THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502010109
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
This is the most logical place in the United States for a shipboard museum to attract visitors, so it is no surprising coincidence that both Portsmouth and Norfolk folks have suggested getting one of the battleships that the Navy wants to get rid of.
It is no surprise either that each city is talking independently about such a project. We seem powerless to think regionally - despite repeated advice from economic development experts. Any place else in the world with so many cities so close together would see the addition of a floating museum as an asset to everybody.
The broader the interest, the greater the chances of success, especially when it comes to attracting major corporate and private foundation funding.
Naturally Portsmouth is interested in battleships that the Navy no longer needs or wants. The very first one, the Texas, was built here in the shipyard in 1892. Chances are that some of the descendants of those who built it still work in the yard.
Battleships, once so vital in the nation's 20th-century war gear, have become obsolete with 21st-century technology.
When the Navy announced it was ready to get rid of its remaining battlewagons, I immediately thought we should look into the idea. A battleship could be a fantastic museum of 20th-century naval history. For all of Hampton Roads - especially for Portsmouth and Norfolk - 20th-century naval history also is local history.
The public fascination with warships was brought home in 1985, when hundreds of citizens accepted the Navy's invitation to take a two-hour journey aboard the Iowa from the Norfolk naval base to the Portsmouth naval shipyard.
People who have seen battleships and every other vessel going up and down the Elizabeth River all their lives were fascinated and jumped at the chance to take the 7 1/2-mile trip.
Battleships are huge - almost 1,000 feet long and about 18 stories tall. They are spacious, and some have become popular visitor attractions in several states for which they were named. The Texas is in Galveston. The North Carolina is in Wilmington.
The North Carolina has been an excellent asset for the Wilmington area. Last year, 250,000 people paid to see the sound-and-light show aboard the ship, which now has a $2 million annual operating budget.
In 1985 Morton ``Mo'' Whitlow was a City Council member and was aboard the Iowa as it headed for Portsmouth. He commented then that it would be fun to have one here, so last week I asked him for his thoughts now that the ships are available for $1.
The idea, he said, ``deserves brainstorming.''
``We don't have to invent a project,'' he said. ``There's already tremendous interest in the United State Navy and its ships.''
Whitlow said any project to have a ship docked in the Elizabeth River will ``take a lot of volunteer effort to get the money to fund the project.''
We really need to do the brainstorming on a regional level.
One of the hangups would be where to place a ship if it were a regional project.
Whitlow said, why not put it in the wide part of the river, sometimes called Scotts Creek Bay. There it would be the perfect backdrop for Nauticus. Visitors could take a pedestrian ferry to the battleship, adding a special dimension to a Nauticus visit.
On the Portsmouth side, the ship could be reached via a pier from the far end of the naval hospital grounds. The city and the shipyard could create a museum of 20th-century naval history. The existing Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum could focus on the 18th and 19th centuries.
For outside income aside from contributions, parts of the ship could be leased to entrepreneurs, who could serve food and offer meeting spaces for all sorts of other gatherings. The wonderful wooden decks on the battleships even could be used for social dances. A ship could excel as a site for reunions of all sorts.
The possibilities are unlimited because the battleships are so huge.
Sound like a fantasy? Maybe. But it works in North Carolina, where there is not much 20th-century naval history.
A battleship museum could be one regional effort that probably would work to everybody's advantage. The end result just might prove that all good things come to those who work together. MEMO: Agree? Disagree? The Currents would like to hear from you. Send your
thoughts to The Currents, 307 County St., Suite 100, Portsmouth, Va.
23704-3702, or fax us at 446-2607. by CNB