is stepping down from
day-to-day command of the naval landmark on Muskegon Lake.

Outgoing LST 393 President Dan Weikel will return to his primary
mission: making the World War II landing craft a nationally renowned
veterans' museum.

Weikel, of North Muskegon, will become curator of the LST 393 museum,
located at the West Michigan Dock and Market Corp. in downtown Muskegon.

Replacing Weikel, heading the museum group's board of directors, is John
Stephenson of Norton Shores, who joined the organization in 2009. After
his retirement from The Muskegon Chronicle, Stephenson used his more
than 20 years of experience as the “Warbird Boss” for the Muskegon Air
Fair to volunteer with the LST 393.

Weikel said his new role is one he has long sought.

“I’ve been president and in charge of every facet of ship operations for
six years,” he said. “Now that we have a strong board and crew of
outstanding volunteers, we’re able to spread the workload, and I can
concentrate on the museum’s artifacts presentation.”

The new board vice president is Roger Kass of Fruitland Township, a
former Navy "Seabee," and the secretary is Rhett Sease, who served as a
chief aboard a modern LST.

LST 393 served with distinction in World War II and received battle
stars from the invasions of Sicily, Italy and Normandy. She made 30
round trips to Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion and was slated to
take part in the invasion of Japan when the war ended.

LST 393 is a genuine American historic treasure, one of only two LSTs
still afloat from the 1,051 built during World War II, Stephenson said.

In the post-war years, the ship was sold as surplus to Sand Products
Corp., owner of Muskegon’s Mart Dock. Her distinctive bow doors were
welded shut and she was renamed Highway 16. For nearly 30 years, she
served as a cross-lake ferry carrying new cars between Milwaukee and
Muskegon. She sat unused on Muskegon's waterfront until about a
half-dozen years ago.

In 2005, Weikel and Robert Wygant, another Muskegon-area resident,
obtained permission from the ship’s owners to start work on a
restoration. They spent the first years mostly cleaning and painting. In
2007, the bow doors were opened and the museum opened for tours with the
first displays.

Today, most of the ship is restored and the museum hosts more than
40,000 visitors a year, making it one of Muskegon’s more popular
attractions. The ship hosts weddings, reunions, meetings, group
sleepovers, parties, veterans' ceremonies and the popular Movies on Deck
on summer Friday nights.

Weikel is the main reason for the ship’s resurrection, Stephenson said.

“Dan put heart and soul into restoring the ship and creating the
museum,” Stephenson said. “This crew of volunteers is just carrying on
Dan’s legacy.”

As curator, Weikel will be in charge of the thousands of artifacts on
the ship, from old uniforms to a battle tank engine, which was recently
donated.

A veteran who served with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, Weikel
will also be the ship’s veteran affairs officer. He will set up
ceremonies like medal presentations and the annual Armed Forces Day
celebration in May, and will coordinate efforts with local and state
veteran service organizations.

“Honoring veterans and their service to our country is why we’re here,”
Weikel said. “We want everyone who visits this ship to come away knowing
more about our veterans’ sacrifices and having a better sense of the
history they made.”

After Winning Coveted Shuttle, Museum Changes the Plan for It
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
The New York Times
September 28, 2011

When New York made its pitch for one of NASA’s decommissioned space shuttles, one of its selling points was location: a glistening berth on the Hudson River alongside the aircraft carrier that is home to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

But five months after the Intrepid was awarded the shuttle Enterprise, museum officials have turned their attention from the end of the newly revamped pier to a parking lot on 12th Avenue, across the cacophonous West Side Highway. They envision converting the lot, which is surrounded by H & H Bagels, a car wash, storage warehouses and a strip club, into a space-themed museum that would serve as the home of the Enterprise and draw as many as one million visitors a year.

Aesthetics aside, the plan has several obstacles to clear. One problem is that the Intrepid does not own the parking lot; the State Department of Transportation does. Another is that the property, in Hell’s Kitchen, is zoned for manufacturing, not a museum. And perhaps the biggest hurdle is the many millions of dollars that would have to be raised to build this new home for the Enterprise, which was a prototype for the space shuttles but never flew into space.

The tentative state of the plan highlights how much less certain the Intrepid’s proposal was than those of some other museums that lobbied for one of the shuttles. The Museum of Flight in Seattle, for example, spent $11 million to build a structure that would house a shuttle, but did not get one.

Houston, home of the Johnson Space Center, was also shut out in a decision that enraged elected officials in Texas. Representative Ted Poe, a Republican, said the Intrepid’s preference for a different location for the Enterprise might be cause to revisit NASA’s selection process.

“As far as I’m concerned, it won’t be final until it’s sitting up there on the Hudson River where it’s supposed to finally be,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

A NASA spokesman, Michael Curie, said agency officials were aware of the changes in the Intrepid’s plans and did not “foresee any issues that would prevent transferring Enterprise to Intrepid in 2012.”

The museum’s president, Susan Marenoff-Zausner, said in an interview that she envisioned a museum “with the shuttle as the primary tenant” but also with classrooms and laboratories for teaching schoolchildren and others about science and technology. “It would be a museum on that side of the highway, which we think could be a linchpin in beautifying the area,” she said.

Ms. Marenoff-Zausner said she had discussed the idea with NASA officials but had not yet made formal requests for financial help from the state or city governments. She said it was too soon to say just how big the museum would be, how it would look or what it would cost. But she suggested that the shuttle would be visible from outside the building and could “get more exposure on the highway” than on the pier that serves as the entryway to the floating museum.

When officials of the Intrepid museum first broached the idea of bidding for one of the shuttles, they said a transparent building would be constructed for it at the end of the pier. It was to replace a Concorde supersonic jet that has stood on Pier 86 since the pier was rebuilt three years ago.

The Concorde, on long-term loan from British Airways, is part of the Intrepid’s eclectic collection of aircraft and military memorabilia. The ship that houses the museum played a minor role in the space program, picking up astronauts after they splashed down upon returning from space. The museum’s executives used that connection in their bid for one of the decommissioned shuttles.

As NASA was winding down the shuttle program, it offered its three remaining orbiters to museums. After fielding more than 20 responses, NASA, in April, awarded the shuttle Atlantis to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Endeavour to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The third, Discovery, was awarded to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. There, it will replace the Enterprise, making the prototype available to the Intrepid.

Of all the choices NASA made, the selection of the Intrepid drew the most complaints, as critics scoffed at New York’s tenuous ties to the space program. On Wednesday, Mr. Poe renewed his objection, saying, “That’s like putting the Statue of Liberty in Omaha.”

But Ms. Marenoff-Zausner countered that the Intrepid’s annex, on the east side of 12th Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets, would be “the only representation of NASA in the entire Northeast corridor.” She said that building a full museum would not necessarily change the schedule previously laid out by NASA.

In a report last month that concluded a review of the shuttle awards, NASA’s inspector general said the Enterprise would be moved from the Smithsonian to Kennedy International Airport in April 2012. It would be stored in a “climate-controlled tent” inside a hangar at the airport for about two years, then ferried on a barge to the Intrepid.

Ms. Marenoff-Zausner was not prepared to say when the museum would be ready for the arrival of the Enterprise, or how it would be moved from a barge on the river and across the West Side Highway. She said the museum was preparing for fund-raising and would seek to change the zoning on the site to allow the museum. The site is part of an industrial section that was rezoned in June.

But the first order of business is to strike a deal with the owner of the parking lot, the Department of Transportation. Museum officials met in late July with the state commissioner of transportation, Joan McDonald, to propose the plan. The commissioner has not yet decided if the state is willing to turn over the land, a spokesman for the department said.

Brady staying in charge of Independence Seaport Museum
Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 5:07pm EDT - Last Modified:
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Philadelphia Business Journal

John Brady, who was named interim leader on May 6, was the longtime leader of the museum’s boatbuilding school. He replaced John Gazzola, who resigned after eight months. Brady is a noted expert in the field of boat building and historic restoration.

As part of the leadership changes, John Hunter has been promoted from executive vice president to chief operating officer.

The Penn’s Landing institution was founded in 1960 by J. Welles Henderson, a Philadelphia lawyer who collected marine art and antiques — many of which were everyday objects that were part of the seafarer’s life, dating from 1750 to 1910. Today, the collection includes 25,000 artifacts, as well as hands-on exhibits, large-scale models and audio-visual exhibits.

The museum also owns two historic vessels: the Spanish-American War cruiser Olympia and World War II submarine Becuna. However, Brady will face the challenge of trying to resolve how to responsibly care for the two historic vessels.

Repair work on the Olympia alone is estimated to be $20 million; the museum is actively trying to find another institution to buy the ship, but that could take up to two years, the museum has said.

USS Iowa to be museum at Port of Los Angeles
Daily News Wire Services
Posted: 09/06/2011 01:41:01 PM PDT
Updated: 09/06/2011 01:54:11 PM PDT


LOS ANGELES - The World War II-era battleship U.S.S. Iowa will become apermanent museum at the Port of Los Angeles, the nonprofit that will managethe ship said today.

The U.S. Navy announced that it is donating the 887-foot ship to the Pacific Battleship Center, a nonprofit formed in 2009 to obtain the vessel and turn it into a museum.

The group's president, Robert Kent, said the announcement was the culmination of years of work.

"We can now move forward with the work necessary to restore the ship," he said.

The ship, decommissioned in 1990, is now among a fleet of mothballed Navy ships in Suisun Bay, at the mouth of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.

Kent said he hoped to have the museum open by next summer.

The Battleship Center was competing for the ship with a nonprofit in Vallejo.

Kent said the Port of Los Angeles was a good site because it would not need any dredging to berth the ship. Though the relocation will require an environmental impact report, the nonprofit will cover the costs. Had the harbor needed dredging, the process could have taken years, Kent said.

The Battleship Center raised about $9 million to move and restore the ship, including $3 million from the state of Iowa. The group took out another $5 million in loans and raised the rest through donations and pro bono work.

Kent said the ship will have at least five tours, including tours focusing on life at sea, engineering and armor, and tours of the ships weapons.

He said the group is working on special science, math, and history curricula for schools, which would receive discounted visits.

The Iowa, known as the "Big Stick," has a storied past. It ferried President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his top military advisers to and from Tehran Conference in advance of WW II. It later served in the Pacific
Fleet, shelling beachheads in the Marshall Islands. The ship was at the battle of Okinawa and was the among the first to enter Tokyo Bay after Japan's surrender.

In 1989 during a training mission off Puerto Rico, the 16-inch gun in Turret No. 2 exploded, killing 47 sailors, and was decommissioned the next year.

Battleship New Jersey facing tough times after state aid cut to zero

By Edward Colimore
August 23, 2011
Inquirer Staff Writer

The number of salaried staff members at the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial has been reduced from 50 to six over the last four years.

The curator stays overnight during children's sleepovers on the ship so officials do not have to pay someone else.

The president-chief executive officer of the floating museum also pitches in, sometimes even transporting the alcohol to catered events aboard the ship.

The Battleship New Jersey is in troubled financial waters this summer after the state cut its appropriation to zero from $3.4 million four years ago.

The battleship, which last year received about $1.7 million, was referred to the New Jersey Historic Commission for funding in fiscal 2012. The commission has a $2.7 million budget and dozens of smaller historic sites to assist.

In the end, the battleship was awarded $32,500, "not even one month's electric bill," said Jim Schuck, museum president and CEO. "We were set up to fail. The Historic Commission has no capacity to give us what we would need."

But the New Jersey's operators will not give up. It is full speed ahead on an e-mail-writing campaign to Gov. Christie - with copies to legislators - to persuade him to restore funding.

The ship is looking for corporate help and individual donations while stepping up efforts to attract visitors. About $3 million is raised each year from tour groups, overnight encampments, and events.

The Camden waterfront attraction holds more than 100 military events annually, including World War II and Vietnam reenactments, veterans reunions, reenlistments, a Pearl Harbor Day remembrance and other commemorative ceremonies. The Navy, Coast Guard, and State Police regularly perform training on the New Jersey.

"We're not giving up hope. We've been trying to get away from state funding," said Schuck, who would not say how operations would be affected by the loss of state aid.

"We have a lot of people with passion for the ship," he said. "We just need money. The events are down because of the economy."

Every year, about $1 million is spent on maintenance, $700,000 on utilities, and $600,000 on insurance. "That's $2.3 million before you open the doors," Schuck said.

The ship had hoped to debut an exhibit that would allow visitors to load projectiles and go through a simulated firing of a turret gun. "But we can't open it," Schuck said. "We don't have the funds to promote it."

Stepped-up financial pressure is being felt by many New Jersey museums, though not all have had their funding eliminated by the state. The Newark Museum received $1 million, half of what it got last year.

"Why do they get money from the state, and we don't?" Schuck asked. "Why are we being treated differently?"

Christie said the state simply did not have the money to restore funding to the battleship. The Legislature included the aid as a line item in the budget proposal the governor vetoed in June.

"We are extremely disappointed," Schuck said. "We are a source of pride for the state. People from all over the country come to see the ship."

The New Jersey's operators are looking for money wherever they can find it. Schuck said $350,000 that was left in the account of the now-defunct New Jersey Battleship Commission should have been transferred to the Camden site rather than to the Battleship New Jersey Historical Museum Society.

The society, which has provided displays and some funding to the New Jersey, hasabout $300,000 of that sum left, Vince Falso, the group's president and formerbattleship crew member, said Monday. It makes battleship presentations toveterans groups, and uses its van - decorated with the ship's image - in parades, Falso said.

Schuck would like to see the society's funds used for the ship's operations.

"I refuse to look at the worst-case scenario," he said. "We will keep moving forward . . . I want to be emphatic. We won't close.

"It's hard to sink a battleship," Schuck said. "This is a special lady, and she needs to be taken care of."

No extra aid for Big J
Aug 16, 2011
Cherry Hill Courier Post

Gov. Chris Christie said Monday there will be no additional state aid this year for the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial in Camden.

Christie made that clear at a press conference at Paulsdale, the Mount Laurel home of famed suffragette Alice Paul. The conference followed the signing of legislation to secure $10 million from a voter-approved trust fund for historic preservation that includes a $20,000 grant for Paulsdale.

Asked if he is exploring restoration of $1.7 million in state aid for the battleship and more than $300,000 for the Old Barracks in Trenton, Christie answered, "Right now, we don't have it."

He cited budget constraints and state revenue in July that was less than projected.

The ship named for the state is on the national and state registers of historic places and is the most decorated battleship in Navy history. The Old Barracks was the site of a famous Revolutionary War battle.

"We need to get away from individual earmarks in the budgets . . . and we don't have the money to fund everything," Christie said, referring to the separate appropriations of $1.7 million for the ship and $358,000 for the Old Barracks. They were contained in the budget passed by the Legislature and sent to Christie June 30; he used a line-item veto to eliminate both.

Meanwhile, museums that are not state historic sites will receive state money. The Liberty Science Museum in Jersey City is getting $4.9 million and the New Jersey Council of the Arts awarded the endowment-rich Newark Museum $1 million, though that amount was 50 percent less than last year.

This year, the battleship also was directed to apply for funding to the New Jersey Historic Commission. The commission's $2.7 million budget has not increased in four years and funds dozens of smaller historic sites around the state. It awarded the ship museum $32,500 and the Old Barracks $58,000.

Christie also said Monday the historic commission has the option of redistributing future funds.

"On behalf of the veterans, we are extremely disappointed in the governor's positions," said Jim Schuck, president and CEO of the battleship museum.

"All the New Jersey museums have received adequate funding. Why are we different?"

Schuck also said $400,000 that was left in the accounts of the now defunct New Jersey Battleship Commission should have gone to the Camden museum and not to the Battleship New Jersey Historical Museum Society. He argued it was state money for commission administration as well as donation money from the public.

The $10 million from the voter-approved trust fund will finance planning and capital improvement projects at 58 historic sites throughout the state, including four in Burlington County.

Grants are recommended by the historic trust fund and Garden State Preservation Trust boards of trustees, whose list of the recommended sites was released in May but had to be approved by the Legislature and governor.

"Preserving these cultural and historic sites is critical to ensuring that future generations have the opportunity to learn more about New Jersey's place in history," Christie said.

The governor added rehabilitation of those "wonderful places" ultimately will attract tourism, spur neighborhood revitalization and encourage economic growth in the state."

Kris Myers, director of heritage and outreach at Paulsdale, said the $20,000 grant will be used for directional signage on roadways leading to Paulsdale.

Among other grants are $12,000 for Sunnyside Farm in Mount Laurel and $30,690 for the Rancocas Lyceum in Westampton.

The historic trust also awarded capital improvement grants of $50,000 to the Westmont Theatre in Haddon Township and $136,000 to the Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield in National Park.