Commanding The Mighty Mo
Michael Carr recently took the helm of the remarkable USS Missouri Memorial and has big plans to celebrate her 10th anniversary at Pearl Harbor. If you are confined to an office for most of the day, you are considered fortunate to have a
By Brandon Bosworth
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a great experience it was.” The Missouri also has hosted overnight stays for youngsters from schools, the Boy Scouts, church groups and other organizations.
Any chance for adults to experience sleeping aboard a historic battleship?
“It’s been discussed, and is in the ‘thinking about’ stage right now,” explains Carr. “Though we’d probably need to make improvements to the cabins first.”
The Missouri herself faces some improvements in the coming year. In September 2009, she will enter drydock for the first time since 1992.
“Drydocking is a normal part of the maintenance and preservation of any ship,” says Carr, “and it’s time to do it again. It will put us out of commission for about three months, though.”
Another project on the horizon is replacing the ship’s teak deck, which is as old as the vessel herself. “In some places the wood is seriously deteriorated, particularly in the aft portion of the deck.”
That section, about 2,500 square feet in size, is currently being replaced as sort of a test run for the whole ship. It will be quite an undertaking, requiring “major fundraising.”
While decreased visitor numbers and the replacement of a 60-plus-year-old deck are certainly daunting, the Mighty Mo has seen her fair share of adversity, from World War II service in the Pacific (where she fell prey to a kamikaze attack) to providing firepower to Americans fighting the Korean War and in Operation Desert Storm.
Carr certainly seems up to the tasks at hand, and is committed to the Battleship Missouri Memorial.
“It’s a great place to work,” he says. “I look forward every morning to getting up and getting here. My car is usually the first one in the parking lot.”
For more information about the Battleship Missouri Memorial, visit www.ussmissouri.org.
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