The Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable John H. Dalton
announced today the Navy has selected the USS MISSOURI Memorial
Association, Honolulu, Hawaii to acquire the historic battleship
USS MISSOURI (BB 63) for use as a memorial and museum.
The retirement of the historic battleship generated
competing requests from organizations in four cities to obtain
the ship.
In addition to Honolulu, organizations in Bremerton,
Wash. and Long Beach and San Francisco, Calif. submitted
applications to the Navy.
According to Navy officials who
evaluated the applications, all of the cities' proposals included
comprehensive plans to maintain the ship and operate it as a
museum and memorial.
Secretary Dalton expressed gratitude for the patriotic
expressions of grass roots campaigns and the strong backing from
public officials.
He said he made the difficult choice only
after a detailed evaluation of all technical, financial,
historical and public interest areas.
This was a very tough
decision, since all the proposals were so excellent and
impressive.
I'm genuinely sorry the Navy doesn't have a USS
MISSOURI to give each of these cities, said Dalton.
