Trademark 2002

Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square ("HSMPS") presents the United States Navy and the people of the nation with outstanding, long-term value.  In particular, HSMPS's educational emphasis and social commitment in one of the country's most visited areas and cities, the San Francisco Bay Area, presents the United States Navy with an unique and enviable recruitment and public relations vehicle.  This is particularly important given nationwide service cutbacks, base closures and fleet relocation to a few locations, distancing the Navy from the populace.  The Bay Area in return benefits from the project's formidable educational, economic, and social benefits.  Underlying all we do is the belief that by being transferred to San Francisco, the U.S.S. Iowa ("IOWA") can serve the nation, the community and the United States Navy in the following ways.

The long-term benefits of  placing U.S.S. IOWA in San Francisco are dramatically diverse and, perhaps, even ingenious.  The potent, pragmatic, and varied capabilities of the battleship are hard to understate.  These benefits multiply with increased public access aboard.  It is this multitude of possible benefits that convinced the States of California and Iowa as well as both Houses of Congress of the United States for two years that IOWA should be homeported in San Francisco. 

Past President Edward Cummings, Captain USN (Ret.) & current President Merylin Wong in 1998 are shown aboard IOWA, keeping the project in alignment and on target.

NAVAL LEGACY:  Vallejo and the United States Navy have a relationship that dates back over 150 years and during that time Mare Island naval shipyard constructed over 500 ships.  The only battleship ever constructed on the West Coast, the U.S.S. California, was launched from Mare Island.  During WWII, the shipyard was instrumental in the construction and repair of so many submarines that one can effectively argue that the shipyard played a major role in the defeat of Japan.  In the Cold War, Mare Island Naval Shipyard constructed nuclear submarines.  Since the facility was closed by the Navy and turned into civilian use, Mare Island Naval Shipyard has been preserved and titled one of the most significant locations on the West Coast on the National Historic Trust.  It is a wonderful site for the U.S.S. Iowa to become a naval memorial and museum.

In a more general sense, over nearly six decades of their illustrious history, IOWA and her three sister ships, NEW JERSEY, MISSOURI, and WISCONSIN, collectively known as the 'Iowa'-class battleships, have visited San Francisco Bay in the past.  They came for a variety of reasons including maintenance, repair, drydock, inactivation, recommissioning and decommissioning ceremonies, and port calls.  Lead ship U.S.S. Iowa is a symbol of the world's most evolutionary and wide-ranging navy.  Her history is that of an American Navy protecting its homeland and the free world, a Navy that held the line during World War II and the Cold War.  U.S.S. Iowa will memorialize the sacrifices of service personnel in both peace and war.  With U.S.S. Iowa prominently displayed at Mare Island, Vallejo, the naval legacy will be the beneficiary of significant visibility in one of America's oldest naval installations. 

HSMPS maintains contact with the Naval Historical Center in the Washington Naval Shipyard in Washington D.C. so as to faithfully convey this priceless naval heritage. 

EDUCATION: IOWA is a powerful educational medium to impart almost a quarter of this nation's history.  As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's battleship, she vividly conveys the enormous and almost desperate effort made by this nation in the greatest human conflict ever waged--World War II--a world war that concluded on the decks of her sister battleshipship, MISSOURI.  What few know, is that U.S.S. Iowa was originally designated the platform to accept Japan's surrender.  Harry S. Truman from the State of Missouri, who became President as a result of the untimely death of  President Roosevelt, selected U.S.S. Missouri on which to hold the ceremony to mark the end of World War II.  The battleship's service in WW II and her continued deployments in the Cold War, from the gun line off Korea to North Atlantic and Mediterranean patrols with NATO, symbolize the dramatic rise of America as a superpower.  Her powerful story is one of national evolution, visibly conveying some of the most defining moments in human history.  Already, one of the largest school districts in the Bay Area, the Fremont Unified School District, has written an endorsement and is eager to participate in an educational program.

RECRUITMENT: In Vallejo, U.S.S. Iowa will enjoy enormous visibility in the nation's most visited regions, with over 16 million visitors annually.  Add to this the fact that nearly 5 million tourists frequent the wine country in nearby Napa Valley and another 2 million visitors come to Vallejo's Marine World Africa USA.  For a Navy struggling to attract recruits, U.S.S. Iowa in Vallejo in the North San Francisco Bay Area represents an significant gateway to potential recruits.  In Vallejo, U.S.S. Iowa will attract local residents (not likely to go into the City) as well as tourists.  The population base around Vallejo is nearly 2 million.  The impressive battleship, with her graceful lines and powerful capabilities, will inspire potential recruits to join, while for parents that may tour the ship the Navy may develop as a serious career option for their children.  Clearly, for a Navy that has relocated to just a few ports, U.S.S. Iowa in Vallejo and the San Francisco Bay Area is a powerful medium for reaching the American public.  By bringing the U.S.S. Iowa to Vallejo, HSMPS will help put the United States Navy at center stage in a major metropolitan area and a global tourist Mecca.   IOWA's location in the San Francisco Bay Area is enthusiastically endorsed by local recruiters.                                     

DISASTER CONTINGENCY: San Francisco Bay Area will sustain a major earthquake in the future. When it occurs, IOWA could save lives.  An 'Iowa'-class battleship is virtually seismic-proof.  Similarly, a terrorist act could incapacitate regional emergency and police response capability.  Here too, U.S.S. Iowa's armor plated and sealed hull makes her a very robust control post in Vallejo.  With the Navy's approval and without any structural modifications or degradation in dehumidification efforts or security , "selected compartments" aboard IOWA may serve as an ideal, emergency command and control facility for Bay Area emergency response officials.  Diesel generators on the ship can deliver power while real-time data communications can be easily initiated and received aboard the battleship from portable equipment.  Former Governor Davis of California endorsed this concept.  There is strong civic support for this use. 

PRESERVATION: U.S.S. Iowa will receive exceptional maintenance in the Bay Area.  The extensive work experience of the personnel and facilities that the Maritime Administration maintains in the region to care for the reserve fleet, are a robust resource certainly adequate for the battleship's needs as a mobilization asset.  One of the nation's largest concentration of reserve ships is in nearby Suisun Bay.  As if this were not enough, San Francisco Drydock, Inc. has a dry dock large enough for the 887-foot long IOWA.  The private maritime support services used by MARAD stand ready to take of BB-61 as a museum ship.                     

COMMUNITY INTEGRATION: Placing U.S.S. Iowa at Mare Island, Vallejo provides the veteran's community a bridge to the large nonveteran populace.  U.S.S. Iowa in the San Francisco Bay Area represents a dramatic portal, connecting the military with the nation at large. 

Conclusion: Berthing the historic battleship IOWA in Vallejo presents the United States Navy and the community with outstanding value and a multitude of opportunities.  The benefits to the Navy and the community are mutual, clearly enormous, and long term.  The Bay Area's unique visibility as a tourist mecca, its experienced maritime preservation force and infrastructure, and deep water piers make it a highly viable candidate as a homeport for the U.S.S. Iowa.  BB-61's historical and educational stature offer a highly valued experience and contribution to our nation's historical legacy.  At Mare Island, Vallejo, such a rich blend of benefits beckons a truly great ship.     

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