PHILADELPHIA (CN) - A nonprofit has sued the Navy to save the USS Forest Sherman and turn it into a museum. The first new destroyer built after World War II, it became "the prototype of all the fast ships in today's modern Navy," and should be preserved rather than dismantled, scrapped or sunk to form an artificial reef, the USS Forrest Sherman DD-931 Foundation claims in Federal Court.
The Forrest Sherman, commissioned in 1955 and known as "the last of the great gun ships," was named for Adm. Forrest Sherman, a former chief of naval operations and WWII veteran, who died in 1951. The ship saw service at the Bay of Pigs, Lebanon, the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway and in the Iranian hostage rescue mission.
Now at rest at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia, the ship was removed from the Naval Register, and in 2006 Congress authorized the Secretary of the Navy to transfer the guided missile destroyer to the foundation.
But the Navy is soliciting bids to tow and disposes of it.
Citing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the foundation wants the Navy enjoined from destroying the destroyer, and the Secretary of the Navy ordered to transfer the ship to "donation hold" status.
The foundation is represented by Steven Kantrowitz with Kantrowitz & Phillippi.
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