THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9502010487
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
No one would argue that any one of the four battleships from World War II would be a fine addition to our nautical heritage if added to the area's waterfront as a memorial.
They are magnificent warships and wooed many an area visitor when the Iowa and Wisconsin were last based here. Sailors who served aboard them could find no better ship.
But to bring the Iowa or Wisconsin out of their mothballed berths at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, or the Missouri or New Jersey from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., would cost.
How much?
Well, someone will have to pay to tow them away, keep the barnacles off and make certain they never sink.
In Wilmington, N.C., where the state's namesake battleship is linked to a tourist center, operating costs are $2 million a year. Visitors pay $6 each to go aboard.
Civic leaders in Puget Sound, where the Missouri has been sought as a maritime museum, estimate it could take $7 million to $10 million to create a memorial there. Annual operating costs could easily be another $1 million, said Gene Nelson, who leads a Puget Sound committee organizing ceremonies this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.
A group of Hawaii civic leaders has tried since 1992 to get the Missouri moved to Pearl Harbor, next to the Arizona memorial, for the V-J Day commemoration this summer. No cost estimates have been given for towing the ship to the site, 2,500 miles west.
There is additional interest as well.
A group on the New Jersey side of New York harbor want the New Jersey, while Corpus Christi, Texas, has asked for the Wisconsin, and somebody on the West Coast is seeking the Iowa.
Occasionally, somebody in St. Louis will suggest that city secure the Missouri as a riverfront tourist attraction. But then someone else remembers the ship has a 38-foot draft - three times the depth of the navigation channel in the Mississippi River.
One could argue that Nauticus at Norfolk's Town Point Park would be an ideal location for one of the dreadnoughts, since the museum and pier are already in place.
Simply moor a battlewagon there and watch attendance soar. Right?
Don't worry that you'd never again see the sunset from that part of town, let alone one side of the Nauticus building. (These ships are big).
The Navy gives the ships away but insists on proof that civic groups have enough money to keep them up. Just in case they can't, the Navy keeps title to the ships so that it can reclaim them if they hit upon hard times.
There are 62 Navy and Coast Guard ships preserved as memorials and museums across the country. Virginia does not have a single one.
The reason may be obvious.
The Navy's waterfront in Hampton Roads is home to about 130 warships, most of which are available for visiting any weekend when they are in port, or by special request, almost any day. The price is right too.
Admission is free because we're already paying for them. by CNB