Thread: US Navy Historical Fleet

I thought I would start a new thread to cover some items that have been discussed in other threads. But, they tend to wander a little off the original subjects.

To start off, I am looking for comments on the following. Some shipmates and members of veteran crews of some museum ships have begun talking about solutions to perils faced by our museum ships. The first and most significant is "hull maintenance". I have mentioned in another thread about using a decom'd dry dock for the museum ships. Then, a shipmate of mine posted a comment on the Naval Historical Foundation site that spelled it out pretty good.
So here is the bulk of his comment:

As the article notes, nearly every museum ship needs is a visit to a dry dock. Problem is that all commercial dry docks charge dearly for every minute that a ship occupies that space. What the Historic Fleet really needs is a dry dock that can accommodate the special requirements of museum ships. It will take substantially longer to survey restoration requirements and organize volunteers. But a BIG advantage is that these ships no longer need to undergo the rigors of the ocean. Optimal hull coatings for ships that are permanently moored will differ from ships in active service. Shortcuts can be taken with props that don’t turn, rudders that don’t move, and sea suction valves that are never open. Tanks and pipes should be purged well before arrival.

Wikipedia has a List of Closed Navy Facilities. There are museums and dry docks in a few of these facilities. But there is no dry dock museum that accommodates museum ships.

What would a facility look like? It would include a large group of local volunteer that could help with restoration activities. There would be a few professional vendors who can perform services on a case by case basis. It would include a barracks facility so additional volunteer groups (connected to the museum ship) could visit the facility and perform restoration activities. There would be a small staff of professional workers and a dock manager to run the operation. Space in the dry dock would be assigned on a seasonal basis. Visiting ships would be required to submit a work plan, and escrow funds to insure that a minimal level of repairs can be made, and the museum ship can return to it’s permanent berth (towed, or under it’s own power).

If the dry dock was associated with a shipyard museum, arrangements could be showcase the dry dock and the restoration process; as well as the visiting museum ship. Every new arrival and departure would be a newsworthy event. I also think the place would make great reality TV.

Brooklyn Naval Yard and Hunters Point have all the necessary elements. And, there is a substantial population of museum ships clustered around NYC that could use such a facility. A few years ago a dry dock in Brooklyn was filled in and paved over for an IKEA parking lot.

In addition to the ones he mentioned there is the dry dock at the Washington Navy Yard (already a museum) and one(Charlestown Dry Dock #1) in Boston that is under the National Park Service, still functioning and in use!
So, please throw in your comments and ideas!