Storis's Legacy:
by K. Denise Rucker Krepp
How a Decommissioned Ship Inspired a Movement How and where we scrap our outdated ships has consequences, especially when a given vessel has a long and rich history. While the effort to preserve USCG Cutter Storis as a museum ship failed, her story became a rallying point for advocates pressing for legislation to restore the Maritime Heritage Grant program, which is funded by federal ship recycling profits. The legislation became law, and included lang uage to assure that the sad tale of the Storis will not be repeated . The article is written with a personal touch by Denise Krepp, who served as an officer in the US Coast Guard and was Chief Counsel of the Maritime Administration. -Timothy]. Runyan
T
his is the story of the retired US Coast Guard C utter Storis, whose untimely demise in 2013 triggered seismic changes in government-owned ship recycling laws. No longer will US government ships be scrapped overseas. Instead, they will be recycled within the United States, and further change is on the horizon for American commercial ships as well. The 230-foot cutter's launch was celebrated with great fanfare. Her sponsor, Mrs. Mildred Schmidtman, whacked a giant bottle on Storis's bow and people cheered. They clapped for the Toledo Shipbuilding Company, located in the great state of Ohio, which had once again built a quality American ship, and they clapped as loudly for the ship's crew. It was 1942 and World War II was well underway. German U-boats were torpedoing military and commercial vessels; those in auendance of Storis's launch understood that the new ship was desperately needed to escort convoys in the Northern Atlantic and protect vital Allied interests in Green land. USCGC Storis served with distinction during World War II, but she is best known for a treacherous journey she took in the fall of 1957. That year, she became the first
USCG Cutter Storis (WMEC-38) heads out into open water as it departs Kodiak, Alaska, for the last time, after she was decommissioned in 2007, after more than 64 years ofservice.
US ship to successfully transit the Northwest Passage. This is the same arduous ro ute that was in the news this summer when Crystal Serenity became the first cruise ship to sail in the Storis's wake, now that the passage is more consistentlyand predictably-clear of ice in the summer months.
USCGC Storis in the Northwest Passage, 12 September 1957.
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For sixty-fo ur years, Storis served in Alaskan waters. Her crews rescued mariners in peril, made sure that foreig n fishermen stayed out of US waters, and provided support to remote villages. By the 2000s, however, the aging sh ip, nicknamed the "Queen of the Fleet," needed to retire. On 8 February 2007, hundreds of friends gathered in Kodiak to bid her farewell. They regaled each other with stories about the 250 lives and twenty-five vessels saved by the Storis crew. They recalled h ow Storis assisted more than 100,000 people in remote areas. And then her friends went home and the Coast Guard sent Storis to join the mothball fleet at Suisan Bay in Cali fornia . Most people thought she was going to stay in Northern California, but a group of Storis veterans and supporters were determined to bring her to Juneau, Alaska, and turn her into a museum. Jim Loback, a Storis veteran wh o served during the Northwest Passage mission, led these efforts. He was assisted by Jon Ottman, a maritime historian who successfully
SEA HISTORY 15 8, SPRING 2017