Battleship North Carolina-- Part 2

Back on Oct. 5th, I posted on the new commander of the USS North Carolina battleship moored by Wilmington as a war memorial.

Terry Bragg said he was related to Confederate General Braxton Bragg and the pre-war NC governor Thomas Bragg. That would seem to be another story for my Civil War blog http://sawtheelephant.blogspot.com.

I did find out Thomas was the older brother of Braxton and is buried in Raleigh's Oakwood Cemetery. Thomas was a member of the Confederate cabinet as attorney general. Was that why he was able to keep his general's job despite his failures?

THE USS NORTH CAROLINA TODAY

The battleship is expected to cover its day-to-day operations from its own revenues, which means ticket sales, gift shop, and donations. The ship is the 17th-most-visited spot in NC with around 200,000 visitors a year.

The big challenge is the big-ticket maintenance. After sitting in the water since the early 60s, the ship needs to be taken to drydock. Along with that, decades of silt need to be removed from the ship's berth. This is expected to cost between $8 and $12 million and take 4-5 years. This will need to be money from the state and the economy doesn't call for that expenditure right now.

CREATIVE MONEY-MAKING

Events are held on the ship, including a skateboarding tournament and it will become a "haunted ship" for Halloween, a move that has caused some disagreement. Also, the former commander had converted some of the forward officers staterooms into bunking areas for overnight scout and NROTC stays.

The Ongoing "Showboat." --Cooter