"It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious." George Washington, 1781
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
I 100% forgot to post this here but I am moving blogs. I have been away too long, and have been doing too many things to give this blog the proper attention it needs for a full revitalization so I am starting anew.
You can find me at @dbf-enthusiast now where I’ll be posting more things as they relate to submarines, museum ships, and my general professional life. It will be working in concert with both twitter and instagram (@dbf_enthusiast on those platforms) because branding is a thing I have to worry about these days, I guess.
Anyway, this blog will remain up to preserve what information is here, but it will officially no longer be active.
Twitter got this rant last night, but I think Tumblr needs it too. I’m still seeing some terrible fucking takes about recent events in the museum ship community. Taking care of a museum ship is A LOT of work. More so than many people realize. I’m going to try and shed some light on the monumentalism of this task below the cut.
Twitter got this rant last night, but I think Tumblr needs it too. I’m still seeing some terrible fucking takes about recent events in the museum ship community. Taking care of a museum ship is A LOT of work. More so than many people realize. I’m going to try and shed some light on the monumentalism of this task below the cut.
Buckle up cuz this is gonna be a long one.
First, these ships were never intended to be preserved. Most museum ships today were wartime construction that the Navy expected to do away with after cessation of hostilities when the budget inevitably shrank again. Those that stayed would get 20-30 years at best before being mothballed. That so many of these ships are in their 70s and 80s is astounding and something these ships were NEVER built for.
Second, those ships that did eventually become museums frequently started that portion of their life as memorials and veterans clubs by those seeking to honor their fellows or relive their glory days. Preservation was not at the fore of their plans, at least not in the long term sense we typically associate with museums. In that sense, museum ships are a very young corner of this industry. While the first handful of museum ships appeared in the late 40s and early 50s, the bulk of them did not pop up until the 70s and 80s. On top of that, the shift from old boys clubs to professional museums has only happened in the last 20 years and that shift is far from complete or comprehensive. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Vessel Preservation Projects wasn’t published until 1990. That means most museum ships at that point had suffered several decades of poor or outright zero proper preservation practices.
Third, keeping a museum ship afloat takes A LOT of resources. Money. Manpower. Proper facilities. The Navy has all of these things in spades and even it struggles to properly care for its active ships reasonably. A museum has a fraction of that, and is trying to do the same. So let’s address some of those points.
Money- With perhaps maybe two exceptions, your tax dollars do not go towards these vessels. If I had a quarter for everyone who bitched about an entry fee because “I pAy My TaXeS” I could fucking fund my own goddamn navy. The organizations taking care of these museum ships are private nonprofits listed as 501c3′s. The Navy and the federal government have absolutely nothing to do with their operation and we don’t see one red cent from either of them. Funding comes from ticket sales, private donations, and grants. None of those are guaranteed.
Manpower- A single active duty vessel could have anywhere between 50 to several hundred sailors aboard depending on its size. Most museum ships are lucky to have staffs in the double digits. To put some perspective on this, USS Olympia (C-6) typically had a crew between 400-450 men when she was in service. Today, her maintenance staff numbers 5, and they are responsible for her AND USS Becuna (SS-319). Luckier museums have strong volunteer bases to supplement their staff, but volunteers are fickle things, but volunteers are fickle things and are in no way guaranteed either.
Facilities- Museum ships need regular out-of-water maintenance just the same as any active vessel. This usually means drydock. A decent drydock schedule for a museum ship is usually every 15-20 years depending on conditions. Lucky ones go more frequently. Unlike the navy, there is absolutely no museum ship that has its own drydock and the staff to man it. This means they have to rely on private repair companies. Yes, the Navy also resorts to contracting private drydocks as well, but this brings us to the next point. Museum ships are not a profitable project for drydock companies. They take up time and space that could be used to turn a profit instead. This means museum ships have to work exponentially harder to secure a drydock berth because companies are driven by profit (yay capitalism) and they all know working on a museum ship will be a break-even contract for them at best. Now there are some exceptions to this. Some companies will happily complete the work just for the prestige of it. Most, however, look at their bottom line and shy away.
All of these issues are further compounded if the organization is caretaking multiple ships. Invariably, one of them takes precedence for any number of reasons to the detriment of the others. It becomes a fine balancing act to provide for them all.
At the end of the day there is no guarantee that any of these museums will survive forever and the sad truth is we will lost more and more of them as time goes on. Given the Navy’s current stance on handing out new ships to be museums, this niche field could start shrinking rapidly in the next 10-20 years. But we have no way of knowing for sure.
We we do know for sure, however, is that no caretaker EVER wants to come in to work to find their charge listing, sinking, or sunk. I have before. It is an awful feeling. To see people making baseless claims about fraud, malpractice or “tHe DeMoCrAtS” is absolutely infuriating and shows a lack of understanding about how anything in this business fucking works. Saying nothing and staying in your fucking lane is more useful to us than spouting off drivel.
Now, those of you who have read this far might be wondering what you can do to actually help these museums. The answer is simple: support them.
Museums are a public trust, and while they have staff supporting immediate operations absolutely NO museum survives long term without support from its surrounding community.
So support your local museum ship. If there isn’t one local to you than pick your favorite. How do you support them? Get involved. Donate money. Donate time. Volunteer if you can. Even if it’s just once or twice a month. An extra hand goes a long way when your staff is small. I will caveat this, however, by saying you need to volunteer for the sake of the organization and not your own ego.
Money is easier. Most organizations allow you do donate online through their website. If you enjoy what a museum is doing you can make the entire staff’s day by sending in a donation with a note telling them what you think they are doing right and how much you appreciate it. Donations are also tax deductible so you get that generosity back during tax season.
Visiting also helps. Ticket sales are not only a major source of revenue but visitor counts can help secure grant funding. Visit often and bring friends. Purchase a membership. Memberships are also useful to development and grant writing, and often pay for themselves after two or three visits.
Post on social media. It’s simple but its an effective way to spread word about an organization. Post photos of your visit. Show yourself having a good time. Use hashtags and share them in groups so other people can find and see them. Write reviews on travel websites. Wax poetic about what a great time you had. Help get other people excited and interested so they go and visit too.
Alright. That’s it. I’m off my soapbox. For now, at least. I will leave you all with a link. Click it. Donate.
