All Hands on Deck

Fundraising for the Battleship North Carolina

In 1961, the elementary schoolchildren of Wilmington collected all their dimes to raise the $330,000 needed to buy the USS North Carolina from the Navy, which had planned to scrap the World War II relic. The 728- foot ship was slowly towed into the Cape Fear river by tugboats and berthed in the mud off Eagle Island, to be a memorial for the 10,000 North Carolinians who died in WWII. For fifty-five years now, the retired battleship has guarded downtown Wilmington, offering residents, sightseers, and today’s school children a rare opportunity to walk through the past.

MAGGIE EARLEY was one of those tiny, determined dime collectors back in 1961, and now she volunteers, along with dozens of other Wilmington residents, to educate and engage visitors.

“I’m working my way in,” she says, “because I find the entire thing overwhelming, as everyone does.”

Earley gives tours of one of the ship’s two barbershops. “It’s amazing, because kids think a ship is shooting guns, eating meals, sleeping in bunks. But they never think that these were guys living here for two whole years, and they had to have a barbershop,” she says, laughing.

“I love seeing the different reactions that visitors get when they come on board,” says MEAGHAN HOLMES (above), promotions director for the battleship. “We strive to make sure all of our visitors get something personal out of their visit, whether that be honoring a loved one who has served or is serving or seeing the younger generations aww and excitement over this magnificent piece of history in our backyard.”

But on its 75th birthday, a new campaign to save the battleship is underway. The museum is in the process of raising $17 million, first to build a permanent cofferdam – a steel wall – to allow it to drain sections around the ship part by part, and then to complete extensive hull repairs along the waterline.

The cofferdam is actually the cheaper solution. If the ship were sent to Norfolk, Virginia, for repairs, the estimated cost was $35 million, assuming it proved to still be seaworthy. Ground broke on the cofferdam May 19, and it’s estimated to take eighteen months to finish. Thanks to private donors and some public funds, $15 million of that repair goal has already been raised, but that leaves $2 million officials still need to find.

Last year, the modern version of a “nickels and dimes” campaign rolled out to the public. All supporters have to do now is text the word “Battleship” to 41444 to give a donation to the ship’s restoration fund. They also converted one of the ship’s hatches into a “wishing well”, where every nickel and dime thrown in there by visiting schoolchildren (or their parents) will be used for the repairs. Local businesses have chipped in as well, just like they did fifty-five years ago. Front Street Brewery came out with a Battleship Pale Ale last year, donating a portion of the sales to repairs, and Apple Annie’s Bake Shop plans to donate $1 to the ship for every one of its red, white, and blue cupcakes sold over the July Fourth weekend.

But of course, a large part of the funds will come from admission tickets and rental fees for events (see below).

Membership to the attraction – more than 200,000 people visited the ship in 2014 – is another way the Battleship North Carolina plans to raise funds and support for the Port City icon. So if you’re one of the few Wilmington residents who hasn’t discovered this monument in our own backyard, now’s the time to see what everyone’s been so excited about for half a century. 

Multi-Purpose Deck

The Battleship North Carolina is known as many things: a floating World War II lesson, a leading visitors' attraction for the area, an icon of Wilmington’s riverfront.

But it’s also a prime events spot.

That’s right, you can rent out parts of the ship, for parties, weddings, and apparently skee-ball championships.

The national Brewskee-Ball Championships was held on the ship’s deck last month, and it also recently hosted Yoga on the Battleship events, in conjunction with Yoga Village and Front Street Brewery.

Instead of keeping the ship solely as a history museum, battleship officials have opened it up to all kinds of community uses.

“We will allow any group to have an event here as long as we can accommodate them – meaning the event is not too large – and that the event does not act or go against the battleship’s mission of serving as North Carolina’s WWII Memorial,” Programs Director Danielle Wallace says.

Some of those events, Wallace says, are military balls, corporate receptions, “car shows, fitness events, Pawz in the Park, employee ‘fun days,’ a variety of paranormal events, etc.” It will partner with Thalian Association, she adds, to have the play Mister Roberts performed onboard.

On July Fourth, all Friends of the Battleship will have access to watch the city’s fireworks show from the deck of the ship, along with free parking in Battleship Park, which will be filled with food trucks or patrons can pack their own picnic.

To become a Friend, memberships are $35, but everyone in the party must be a member to get in for the fireworks. The membership also includes free admission to the Battleship North Carolina for a year, as well as discounts on their various learning programs and tours.

-Bridget Callahan and Vicky Janowski

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To view more of photographer Chris Brehmer’s work, go to www.chrisbrehmerphotography.com/