The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Tug of warship

    The USS Des Moines is a warship that was built to withstand the assault of battles, but no engineer could prepare it for the one being waged over it now.

    A group of war veterans and other supporters of the retired warship would like to bring it to Milwaukee as a tribute to veterans and a draw for tourists, but others are vehemently opposed to the idea.

    The supporters

    The Milwaukee-USS Des Moines Historic Naval Ship Project Inc., a group of USS Des Moines supporters, including some veterans, has been working for almost four years to bring the decommissioned ship to Milwaukee and install it in a slip about half a mile northeast of the Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 N. Art Museum Dr., said Dick Caswell, the group's president.

    The main drive for bringing the USS Des Moines to Milwaukee is to honor veterans, according to Caswell.

    "There are 86,000 Milwaukee County veterans, and it's a monument to all veterans whether you're in the Army, the Navy, whatever," Caswell said.

    He also believes the USS Des Moines would be a boon to the area's tourist-driven economy.

    "It would be a destination tourist site," Caswell said. "Milwaukee would have something unique."

    "People will come to Milwaukee to see the ship and they'll rent hotels and motels, they'll rent cars, they'll visit the art museum," Caswell said. "Economically, it's good for Milwaukee."

    Caswell said the cost for bringing the USS Des Moines to Milwaukee would run around $20 million, all of which the project plans to raise from private donations. The money will pay for refurbishing the ship, construction of a mooring system and consulting fees, Caswell said.

    The ship will actually be on loan since the Navy will not sell the ship to anyone, according to Caswell. The USS Des Moines-Milwaukee Historic Naval Ship Project Inc. has raised under $1 million of the necessary funds, Caswell said.

    County Executive Scott Walker favors the concept of bringing the USS Des Moines to Milwaukee, said his spokesman, Jim Villa.

    His opponent in the county executive race, David Riemer, does not favor the current proposed position of the USS Des Moines, his spokesman Jodi Goldberg said, but does feel that it is important to honor veterans. Riemer would need to see any plan and know all the details of it before he made a decision, Goldberg said.

    The opposition

    The USS Des Moines has several hurdles to overcome before calling Milwaukee home, however.

    Any plan to bring the USS Des Moines to Milwaukee will have to wait until a moratorium on lakefront development is lifted. The ban has existed since the summer when Walker commissioned the Lakefront Task Force to study Milwaukee's lakefront and then submit a plan of recommended criteria and restrictions for its development, according to Sadhna Morato-Lindvall, spokeswoman for Walker's office. Until the report is delivered to Walker and the County Board, there will be no construction or development on the lakefront, Morato-Lindvall said.

    Additionally, other members of the Milwaukee community are not so keen on the idea of the USS Des Moines coming to Milwaukee. In particular, many peace activists and peace networks are against the idea.

    "Our steering committee has taken a position against the placement of the USS Des Moines in Milwaukee," said George Martin, program director for Peace Action Wisconsin. "Our greatest concern is that it becomes a tribute to militarism and war, and secondly, we think it will ruin the aesthetic environment of the lakefront.

    The precedent

    This is not the first time such a conflict has occurred over the USS Des Moines. A similar scenario played out in Duluth, Minn., about seven years ago, when there was a significant push to construct a veteran's park with the Des Moines as a centerpiece.

    The plan had the full support of Minnesota's then-Gov. Arne Carlson, who would have funded it with state money, as well as Duluth Mayor Gary Doty, the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce and several Duluth-area businesses and labor unions.

    The plan to bring the USS Des Moines to Duluth failed, however, when it was met with community opposition, including that of some war veterans, said Tom Morgan, a Vietnam veteran and Duluth resident.

    Morgan opposed this plan.

    "I don't feel honored at all," Morgan said recalling Carlson's announcement that the ship would be coming to Duluth. "I feel insulted."

    Morgan's November 1997 op-ed piece in The Duluth News-Tribune condemning the project was one of the opening shots in the USS Des Moines conflict. After his piece was published, Morgan said he began receiving supportive calls from other veterans. It led him to form a group of about 35 combat veterans who opposed the plan to bring the USS Des Moines to Duluth.

    The group objected to the plan for several reasons, among them that it was, as Morgan put it, "clearly designed to be a tourist draw."

    The plan called for a bar and restaurant to be built onboard the USS Des Moines, Morgan said, and also to lease parts of it out for wedding receptions and other events.

    "Following that logic, why don't we rent out the backs of our mother's graves to advertising?" Morgan said. "Can you imagine wedding receptions and cocktail parties at the Vietnam Wall? Some things in my mind are too sacred to be turned into a Disney theme park. I think it should be treated with dignity and respect."

    In the end, Duluth became so embroiled in the conflict over the USS Des Moines that a referendum was held to determine whether the USS Des Moines would be welcomed or not. Approximately 60 percent of those voting opposed the Des Moines plan, and it was abandoned.

    The USS Des Moines was commissioned in 1948 and sailed the Mediterranean Sea, according to U.S. Navy Lt. Katie Licup. It was designed to escort other ships, particularly aircraft carriers, and provide anti-aircraft coverage.

    Story continues below advertisement