Navy Officials Very Positive in Recent Visit to Edson Dock on Saginaw River
Local Promoters Hopeful of Expedited Report Review, Fall Delivery of Ship
April 26, 2008
By: Dave Rogers
Local promoters estimate the U.S.S. Edson, former New York City museum ship, slated for display on the Saginaw River here will draw up to 100,000 visitors a year.
Scene from 1963 Twilight Zone episode, The Thirty Fathom Grave, with Mike Kellin, left, and Simon Oakland, right, shot aboard the Edson in 1960.
U.S. Navy officials in charge of assigning inactive ships visited Bay City last week and "were very impressed with what we have and what we have done," said Mike Kegley, president of the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum.
"I believe they're prepping us to receive the ship," he said. "I sincerely believe we're going to get the ship, the only question is when."
The local group has worked for more than a decade to bring a destroyer to display here in tribute to the Defoe Shipbuilding Company's World War II contribution and for tourists to gain a greater knowledge and appreciation of the U.S. Navy.
The USS Edson project still hopes to bring the "retired" Forrest Sherman class destroyer here by this fall but arrival of the ship may be delayed until spring 2009, according to Mr. Kegley. The Edson formerly was displayed at the USS Intrepid Air-Sea-Land Museum in New York City but was displaced by the supersonic Concorde airplane several years ago and is now at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
"The EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) has tasked the Navy with a report and we have to do our part," said Kegley, a former Navy chief petty officer. The report is due by July but Kegley says the local portion will be submitted by mid-May, making late fall delivery still possible. The Navy requires up to six months review of the report, he said.
"We are hoping they will expedite the review and we may ask some people in Washington to help us," he said. U.S. Senator Carl Levin, D-Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been a strong supporter of the local effort, along with Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and Representatives Dale Kildee and Bart Stupak who serve this area.
Meeting last week with Capt. David W. Tungett, director, inactive ship donation program, Naval Sea Systems (NAVSEA) and Gloria Carvallo, assistant program manager, from Washington, D.C., were Kegley, Dick Janke, SVNSM vice president, Cliff Van Dyke, president of the Bay County Growth Alliance, and a representative of Saginaw Valley State University.
The group toured the dock and grounds near the Independence Bridge boat launch and met with Terry Watson, Bangor Township supervisor, under whose jurisdiction the project rests.
All local entities and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have approved the project, said Mr. Kegley.
Although SVNSM has the funds available to pay for towing the ship here, fundraising is continuing for further development of the site and maintenance of the ship, said Mr. Kegley.
The Bay County Growth Alliance has offered a loan of several hundred thousands of dollars secured by advance pledges promised when the ship arrives, said Mr. Van Dyke.###