USS Ranger
March 19th, 2008 by Republican By DefaultThe fight against giving the USS Ranger a home in Tacoma
Several years ago a group was trying to give the decommission aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV61) a new home in North Tacoma. Several liberal groups, some of whom the city council looks to for direction, obstructed the effort. Since then the group has given up and decided to look elsewhere.
The USS Ranger Foundation, a nonprofit group trying to find a retirement home for the decommissioned aircraft carrier, decided recently that it couldn’t overcome opposition to the Foss site, said Dan Mills, president and chief executive of the foundation. And since they couldn’t find another place to park it in Tacoma, they plan to look elsewhere.
The groups that opposed having Tacoma as the new home of the Ranger are (for the most part) liberal, anti-war, anti-military. Some are also involved in putting restrictions on Sperry Ocean’s attempt to rebuild on the waterfront.
The latest word is the USS Ranger Foundation may be nearing submission of a formal request to move it to the city of Portland, OR. I personally wish them well and apologize for the short-sightedness and narrow-mindedness of the people in Tacoma who opposed them. This is one of the few ‘museums’ that would really have captured the heart and history of Tacoma. Maybe there’s another ship out there that could overcome the (stated) obstacles that kept the Ranger away.
More information on the mothballed fleet in Bremerton.
Update: Friday a veterans group kicked off a nationwide tour on the Midway in San Diego. The Midway, like the Ranger, is an aircraft carrier that was saved from the scrapyard when the Navy made it available for donation as a floating museum.
The group is called Vets for Freedom. From their mission statement:
Our mission is to educate the American public about the importance of achieving success in these conflicts by applying our first-hand knowledge to issues of American strategy and tactics in Iraq.
Their tour is part of that mission. They won’t be coming to the Northwest.
Update: The purpose of this post was a lead-in to another issue on the waterfront in Tacoma. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked in the discussion (elsewhere referred to as a ‘cyberspat’) and couldn’t finish the second post.
I’m not sure if it’s sarcastic, but the Kitsap Sun has some commentary on the USS Ranger. I’ve seen the ship but haven’t been aboard. It is a beautiful sight.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I’m not a big fan of war myself by having monuments to our military heritage in this area would be fascinating — especially if it were turned into a museum. I can’t say I’d want it eating up space (and lots of it) on the Thea Foss but we’ve got lots of water around here where it would fit just fine, I’d think.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Hate to quibble again, RBD. But you’re wrong, and I can speak from experience.
In 2002, I received a call from a board member of the USS Ranger Foundation, expressing the interest of moving the Ranger here. At the time, I was the Marketing Coordinator at the Convention & Visitor Bureau; not a position that would normally attract the attention of the Ranger but I knew the board member personally.
I felt that the Ranger had strong potential to be located in Tacoma. With permission from my boss, I organized all appointments for the Ranger in that first year in Tacoma and fought hard for the project.
We met with John Ladenburg, Juli Wilkerson at the City (then head of economic development), Don Meyer (at the Foss), Park officials, Port officials, and numerous other groups. We arranged for tours of the incredible ship at Bremerton for Baarsma and a bunch of other elected officials at the local, state, and national level (I was fortunate enough to go as well).
After a huge summit meeting with 20+ people around the table, it was clear even then that there was only one acceptable location in Tacoma for the ship: the end of the Thea Foss Waterway.
All other locations were deemed too difficult for a myriad of reasons. Parking, being a huge limiting factor. Views, being another. The Navy will not donate a ship like this if a group of citizens is opposed to a ship blocking their view, mostly because they don’t want to have it handed back to them. You call this liberal, which is simply not true–the most conservative people in Gig Harbor (or anyone else with a water view) consistently oppose development that impede their views. It’s not conservative or liberal, its NIMBY-ism, which supercedes both.
But even if all the people with views there were in favor of it, it was still very unlikely. The only practical place to put it in Commencement Bay was the end of Ruston Way. And that site had three other major hurdles before you even get to the views: parking, traffic, and a very strong current, which was going to increase the cost of the museum substantially.
So it left the end of the Foss as the only location in Tacoma suitable–no view impediment, no strong current, and close enough to the Dome to allow for a short shuttle from the parking lots there.
So the Ranger Foundation and the Foss Waterway Development Authority started kicking the idea around, and by that time I was out of the picture.
But it’s important to point out that the article you cite was written at least 2.5 years after we first approached the FWDA. It’s not like they made a quick decision. I know from personal accounts that they really liked the idea. But, as the article says, the scope of the project was just too big.
The ship, in practical terms, would mean putting a wall more than 1,000 feet long and at, at its shortest, 60 ft. tall at the end of the waterway. The 37 foot draft of the ship presented huge logistical problems there as well. The only practical way to set it up was to jut it into the middle of the navigable waterway, otherwise the ship was going impede ship traffic at the grain silo.
Of course, everything can be worked out eventually, but the cost of that particular site was hard to get around (the estimate then was the entire project would cost $30 million or more there). And the commissioners (rightly, I think) decided that it was just too big to fit. It was the wrong choice for that location and, as such, was not going to work in Tacoma.
It was not ushered out of town by liberal groups. In the end, it was not even the work of NIMBYs. It just wasn’t going to work. I was in many meetings when a chart of our coastline was laid out and a scale of the ship was pushed around every conceivable nook and cranny we have. We tried hard. I, one of those liberals you talk about, worked damn hard to get it here and if it had happened I would be proud to be one of the hundreds that it would have taken to make possible.
I will tell you that the represtatives of Ranger Foundation told me back in 2003 that the reception they got in Tacoma was far greater than anywhere else they’d been looking for that time. It was why they spent so long working with us, because people really wanted to make it work. In no other cities did so many people say, “That sounds like a great idea, tell us more.”
Tacoma was not short-sided nor narrow-minded about this.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Erik, That’s all good to know. There’s very little information available on the issue. I didn’t even become aware of it until the project was abandoned. However, currently the same people who helped block the Ranger project are also working to block the clean-up and expansion of the Sperry Ocean dock facility. The liberal connection is strong there as well. And it also emphasizes the disconnect between the military history in Tacoma and many of the louder activists (such as anti-war protests).
The Ranger project in Tacoma was about the same time that the Link Light Rail was built, at a cost of over $80 million. The $30 million that it would have cost for the Ranger is small by comparision, and would likely have had a much larger effect on the tourism industry (such as it is) in Tacoma. Tacoma needs to emphasize it’s history with the military much more than it does, and it needs to support the military in any way that it can.
Since you were an insider (at least for a while) let me ask, was there any attempt to look for another ship (smaller than the Ranger) to set up in a similar way? Maybe one that was built here?
March 19th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
And Kevin, you crack me up. The Ranger is more than twice as long and far taller than the ships currently at the Sperry Ocean Dock, which you criticized as “blight” and an “eyesore” here: http://www.kevinfreitas.net/journal/more-ships-docked-schuster . If you can’t find room for those ships, I don’t think you will be able to find room for the Ranger.
We really don’t have a lot of coastline where this would fit. It’s a big freaking ship the scale of which is almost impossible to imagine until you’re on it or next to it.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
RBD, the ship that actually has the strongest connection to Tacoma is the USS Lexington, which powered us for 30 days during a power shortage. See here:
http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5113
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_%28CV-2%29
But she sank in the Battle of the Coral Sea.
There’s also the USS Tacoma: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tacoma_%28PG-92%29 She fought in Vietnam. We had another USS Tacoma before her that fought in Korea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tacoma_%28PF-3%29
As to other ships, the Ranger Foundation was obviously only really interested in the Ranger. I do recall a PT boat (I think) that I read about in the Tribune that someone in Oregon was restoring that they wanted to bring here for the Tall Ships festival in 2005. I’m pretty hazy on the details. I don’t know of any other ships that a non-profit is shopping around for a location.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
btw, the USS Lexington is the origin for the Lexington Square condo project: http://www.tacomalexingtonsquare.com/
March 19th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
You’re probably right Erik. I’m more thinking from a museum taking up waterfront space versus a polluting dock operation. If the Hylebos, for instance, wasn’t slated to be taken over by the Port that might be a cool area for such an aircraft carrier museum. The Foss is right out as it would pretty much take up the entire thing and dominate the skyline. Any worse than putting condos along the waterfront? You be the judge.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I guess it’s been a while since the shipyards in Tacoma were producing for the Navy. Maybe they’re all gone by now. But it’s an amazing heritage that I’d hate to see the city lose.
I’m not sure but there’s at least one Maersk Sealand vessel that seems to be over 1000 ft (big blue thing covered in containers), so it’s not like Commencement Bay can’t handle them. Doesn’t exactly turn on a dime but it seems to have plenty of room to maneuver. I’ve been told that most of the car carriers are 800 ft or less and the oil tankers seem to be roughly the same. Just for a comparison.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
So, I want to know…who are these “liberal groups” that the City Council takes direction from?
And how do I join one?
March 19th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Kevin, the old EQC site had been considered when we met with the Port guys. But the deck of the ship was going to stick way out into the waterway there too. Otherwise the middle of the Port would have worked really well. Parking, no views to worry about, and the depth of the water. But it didn’t fly with the shipping needs of the Port.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
As much as I value the need for this city to honor it’s military heritiage, economics have to come first. I don’t think any museum, no matter how important or relevant, should hinder economic growth.
[administrative note: any comments that contain links are held by the system until I moderate them, as well as anyone’s first comment. So if something doesn’t show up right away, just give it a little while until I get back to my computer so I can approve it.]
March 19th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I can confirm Erik’s comments. The USS Ranger presented to the New Tacoma Neighborhood Council at the second meeting I ever attended.
I recall the issue with a lack of parking. They were proposing parking everyone at the dome and ferrying them down to the ship on water taxis.
There was going to be a couple of class rooms for industrial trades classes, a major banquet room (1500 people), full catering, planes on display. This thing is huge. It would have had very large generators going 24/7 that would make the Sperry project seem like a cigar.
Yes, it would have cost less than The Link but that ia anapple and oranges comparision. tourisism vs transportation.
I recall some one saying “We don’t want honor a weapon of mass destruction” at the time, but they didn’t get any traction.
I think it was the need to build a 5 story parking garage on The Foss that killed it. And before some else says it…
It wasn’t required by the city, but by market forces.
A fun foot note: The USS Ranger was the Aricraft Carrier featured in the movie Top Gun.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Marty, a “need” to build a 5 story parking garage on the Foss… for a museum? If you’re right about that, it’s a huge encumberance that would sink any project, unless it was favored by liberals who love to spend anyone else’s money, especially the taxpayers.
It sounds like so many other projects that are killed, not because they’re actually not viable, but because the people trying to kill it needle it to death. In this case it sounds like it was continually obstructed by blocking viable locations. I’m aware of more that was going on behind the scenes than what you’ve mentioned in your comments. I’ll try to get permission to print some quotes. Until then remember the welcome that the USS Olympia got from Olympia. The ship that carried it’s name wasn’t allowed to dock there. Tacoma is just up the road and is influenced by some of the same people.
Make all of the excuses you’d like. A naval vessel has a lot more to do with Tacoma and it’s history than a glass-blower and a few of his students. That one got built.
I will say, though, that it is encouraging that there was support for the project on some levels. But one of the things you have to remember is that bureaucrats and politicians are happy to say one thing to your face and then work against you behind the scenes.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
RBD, I think you’re missing what Marty’s saying. In the first year of its opening, the USS Midway had 879,000 visitors. Even if the Ranger in Tacoma got only 500,000 in annual attendance, the infrastructure and facilities needed to make it work would still be enormous. The number of parking spots the Ranger Foundation estimated they would need was massive, which is why the shuttle from the Dome was considered for awhile. The parking garage was not a bureaucratic holdup from the City, it was a good estimation of what the Ranger Foundation thought they needed to handle the traffic.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
The USS Midway is docked in San Diego. San Diego county has 3 times the population of Pierce County. It’s within driving distance from Los Angeles which has a population of almost 10 million compared to King County’s population of about 1.8 million. San Diego is a tourist town. Tacoma isn’t. The 500,000 estimate is way too high. Care to try again?
March 20th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Geographically, a USS Ranger in Tacoma would be the only such attraction for hundreds of miles, while the USS Midway competes with the carrier in San Francisco. Also, in its first year the Museum of Glass did 200,000+. Do you really believe that a freaking aircraft carrier couldn’t do 2.5x more in its first year?
March 20th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Yes, I doubt that a ‘freaking aircraft carrier’ could do 2.5x more than the Museum of Glass. It’s just another museum in the same city. Do you have any stats to back up your 2.5x assertion? An art museum opening in San Diego to compare it to?
To even get close to a valid comparision between art museums and an aircraft carrier museum we’d have to combine all of San Diego’s other museums and figure the percentage that went to the Midway. Then total up all of the museums in Tacoma and take that Midway percentage and apply it to that. Just one exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Man had 400,000 visitors. The San Diego Museum of Art has 400,000 per year. The city has many more museums. Care to do the math?
San Diego and San Francisco are 500 miles apart. San Diego is only 120 miles Los Angeles, but San Francisco is 380 miles from LA, making San Diego a much more likely trip.
By comparison, 500,000 visitors for the Ranger in Tacoma is a ridiculous figure.
There’s also the question of mode of transportation. Museums attract a lot of school field trips and tour buses. Factoring out parking for cars for all of the bus riders included in those numbers and factoring in buses instead brings the number down.
There’s a common practice in politics of hanging a bunch of amendments on a bill that will be certain to torpedo it in a vote. Parking sounds like it might have been the amendment used to torpedo the Ranger’s home in Tacoma.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:40 am
According to Scott at Word on the Street, we’re in a “cyberspat.” How exciting.
As to the above, a couple last thoughts: first, after checking around online, I am high on my 500K estimate for annual attendance. From what I can tell the USS Lexington carrier in Corpus Christi does about 325,000. That might be comparable, especially given the very large military population in our area. I do believe that the chance to walk around a carrier is a unique and fascinating experience and would serve as a tourist attraction for a huge geographic region far larger than our county or even the Puget Sound.
The other point is that you’re still assuming officials were looking for a reason not to put the Ranger here. I really did not find that to be the case. Everyone I talked to saw the good fit the carrier would have had in Tacoma.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I would have loved to see it here. Maybe there is a smaller ship that someone will find and champion for the area.
I think the Ranger was a tough fit, but I don’t think it was impossible. From what I’ve heard the opposition (official or citizen) made it more difficult and were able to put it over top and win the day, which lost it for those of us who care.
It’s encouraging that there was more support than I first realized. Too bad it wasn’t enough.
I appreciate our discussions. Seldom do I find someone who will stick to facts and not let things deteriorate to name-calling and insults.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:06 am
Leave it alone already. This issue is DEAD. Nobody but right-wing nut jobs want a big piece of rusting junk polluting our beautiful views.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
To some people a US aircraft carrier that defended our freedom and kept our enemies away from our shores is a beautiful thing. The people who are part of it’s history, or the history of so many other US Navy vessels, understand that there’s more to a ship like this than meets the eye.
On the surface it may look like a big gray tub with a short street slapped on top. But to someone who’s been on one of our Navy’s many ships, calling it home for one it’s deployments, it’s a piece of their past and a piece of our nation’s history.
My step-father served in the Korean War on a frigate. Several years ago I took him to fleetweek in Seattle where we had a chance to tour the deck of ship similar to the one he served on. Even though it was Seafair and the airshow was going on over Lake Washington, all he wanted to do was get to the waterfront to see the ships. Only his age kept us from staying on those ships until they chased us off. An uncle, who was laid to rest a year and a half ago, also served in the Navy during the Korean war.
Maybe if you tried looking with your heart instead of just your eyes you’d understand its beauty. And by the way, thanks for supporting my original point.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
As a current member of the USS Ranger Foundation, I want to assure you that efforts are being made as we speak to bring Ranger to the Portland Metro area. We have spent huge sums on a marketing/feasability study to show what kind of support we will bring, and it is huge.
The fact is that the navy is SINKING all these retired carriers. It is a SHAME!! These ships let us sleep in peace as they patroled the oceans of the world. The FIRST thing the President ask in an emergency is “Where are the Carriers?” They are the 911 of our country.
Please, she will only be a few miles south of you folks in the Sea-Tac area. I hope you will watch our progress, support us with your donations and allow future generations to come, to see what a great memorial Ranger will be. She sailed in harms way, now it is time to let her rest and serve in peace, for our kids and grandkids.
God Bless America and each one or you!
John Adams
jm0418@yahoo.com