Shipbucket

In talks with several of my friends, we came to the conclusion that the US was probably at, or slightly above Peak Museum Ship Funding. The result of this is that going forward, every new ship that is converted into a museum will take from the total funds available for all other ships. This is evidenced by the fact that there are only two museum ships that can probably move under their own power, and only one that certainly can (USS Wisconsin probably can, and USS Cod certainly can).

It really is too bad that there is not a national plan for museum ships - mostly because such a plan would cause someone to lose something (remember, the US is the only nation to preserve an entire multi-ship class of capital ships).

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One warship that is currently in danger of not being around anymore is the USS Clamagore (SS-343) in Patriots Point, SC. They rerquire a massive amount of money for a much needed overhaul, and if they can't raise it the Clamagore will become an artificial reef off the coast of Florida. The Clamagore is the only remaining Guppy III submarine.

I went through her a couple summers ago when I was up in Charleston for a family vacation. Quite a nice tour. At the time she was moored next to the USS Yorktown (CV-10). She's been moved now and is currently closed to the public, with the DD USS Laffey taking her former mooring slot next to the Yorktown.

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"Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way." - The Seventh Doctor

This is why you put these ships on land. It's mcuh cheaper and they'll last longer.

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

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Source Materiel is always welcome.

It is, and from what I understand a dry berth is the goal for USS Texas. The issue is that there is no national preservation plan for museum ships, and I don't know of any of the ships that receives federal funds (which would be how such a plan would be implemented).

It comes down to the fact that there are probably too many museum ships in the US right now all competing for the same funds.

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How many museum ships are there in the US?

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

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Source Materiel is always welcome.

Quite a few actually

google map
wiki list of museum ships worldwide

Yeah, thats quite a bunch of them, and yeah it is expensive to keep them all up. But I look at it along similar lines as preserving historic battlefields, significant buildings and such. Without our history, we forget it. And looking at pictures in books is great, but not near the same as actually standing on the deck, looking out over the ship, seeing what it was like.

OK, I've been in love with ships since the first time I went onboard the Missouri back in the 60's when she was up in Bremerton (long before they moved her to Hawaii), so I may be a bit prejudiced on this matter, but going to preserved ships will always be some of my best memories. I've been onboard the Missouri and saw the plaque in the deck where the surrender was signed. I went on the Arizona, or more accurately the memorial over her, when I lived in Hawaii. In Germany I went onboard the U-2540, a Type XXI U-Boat. In Chicago I toured through the U-505. Up in Charleston I got to go through the Clamagore and Yorktown. The Yorktown tour was made especially nice by one particular aircraft down in the hanger bay from the USS Princeton CV-37 that had been onboard the Princeton the same time my dad was serving on her. I got to go through the Olympia when I lived up in New Jersey. *shrug* I know most 'normal' (meaning "not shiplovers like us") folks think preserving ships is a waste of space time and money, but there has to be a place for them. It may just be the history major in me talking, but without our history we lose as a culture.

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"Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way." - The Seventh Doctor

Wikipedia, as noted above, lists over 130 'museum ships' in the US (this count includes ships that are rather small), and of those 5 are aircraft carriers and 7 are battleships. I did the math before and there is something on the order of 600k tons of museum ship displacement in the US.

Also the first link that Zephyr has is woefully incomplete, and doesn't have anything smaller than a Destroyer or Submarine.

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yeah, it definately has its shortcomings. It also doesn't have many larger ships either, as I don't recall seeing the Texas on there. I more or less just put it up as a starting point, sort of.

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"Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way." - The Seventh Doctor

We had a major project in Mobile a few years back to protect Alabama that was being damaged by wave action on the hull.