United States Department of Defense

BATTLESHIP MISSOURI TO BE DONATED TO MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION IN HAWAII

The Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable John H. Dalton announced today the Navy has selected the USS MISSOURI Memorial Association, Honolulu, Hawaii to acquire the historic battleship USS MISSOURI (BB 63) for use as a memorial and museum.

The retirement of the historic battleship generated competing requests from organizations in four cities to obtain the ship. In addition to Honolulu, organizations in Bremerton, Wash. and Long Beach and San Francisco, Calif. submitted applications to the Navy. According to Navy officials who evaluated the applications, all of the cities' proposals included comprehensive plans to maintain the ship and operate it as a museum and memorial.

Secretary Dalton expressed gratitude for the patriotic expressions of grass roots campaigns and the strong backing from public officials. He said he made the difficult choice only after a detailed evaluation of all technical, financial, historical and public interest areas. This was a very tough decision, since all the proposals were so excellent and impressive. I'm genuinely sorry the Navy doesn't have a USS MISSOURI to give each of these cities, said Dalton.