USS Oriskany

When you are in Philly visiting the "Big J" make sure you visit another ship in danger of disappearing. The U.S.S. Olympia desperately needs some work before she dissolves before our eyes and that would be a terrible loss.

"You may fire when ready, Gridley."

That would be outright criminal. NO WAY JOSE!!!

Speaking of boycotting Japanese companies who want to scrap our ships, the British Government has an on again/off again running battle with the Japanese who want to salvage the Repulse and Prince of Wales for their scrap content.
These are war graves people!
Bruce

I agree with the sentiments expressed above. It is tough to keep the ship museums we have now going, so you must be careful when considering dividing up the tourist pie any smaller.

There are a lot of benefits to making an artificial reef out of a hull that would otherwise become razor blades.

I have said before that some of the ship museums have to start getting creative about marketing themselves; things like allowing those grubby cub scouts to sleep on board, opening part of the ship as a B&B, doing the floating restaurant or condo thing, etc. The purists will not like that I know but the alternative of seeing a museum fail and go for scrap is worse.

My thoughts ...
Bruce

I've read a lot about the Enterprise and it was sad. It ended the same way Cabot did, the scrapping company had their bid in a second before the organization that wanted to save her did. Highest bid first in wins. Period.

The city of Tacoma is trying for the Ranger, which for me would be alright since I'm alumni of her. They feel it will be a great convention center complete with a parking garage since they need one and are short on space. I just read about the Bunker Hill. It was never modernized and a group was trying to save it not only to use as a shrine, but to boycott the Japanese company that bought her for scrap.

It's a same, but most of the ships now will go to India or China to be beached and scrapped. The Oriskany will al least be keeping some jobs here in the US to prep her for sinking.

I'm wondering what will happen to CV65 when it gets retired? That would make for one hell of a parking garage or an off-shore fly-in community.

It is sad to see a proud carrier like Oriskany go, but becoming an artificial reef is a more noble ending than the scrapper's torch, IMHO.

As was pointed out, at least the Essex class is still well represented by the four museum ships we have already. Soon Midway will be open as a museum as well. And on the History Channel Sunday night, there was a segment on "Mail Call" than mentioned that Ranger will soon be a museum ship as well. (Didn't say where, though)

Jeff is right when he says the best example was the Enterprise. It's truly shameful that the wealthiest nation on earth couldn't get its act together to save the most decorated warship in history.

Trust me, it hurts... But I think of all the good ships that SHOULD have been museums that ended up scrapped because no one cared...case in point is the USS Enterprise. She and Sara were the only pre-war carriers to survive the war, and Sara was used as a guinea pig, while Enterprise was scrapped, even with Adm. Halsey fighting tooth and nail to save her.

Then we have Franklin, and Bunker Hill, and Essex herself. Fletcher was scrapped, so was the Sumner and Gearing, Gato and Balao. While efforts were made to save the first generation of fast battleships, and most recently the Iowas, no one seemed to care about the Pennsylvania, California, Maryland, Tennesee, or even the old New York.
Granted, it's a logistical nightmare to turn a large ship into a public-friendly museum, but we as a society have overlooked many important ships, and fought like mad dogs to save others with less historic careers.

And yes, running an air museum can be a dangerous occupation, although terrorists are not too high on my priority list. The biggest dangers I face are flying old airplanes and dealing with hordes of Cub Scouts hell bent on breaking anything they can get their grubby little mitts on.

Regards,

Jeff

Hey, Jeff, did you read The Lion's Game by Nelson DeMille? In that novel, the director of (I think) the Planes of Fame museum on Long Island was murdered by a terrorist. I neverl though of museum director being a high-risk occupation.

Seriously, though, I toured the USS North Carolina many years ago and was awestruck. I bought the Revell model of the ship at the ship's gift shop and spent many enjoyable hours building it. Toward the end of last year, my wife's aunt and her family did the same thing. Their youngest daughter got the same kit, and she and her father have been building it.

We live just a few hours from Philly, and we're planning on visiting the New Jersey soon. We've also toured the USS Torsk in Baltimore. In other words, I agree that ship museums are valuable, and that it's tough to see a good ship scrapped.

Regards,

-Drew

Since we are on the subject (and I know I have mentioned this before in some of my posts) there is a group in Rhode Island that is trying to save the Saratoga and turn it into a museum complex that will include the Quonset Point Naval Air Station museum and a Russian Juliett class guided missile submarine. The air museum and the submarine have been fairly successful I think, but they have run into a number of problems with the Saratoga. As far as being sad about a ship going to the scrappers torch, I have been building nuclear submarines most of my adult life, and knowing full well what goes into building one of these marvelous creations, it really struck me to see one being cut up and being treated no better than a junk car. There are a number of boats in Washington now awaiting scrapping that I worked on over the years and this has had a profound effect on me. Anyway, anyone interested in the Saratoga or the Juliett or the Quonset Air Museum can use this link to learn more.

http://www.saratogamuseum.org/index.html

I agree Jeff, at least she will always be around and helping the environment. I saw the Robert Ballard pictures of the Yorktown CV5 and she looks well preserved. There are already four Essex class carriers open to the public. Instead of the Hornet, I wish they could have used those resources to save the Cabot, the only surviving escort carrier in the world. I toured her when it was in New Orleans and also saw it being scrapped outside of Galvaston. Oriskany is there now and she would look better under water than in the condition it is in now. There is a tree growing out the the flight deck, that is how rotted the hulk is.

The Texas seems to be doing fine. I went aboard last spring and everyone working there are saying visitation has gone up after 911.

My dad was on the Lex, the folks running it are really marketing the ship as more than just a museum. It was not cheap either, $18 for the tour. Lucky for me I was able to use my father's credentials and got aboard free. Still made a donation though. The bridge is still closed off since a major fire gutted it a few years ago.

Scott

Unfortunately, running a museum ship is not the most profitable venture in the world.

Alot of famous ships have gone the way of the scrapper's torch, at least with her being an artifical reef, we can dive on her.

When you consider the number of large ship museums in the country, it's a wonder they can all survive. Truth is, most folks don't care about them, so volunteer groups are forced to raise funds to keep the ships operating at a minimal capacity.

In all seriousness, where could Oriskany have gone so that she wouldn't be competing with another carrier or battleship? Hornet is struggling in Alameda, Lexington and Yorktown are doing ok, Intrepid has sold her soul to become a floating theme park of political correctness, and the battleships, Mass, 'Bama, NJ, NC, are all having money problems. Seems that the only battleship that's actually doing well is the Missouri, and that's because she's sitting close to the Arizona.

No one hates to see these ships go away more than I do, but we have to be realists and take care of the ones that we have.

Jeff Herne
Director, Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of NJ