With less than two weeks left in 2022, many of us are planning holiday gatherings with our families and friends. As we enjoy our time together, please remember the men and women of our nation’s military, many of which are spending time away from their families this holiday season. We enjoy a safe and prosperous life because of their sacrifices and service to our nation.
We received a couple of large contributions which were “restricted” towards the maintenance and preservation of the Battleship IOWA. Annually, we spend close to $1.5 million towards maintenance and preservation, our single largest budget item. This still falls short of the needs of an 889’ ship, floating in salt water with deteriorating decks, and only four full-time maintenance or “operations” staff. Thankfully we have a passionate core of volunteers, who easily outnumber the full-time staff on a 7-to-1 basis, who dedicate their time and treasure towards the efforts. With your generous support and a trending increase in volunteerism, the operations team plans to accomplish in 2023:
- An increase of 50% or more on waterline / hull preservation.
- Activation of CHT 1.
- Return removed life racks onto the ship.
- Support a growing military and veterans Skill Bridge program by providing impactful opportunities to connect and transition.
- Connect the fourth shore power cable to the ship’s system.
- Continue efforts within Turret 1 to improve the experience.
- Gunwhale restoration and expanded paint touchup efforts of the incredible PPG PSX-1 coating, which has lasted us over 11-years already.
- Recoat additional steel decks with a sustainable anti-slip coating.
- Complete the 04 synthetic teak deck project and look towards expanding these efforts depending on available funding.
As mentioned before, thank you for your generosity and support throughout 2022! If you are interested in supporting a specific project, please feel free to reach out to our development team at development@labattleship.com. We could always use the support whether it is volunteerism, donations, bequests, in-kind, pro-bono, or a combination; it is what truly makes it possible to accomplish innovative and impactful things.