History Museum, the Vasa Museum, and the Marine Museum. The new museum is part of Royal Djurgården, a national city park consisting almost exclusively of museums, restaurants, and attractions on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm. (www. vrakmuseum.se) … The winter issue of Sea History (169) reported that the Liberty ship John W. Brown was looking for a new berth. We are happy to report that on 30 December, Project Liberty Ship (PLS), the Brown’s owner and operator, and Maritime Applied Physics Corp. (MAPC) announced an $18-million plan to revitalize a portion of the former Bethlehem Steel Fairfield Shipyard, where the Liberty ship was built in 1942. The site will also provide a home base for the ship’s education and
project liberty ship
John W. Brown
cruise activities as well as support for MAPC’s growing shipbuilding and maritime technology operations. Calling for a combination of state and federal funding as well as private financial support, the proposal would rebuild a fitting-out pier at the former yard, to be owned and administered by a non-profit entity. MAPC designs and builds advanced technology systems and vessels for the Department of Defense and for commercial products, such as the new Baltimore water taxis and floating aquaculture systems. It owns a plant on the land where the Bethlehem-Fairfield yard was located in the 1940s. MAPC currently holds a 50-year lease with an option to purchase the 780-foot pier that needs to be replaced to accommodate the John W. Brown and the planned MAPC business expansion. Both PLS and MAPC see the innovative plan to restore pier space on the footprint of the historic fitting-out pier— one of the few remaining WWII-era shipyard structures—as a means of keeping Baltimore’s maritime heritage alive and promoting economic development of the
port. Mark Rice, president of MAPC, noted, “The photographs on the walls of our present building remind us daily of the thousands of shipyard workers, men and women of all races and ethnicities, who did more than their part to win WWII. Our vision is that our Bethlehem Fairfield site will host rapidly growing numbers of skilled Baltimore workers and that the presence of the John W. Brown will remind our community and the citizens of Maryland of those who worked so hard to build the ships that saved the world.” While the two-year renovation at the pier and shipyard is underway, the John W. Brown will share Baltimore’s Pier 13 with the nuclear-powered combination cargo and passenger ship NS Savannah, which was built in the late 1950s to show the versatility of nuclear ship propulsion. Since her return to Baltimore in 1988, the John W. Brown has sailed more than 25,000 miles, visiting 29 North American ports with living history cruises, featuring 1940s-era entertainment, and vintage aircraft fly-bys. (PLS, PO Box 25846, Highlandtown Station, Baltimore, MD 21224; Ph: 410 558-0646; www.ssjohnwbrown.org) … Interlake Steamship Company has ordered a new vessel to be built by Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, the first USflag bulk carrier built on the Great Lakes in 35 years. The new 638-foot river-class, bulk carrier will transport raw materials to support manufacturing throughout the Great Lakes region. The Interlake Steamship Company, headquartered in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, has the largest privately held US-flag fleet on the Great Lakes, with nine vessels carrying bulk cargoes and a company history dating back more than 100 years. The Interlake Steamship Company, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, and Bay Engineering are jointly designing the bulk carrier, complete with advanced vessel and unloading systems automation. The ship is scheduled to be completed in mid2022. (The Interlake Steamship Company, 7300 Engle Road, Middleburg Heights, Ohio; Ph. 440 260-6900; www.interlakesteamship.com) … A three-year salvage operation beginning in 2017 has recovered nearly 2,000 artifacts from the Royal Navy warship HMS Invincible, which sank in the Solent in 1758. The
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