Sea History 079 - Autumn 1996

Page 38

SHIPNOTES, SEAPORT & MUSEUM NEWS Full information on these news items appears in Sea History Gazette, July! August 1996 and September/October 1996. We ' ll send you the two Gazettes for $6 or include them gratis if you subscribe to the Gazette for one year (6 issues at $18.75 or $28.75 foreign). GETT! G AROUNDTH ESHIPS: Thefourmasted bark Moshulu (ex- Kurt) has returned to the Phil ade lphia waterfront as a restaurant and touri st attraction at Pier 34, just south of the Inde pendence Seaport Mu seum (Mos hu/u , Pier 34, 735 S. Columbus Boulevard , Phil adelphia PA 19 106;2 15923-2500) . . . . When the three-masted topsail schooner Alexandria of 1928 was hauled for re pairs and maintenance in April , her conditio n was found to be worse th an suspected , and the Alexandria Seaport Foundation seeks to sell the vesse l whil e making pl ans to build a new ship (A SF, 1000 South Lee Street, Alexandri a VA 223 14; 703 5497078) . . . . NMHS member Hajo Knutte l has fo unded Windships America and purchased the 6 1' crui sing yacht Argonau t of 1964- a re pli ca of Irv in g Johnson's third Yankee incorporating improve ments recommended by the fa med sa il tra iner-wi th pl ans to take students on environ me nta ll y a nd histori ca ll y ed ucati onal voyages, beginning with the Hudson Ri vernextspring(W A, 16 Pro ut Street, Indi an Cove, G uilfo rd CT06437; 203 453-2301 ) . ... Supporters of the steamer Virginia V have gone to ex traordin ary length s to rai se $700 ,000 of

Hajo Knuttel tests Argonaut in the waters of Long Island Sound. (Photo by Skip Walker)

There's Only One Left of WWil's "Fightingest" Ships: The Campaign to Return LCS 102 Many sailors and hi stori ans would claim that Iowa-cl ass battleships were the most powerful ships in the US Navy durin g WWII. On a firepower-per-ton bas is, however, a small US Navy ship had e ven more fire power. This was the LCS (Landing Craft Support) class-a 158-foot, 387-ton g unboat des igned for shore bombardment to he lp get marines ashore in the Pacifi c war. The Navy built 130 LCS s and deployed them to the Pac ifi c where they saw ac tion in New Guinea, Iwo Jima, the Philippines and Okina wa. Twenty-s ix were sunk or damaged in combat. After the war, LCSs were assig ned occupation duties in Japan, Korea, the Philippines , Forn10sa and China; many were loaned out through the Military Ass istance Program. Now, all the LCSs that ultim ately served in foreign navies have gone fo r scrap or to the bottom--exce pt LCS 102. She served at Okinawa on radar picket duty and was one of the first s hips at Nagasaki at war's end . Over th e pas t LCS 102 , shown here in 1945 in Kyushu harbor, is the last LCS. few years, a fe w "old sailors" who served on LCS s have begun a campaign to bring LCS 102 home to the US Naval Shipbuildin g Mu se um in Quin cy MA . A berth for LCS I 02 has been set as ide at the Quincy mu seum nearthe USS Sa lem , the Navy ' s all -gun crui ser. Today LCS I 02, the las t of her kind, serves in the Navy of Thail and. She was loaned to the Roya l Th ai Navy 30 years ago, after 20 years ' service in the Japanese Navy. The Thai Navy renamed her HTMS Nakha and recentl y insta ll ed new engines and air-conditi oning. Powerful allies have been recruited by the National LCS Association , includin g two fo rmer Secretari es of the avy: Willi am T. Middendorf, II, SECNA V under Pres ident N ixon, who served as an officer aboard LCS 53 during the wa r and John F. Lehman, Jr., SECNA V for President Reagan, who has a specia l affection for LCSs-hi s father, the late John F. Lehman , Sr., was the commanding officer of LCS 18 and received a bronze star during the Okinawa campai gn. Chri stopher Lehman, ¡ ¡ r of SECNA V Lehman, prevailed upon hi s form er SECNA V boss, Senator .Varner, to join the LCS campaign. The Senate unanimously passed a bill on ie to encourage the Navy to acquire the vessel from Thailand. -

PHIL PETERSON

Mr . Peterson served aboard LCS 23 from 1943 to 1946. To help bring LCS 102 home, contact the Na tional Association of USS LCS(L) 1-130, PO Box 9087, Wa ukegan IL 60079.

the $2.2 million needed for the hull repairs that will allo w the vessel to renew her Coast Guard certifi cation (SVYF, lnc., PO Box 24805 , Seattle WA 98 1240 805) .. . . The las t Algonquin-class Coast Guard cutter, the Mohawk 36

(WPG 78) of 1934 , used on the Greenland Patrol during WWII, is in danger of being sunk as a fi shing reef or scrapped if fund s for a much-needed dry-docking are not found (John Stamford (former Chief Petty Officer of the Mohawk), 1533 Wales Avenue, BaldwinNY11510; 51 6 223-1467) .... The He llenic avy has agreed to release 0.G. Grigoropoulos (L-161), former amphibious assault ship LSM 45 , to the USS LSM/LSMR Association , w hich may turn it over for di spl ay to the Kenner (LA) Naval Museum Commi ss ion (USS LSM/ LSMRA , 66

Summer Street, Greenfi eld MA 01301 ; 41 3 774-2397) . ... The 65 ' Norwegianbuilt inte ri s la nd fe rry/carg o vesse l Record of 1914 was acquired by the Maritime and Yachting Museum in Jensen Beach, Florida, and made an eightweek trip from the Ted Hood Yard in Portsmouth , Rhode Island, to her new home, where she will become a floating learning e nv ironment for at-risk youth (MYM , 2000 Jensen Beach Boulevard , Jensen Beach FL 34957). . . . Out of service for man y yea rs and deteriorating in a shipyard in Palatka, Florida, the SEA 1-illSTORY 79 , AUTUMN 1996


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