Washington, D.C

A model battleship moves on wheels as Navy plans new flagship museum

Published

2 years ago

January 8, 2023

A model battleship moves on wheels as Navy plans new flagship museum

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“Straight in!” mover Terry Goodwin known as out because the century-old mannequin of the USS South Carolina was eased throughout the museum ground on the Washington Navy Yard.

“Good and straightforward,” he mentioned, as he and 5 different males guided the previous battleship, which is 9 toes lengthy, stern first. The casters below its vintage glass and mahogany case squeaked. And the movers laid down skinny planks to easy the way in which.

Because the mannequin moved by way of the museum in the future final month, it handed massive weapons shrouded in plastic tarps, artwork works below protecting covers, and different ship fashions being readied for relocation.

It was a part of the Navy’s preparation for a $450 million flagship museum to exchange the just about 60-year-old facility in its cavernous Naval Gun Manufacturing unit and an adjoining constructing on the historic yard in Southeast Washington.

The service introduced two years in the past that it wished to construct the brand new museum on a roughly six-acre plot on M avenue next-door to the Navy Yard.

Now, the location has been secured through a land swap with a developer, pending environmental evaluate, the Navy says. The Navy would trade 15 acres of “underutilized” land within the southeastern a part of the yard for the brand new museum web site.

Officers this month introduced that 5 outstanding structure corporations had been chosen to develop ideas for the brand new museum. They embrace Bjarke Ingles Group, DLR Group, Frank Gehry Companions, Perkins & Will, and Quinn Evans.

Every will obtain $50,000 to develop concepts and supply renderings and fashions that will probably be unveiled this spring.

“We’re probably not going to choose a winner,” James C. Rentfrow, the performing director of the Navy Museums Division, mentioned just lately. “We’re going to have a jury … [to] present commentary and feedback and execs and cons of every of the 5.”

“In some unspecified time in the future, it would come down to 1, however that’s going to be later within the course of,” he mentioned. The Navy hopes to interrupt floor within the fall of 2025.

Smithsonian Citadel to shut for renovations

The present museum opened in 1963. As a result of it’s inside the Navy Yard, it has been closed periodically for safety causes in recent times and may very well be troublesome to go to.

In November, the Navy closed the principle a part of the previous museum on weekdays, admitting guests solely on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A secondary constructing has been closed completely.

The brand new museum will probably be outdoors the yard and can supply full public entry, mentioned retired Rear Adm. Samuel J. Cox, the director the Naval Historical past and Heritage Command.

However earlier than the brand new facility is constructed, the previous museum have to be rearranged and repurposed right into a staging space.

“The very first thing that now we have to do is obvious out among the older displays right here in the principle constructing in order that we will create some open space for storing,” Rentfrow, the museums director, mentioned just lately.

The mannequin of the South Carolina had been on exhibit for 23 years, mentioned Jennifer Marland, the assistant curator of Navy fashions. It was moved off exhibit to the sting of the museum area on Dec. 13.

There it would stick with different giant ship fashions till they’re both positioned within the new museum or relocated elsewhere, Rentfrow mentioned.

Artifacts together with the large World II-era Corsair fighter hanging from the ceiling most likely won’t be moved till the brand new museum is prepared, he mentioned.

Others are awaiting different new locations.

The ornate, hand-carved “gangway board” from the battleship USS Kentucky will probably be wrapped, padded and despatched to the historical past command’s assortment administration facility in Richmond, based on Wesley Schwenk, a museum registrar.

The board, which resembles a superb piece of furnishings, options an eagle in aid perched on a globe. Gangway boards had been positioned on the prime of a ship’s gangway as a greeting to sailors and guests.

The Kentucky sailed with the white-hulled Nice White Fleet within the early 1900s and was decommissioned and bought for scrap in 1923.

One other artifact, the statue of slain Boatswain’s Mate Charles W. Riggin, which was made out of silver from 1000’s of donated dimes, will probably be weighed and packaged and put into storage at one other constructing on the Navy Yard, based on Schwenk. There, it would get a “relaxation” whereas a brand new location is discovered for it.

Riggin, who served on the USS Baltimore, was killed in 1891 in Valparaiso, Chile, throughout an assault by locals apparently offended on the Navy’s presence. His homicide, now lengthy forgotten, was entrance web page information on the time.

As for the ship fashions, the museum had about 120 on show.

Marland mentioned the fashions had been usually made when a ship was constructed, and had been meticulously detailed. “These are superb, superb artistic endeavors,” she mentioned in a current interview on the yard. “The craftsmanship. The eye to element.”

Among the fashions had been displayed on the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

They had been manufactured from wooden, nonferrous steel and wire. On the South Carolina mannequin, pen was used to attract strains indicating deck planks.

“Once we construct a brand new class of ships, we construct a mannequin to symbolize that class,” Marland mentioned. “It helps educate individuals in regards to the new class of ships coming into the Navy. And, after the ship is now not with us, it offers a file of that class’s service and the sailors who served on these ships.”

The South Carolina mannequin most likely was created by the Philadelphia agency that constructed the ship, she mentioned. The ship was commissioned in 1910.

As she spoke, conservator Brian Potter wheeled the mannequin of the destroyer USS Manley on a pc printer stand away from its exhibit area. The Manley was to be displayed sooner or later at close by Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, he mentioned.

However, first, he needed to repair a miniature gun that had damaged free. He utilized glue, and changed the gun. “That’s it,” he mentioned.

Manley was commissioned in 1917. The subsequent yr, it suffered an accident during which depth costs on board exploded, gutting a lot of the ship and killing 34 crewmen. However the ship was repaired, put again in service and later served within the Pacific throughout World Battle II.

Because the South Carolina was eased throughout the musuem’s bumpy ground tiles, the crew tried to maintain it from toppling off its stand contained in the case, the place glass had been faraway from one aspect. The glass was off so curators may regulate the mannequin, which they did a number of instances.

“Is it shifting once more?” Marland mentioned.

“Yeah,” somebody replied.

They males stopped. Extra planks had been laid on the ground.

“You see how tight that is within the case,” Marland mentioned. “There’s little or no room.”

The transfer resumed, and, ultimately, the battleship reached its vacation spot.

The precise South Carolina, which served in World Battle I, introduced 1000’s of American troopers residence from Europe when the struggle ended. It was bought for scrap in 1924, based on the Navy.

“Do now we have this battleship at this time?” Marland mentioned. “No.”

“However now we have this mannequin,” she mentioned.

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Washington, D.C

Welcome to Washington: On the Eve of the Inauguration, Monumental Advice

Published

4 minutes ago

January 16, 2025

Press Room

Welcome to Washington: On the Eve of the Inauguration, Monumental Advice

Image by William Rudolph.

I love watching the brides pose for photos by the Lincoln Memorial and the teenagers wriggle through TikTok choreography near the Washington Monument. Their modern hopes breathe life into the centuries-old wisdom of our capital city.

I have lived in Washington DC for years and still can’t get enough of it. On sunny Saturday morning walks, my pace is casual, but the insights are profound. DC is a living lesson about what George Washington described as “the last great experiment for promoting human happiness.” The Inauguration brings new people to Washington DC and I hope they will love and learn from the city as much as I do.

One of my favorite monuments is near the Capitol. Two iron cranes stand together. Their wings thrust upward, and barbed wire falls from their beaks. Around them is a complicated mix of names: Japanese Americans who died fighting for us in World War II, and the internment camps to which their families and friends had been forced. Yet I am fiercely proud to be an American when, amidst these names, I read President Reagan’s words: “Here we admit a wrong. Here we affirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.” Few countries I’ve lived in have the strength to admit such a grave national error.

That urge for improvement is in our national genes. As the Constitution states, we’re constantly trying to “form a more perfect union.”

Sure enough, a few miles away under a white marble dome stands a statue of Thomas Jefferson. He, too, speaks to us of striving for perfection: “…Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened … institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times.”

While I respect the somber challenge of those words, I love his next, more whimsical, sentence: “We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

From a breezy hill in northeast Washington DC, President Lincoln also challenges us. It’s the cottage where he and his family escaped the city’s summer heat, though Lincoln daily commuted to the White House. His dusty horseback ride revealed the stakes of the Civil War: wounded soldiers bumping along in ambulances and former slaves surviving in hastily built camps after escaping behind Union lines.

Lincoln welcomed allies and adversaries alike to the cottage for advice, sometimes looking out from the veranda over the not-yet-completed Capitol and Washington Monument. As a modern visitor 150 years later, I can stand in the same place. The buildings are completed. But which of Lincoln’s hopes and fears are still in progress?

At a newer memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr offers optimism about the timescale of our national effort: “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

At an even newer memorial closer to the Capitol, President Eisenhower puts a worldwide spin on our work of becoming a more perfect union: “We look upon this shaken earth, and we declare our firm and fixed purpose – the building of a peace with justice in a world where moral law prevails.”

Strolling through the city, I love listening to leaders from different periods of our great experiment. I hope our elected representatives will as well.

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Washington, D.C

DC gets ready to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary – WTOP News

Published

8 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Press Room

DC gets ready to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary – WTOP News

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and America250 Chair Rosie Rios joined students at a bilingual elementary school to kickoff D.C.’s chapter of the commission preparing to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Students at Powell Bilingual Elementary School in Petworth greeted Bowser with a rousing introduction, as she introduced them to a new vocabulary word: “Semiquincentennial.” The word describes the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Bowser told the students D.C.’s 250th celebration should be the biggest and the best, and said, “Throwing a big party for thousands of people is a big task. But in Washington, D.C., we welcome visitors for big events all the time.”

D.C.’s festivities, though, will be part of a nationwide effort to throw a celebration of America like none other.

America250 is a nonpartisan initiative working to involve Americans from every state and U.S. territory in the Semiquincentennial, which will be in 2026.

Rios told the students about “America’s Field Trip,” explaining it’s a contest for those in “grades 3-12 who get to answer the question, ‘What does America mean to me?’ The beauty of this program is that the award recipients get to choose from a series of backstage experiences with our federal agencies, most of which have never been offered to the public before.”

Those field trip sites include a variety of historic and cultural landmarks across the country.

Rios recalled the nation’s bicentennial in 1976, when she was just 10 years old. Her parents had come to the U.S. from Mexico in 1958, and she said the evening of July 4, 1976, “was a cloudy night in Heyward, California, but those fireworks were never brighter.”

“On that night, I felt I had the whole world in front of me. I did feel that anything was possible,” Rios said.

She said she’s eager to hear from others about their family histories and their hopes and dreams for the future.

Another feature of the America250 celebration is “Our American Story,” which includes a chance for residents to nominate someone they know to share their histories, which, if selected, will be preserved at the Library of Congress.

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Washington, D.C

Inauguration Day: Timeline of key inaugural events

Published

16 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Press Room

Inauguration Day: Timeline of key inaugural events

WASHINGTON – Nearly a quarter million ticketed guests are expected to attend Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Monday, January 20, 2025, in the nation’s capital. The festivities begin over the weekend and continue until the Tuesday following Inauguration Day.

On Monday, the ceremony will take place on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. Security screening gates are expected to open at 5 a.m. Ticketed guests should arrive by 11:30 a.m.

Here are some key events on the schedule if you are planning to attend:

Timeline:

Saturday, January 18

Trump will attend a reception and fireworks display at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.

Vice President-elect JD Vance will participate in a reception for incoming Cabinet members and host a dinner.

READ MORE: Inauguration Day: Security tightens in DC one week before Trump takes office

Sunday, January 19

Trump will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump will hold a MAGA Victory rally at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., at 3 p.m., with a performance by the Village People.

Trump will host a candlelight dinner with campaign donors.

Monday, January 20 (Inauguration Day)

Trump will attend a worship service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in downtown D.C.

Trump and incoming first lady Melania Trump will join the Bidens for tea at the White House.

Inauguration Day Forecast: Slight chance for snow showers early Monday

What we know:

Inaugural Ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol

The ceremonies will take place on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol.

Security screening gates open at 5 a.m., music begins at 9:30 a.m. Ticketed guests should arrive by 11:30 a.m.

The theme, “Our Enduring Democracy: A Constitutional Promise,” recognizes the Founders’ commitment to preserving democracy.

Carrie Underwood will perform “America the Beautiful” before Trump takes the oath of office at 12 p.m. Former Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton are expected to attend.

A farewell to former President Biden and Vice President Harris will occur around noon.

Trump will gather with aides and lawmakers for the President’s Signing Room Ceremony at the U.S. Capitol to sign executive orders or memorandums.

The JCCIC Congressional Luncheon will follow, attended by the new president, vice president, Senate leaders, and JCCIC members.

Trump will review military troops at the East Front steps of the U.S. Capitol, followed by a presidential parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

READ MORE: Inauguration Day 2025: Road closures, routes and timing

At the White House, Trump will participate in the traditional Oval Office signing ceremony for executive orders or nominations.

Trump will attend three Inaugural balls: Commander in Chief Ball, Liberty Inaugural Ball, and the Starlight Ball. He is scheduled to speak at all three balls.

Commander in Chief Ball focused on military service members
Liberty Inaugural Ball geared toward Trump supporters
Starlight Ball will focus on high-dollar donors

What’s next:

Tuesday, January 21

Trump will attend the National Prayer Service, an interfaith event at the Washington National Cathedral.

The Source: Information in this article comes from The Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, and the Associated Press.

NewsInauguration DayDonald J. TrumpMelania TrumpWashington, D.C.

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