'Mighty Mo' undergoing $18M preservation

[October 16, 2009]  HONOLULU (AP) -- Mike Weidenbach has walked across the historic teakwood decks and through the metal hallways of the USS Missouri countless times in the past decade. But he recently realized how massive the aging battleship is from a new perspective -- underneath.

"I touched the bottom of the ship," gushed Weidenbach, curator of the iconic World War II vessel that now serves as a memorial and museum.

The "Mighty Mo" -- the last battleship built by the United States -- is spending three months in dry dock at Pearl Harbor undergoing $18 million in maintenance and preservation.

"I want it to be here forever," Weidenbach said Thursday. "I want to die knowing we took care of the ship the best we were able.

"For me as curator, this is our primary artifact, so it's not like a normal Navy ship that has a life span of decades," he said. "This is supposed to be like the U.S. Constitution. It's supposed to be hundreds of years."

Weidenbach visited the ship at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and said it was challenging to capture the size and scope of the 887-foot vessel in a photograph.

"It was overwhelming," he said. "It's bigger than you can see. I've seen it above the waterline for 10 years, and I knew it was massive. But when you see the other half of it ... gosh."

The 65-year-old warship, now called the Battleship Missouri Memorial, is best known for hosting the formal surrender of Japan in 1945.

Four tugboats guided the Missouri two miles from its historic spot on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor to dry dock on Wednesday. It has been moored for the past 11 years in Pearl Harbor, where a Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, plunged the United States into World War II.

The 54,889-ton vessel now sits on 310 wooden blocks. The hull will be sandblasted and painted, besides preservation work on top. The ship is scheduled to return to Battleship Row on Jan. 7.

BAE Systems Ship Repair has been contracted for the work. Roger Kubischta, the company's president and general manager, said there's a tremendous amount of marine growth stuck to the hull that will need to be removed before it can be sandblasted and painted.

"There's corrosion in spots of the hull, but for the most part, the hull is mostly intact," Kubischta said.

In all, eight square miles of the boat's surface need to be preserved.

Kubischta said a major challenge will be to tent the entire 1,050-foot dock to prevent dust from leaving the area. The enclosure will need to be airtight with ventilation and air blowers.

Three hundred to 400 people will be working on the project almost around the clock. Ninety percent of the work force is from Hawaii, Kubischta said.

The Missouri was last in dry dock in 1992, just after it was decommissioned for the second and last time. It's been moored at Pearl Harbor for the past decade after local supporters beat out groups in Washington state, San Francisco and Long Beach, Calif., for the right to host the memorial.

The USS Missouri Memorial Association now operates the ship. More than 400,000 visitors tour the vessel each year and interest seems to be growing. The ship had a record 49,856 visitors in July.

The "Mighty Mo" was launched in 1944 and fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. It was decommissioned in 1955 but revived in the 1980s, after which it fired some of the first shots of the Gulf War in 1991.

Its home now is just a few hundred yards from the USS Arizona, a battleship that was sunk by the Japanese with more than 1,100 sailors and Marines on board during the Pearl Harbor attack.

Japan surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945, during a ceremony in Tokyo Bay. Gen. Douglas MacArthur signed for the Allied powers, while Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Chester Nimitz, signed for the U.S.

Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu, Chief of the Army General Staff, signed for Japan.

Copies of the surrender documents are on display today on the deck where they were signed.

Weidenbach said the Arizona and Missouri are connected in history.

"The war started and it was a great tragedy with the Arizona, and it ended in peace on the Missouri," he said.

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On the Net:

http://www.ussmissouri.org/discover/

[Associated Press; By JAYMES SONG]

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