NWSA Historian

CDR Don Cruse, USN RET

NWSA HISTORIAN’S REPORT FOR 2004-2005

Also see: NWSA HISTORIAN’S REPORT FOR 2005-2006
Also see: OCEAN WEATHER SHIPS 1940-1980
Also See: LCDR ROBERT F. FREEMAN, USN (Ret), NWSA President 1981-1982
Also See: NWSA Historian COMMENTS May 2007
Also See: NWSA Historian COMMENTS August 2007

Don Cruse, Potomac Regional Chapter

Of the many activities on our Historian’s desk, there is one we have not publicized via this annual reporting medium. Since it consumes a significant proportion of my time, you deserve to learn more about it. I refer to the refurbishment of various shipboard Aerological Offices located in museum ships, and the involvement of NWSA.

If we were to begin a round-robin journey from New England clockwise around the coastal United States, focusing on the numerous large museum ships with Aerological Offices, we would begin with USS MASSACHUSETTS (BB-59) in Fall River, MA. To my knowledge, there is no effort underway to refurbish the space in that ship which functioned as the Aerological Office when a flag unit was embarked. The same applies to the USS INTREPID (CV-11) Air & Space Museum. INTREPID is moored in New York City, her location on the Hudson River is convenient, and she is extremely popular with tourists.

Not far away are USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) and USS WISCONSIN (BB-64). One is moored on the Delaware River in Camden NJ and the other is alongside the Nautilus Museum in Norfolk VA. So far as I know, there is no effort being made to open the Aerological Offices in these vessels to the public. There is, however, some budding interest within the METOC community in Norfolk. We hope this interest continues to bloom.

USS YORKTOWN (CV-10) is ballasted down into the mud of the Cooper River as part of the Patriot’s Point Museum in Mount Pleasant SC. That location is across the river from Charleston, a major tourist attraction if there ever was one. But in YORKTOWN the public does not have access to the Aerological Office. The same comment can be made about the USS ALABAMA (BB-60), which is part of a military museum layout in Mobile AL. After lying in the Mississippi River across from New Orleans for several years, USS CABOT (CVL-28) has gone to the ship breakers. USS ORISKANY (CV-34) is moored in Pensacola on a commercial pier while awaiting a tow out to sea where she will be scuttled to form a deepwater reef.

USS LEXINGTON (CV-16) has been made accessible to the public in Corpus Christi TX but there is thus far no effort to open the Aerological Office to the public. We find that the opposite is true, fortunately, with USS MIDWAY (CV-41), now that she has found her place alongside Navy Pier in San Diego. There is an excellent prospect for MIDWAY’s Aerological Office (undoubtedly referred in the new NAVY as “METRO”) to be refurbished. Working parties can take a lesson from the excellent job which was done in USS HORNET (CV-12), where the public is welcomed to a smart, clean working space. One drawback which impacts the HORNET Museum is its relatively inaccessible location among the reserve fleet vessels at former Naval Air Station Alameda. Members of NWSA were able to assist significantly with the job in HORNET by providing books and weather charts.

You may ask, “What about USS IOWA (BB-61), and what has become of her?” Nothing has so far come of the efforts centered in San Francisco to moor IOWA on the waterfront where the Bethlehem Steel shipyard used to be. Hence, IOWA remains moored in Suisun Bay along with other vessels in reserve. With her sister ship, there is a bright spot in this narrative. USS MISSOURI (BB-63), moored on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor HI, has an active METOC team from NPMOC/JTWC PEARL at work refurbishing the Aerological Office. Again, NWSA has been providing encouragement as well as historical artifacts.