THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170323
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 61 lines
Nestled between five powerful tugs that will nudge it down the Elizabeth River, the battleship Wisconsin is coming back to Hampton Roads today to a new retirement home at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
Absent from the Navy's Norfolk waterfront for the past five years, since it was retired for the third time, the Wisconsin is scheduled to pass between downtown Norfolk and Portsmouth on the Elizabeth River about 3 p.m.
The 887-foot, 57,000-ton dreadnaught was forced from its resting place at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, which was closed late last month. That portion of the shipyard's wharf is being turned over to commercial development.
The Navy's shipyard in Portsmouth is about the only government facility that can handle the ship. The Wisconsin is too large to fit under the James River Bridge, which means the Navy cannot add it to the government's large idle fleet anchored upriver.
Neither will it fit through other bridge crossings on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River that it would have to pass to join 30 ships mothballed at the mouth of St. Julien's Creek.
Its berth at the shipyard will not make it accessible to the public, according to officials. That industrial area is off limits.
The Wisconsin, along with three sister ships - the Iowa, New Jersey and Missouri - were stricken from the register of naval vessels in January 1995 and ordered turned into memorials or scrap. They were released from the Navy's reserve fleet because they are too expensive to operate given their value to the fleet, the Navy said.
The cost to keep each of the ships in mothballs is about $100,000 a year, the Navy said. To return them to active duty would cost $95 million per ship, plus $80 million more annually to man and operate each one.
The Navy has estimated that building one today would cost $3 billion, nearly the price of a new aircraft carrier.
The Wisconsin and Iowa are the only two battleships that have not found extended life as memorials. Norfolk city officials, urged on by private groups, have expressed interest in acquiring the Iowa.
The Iowa, which also had been based in Norfolk, remains in Philadelphia at another wharf but may have to be moved within a year. There is some indication that it too will be brought to Portsmouth.
The Wisconsin's arrival in Hampton Roads is scheduled for about midday. Plans call for it to remain at anchor briefly at what is known as ``Golf'' anchorage, just west of the Norfolk Naval Station piers.
Between 2 and 2:30 p.m. it will be taken by five tugs to the shipyard, where it is scheduled to arrive at 4 p.m.
Navy officials said the best time to see it from the downtown waterfront would be between 3 and 3:30 p.m. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Photo
About noon: The Wisconsin will anchor briefly just west of
Norfolk Naval Station.
Between 2 and 2:30 p.m.: Five tugs will begin taking the
Wisconsin to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth.
Between 3 and 3:30 p.m.: The ship can be seen from downtown
Norfolk and Portsmouth.
4 p.m.: The Wisconsin is scheduled to arrive at the shipyard. by CNB