Big Mo Finds a Home Port--in S.F. : Navy Selects Base at Treasure Island for Battlewagon

The Navy ended an 11-month search for a home port for the battleship Missouri on Friday by selecting San Francisco over Pearl Harbor and Long Beach.

In a statement released in Washington, Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger said the Navy base at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay was the “preferred alternative” for the Missouri and one support ship, a guided missile cruiser. San Francisco will also receive six other ships, to be based at the city’s Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.

However, the two other cities in the competition did not come away empty-handed. The Missouri’s eight other support ships will be divided between Long Beach and Pearl Harbor.

The decision to base the Missouri here is a major political victory for San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who campaigned hard for the ship against opposition from anti-nuclear activists. Last January she vetoed a resolution by the city’s Board of Supervisors, which opposed bringing the battlewagon to the Bay Area.

Boon to Industry

Feinstein welcomed the Navy’s decision as a boon to the city’s ailing shipping industry.

“The loaf was split, I think its fair to say, but the lion’s share of the loaf is here in San Francisco,” a smiling Feinstein told reporters at a San Francisco International Airport press conference with U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) Wilson flew here from Washington to join Feinstein at the press conference.

The current plan could bring to the city an annual military payroll of as much as $60 million, with an additional $20 million spent at local businesses, the Navy estimated.

In addition, the Navy estimated that more than $50 million will be spent on construction at Hunters Point and Treasure Island, including additional housing units that the city must build to accommodate the 3,100 military personnel the two ships will bring to the area.

As an enticement to the Navy to base the ships here, Feinstein had pledged $3 million in city funds for several projects, including street repairs, increased public transportation and the dredging of waters around Treasure Island and Hunters Point.

San Francisco Supervisor Richard Hongisto, who led the opposition to the Missouri last January, said Feinstein’s claims of economic benefits to the city are “exaggerated and silly.” Hongisto also said he opposes basing the battleship here because of the risk of a nuclear accident, while other supervisors objected to the tacit approval of the arms race that basing the ship here, in their view, signifies.

Launched in 1944

The Missouri was launched in 1944 and was the scene of the Japanese surrender in World War II. It is one of three aging battleships that have been brought out of mothballs and refitted by the Reagan Administration. Although the Navy never specifies whether a ship carries nuclear weapons, the Missouri is considered to be equipped to launch nuclear devices.

Because of the economic impact associated with the Missouri and its accompanying fleet, competition among the three cities for the home porting was intense. Long Beach was ruled out several months ago, apparently because it already is the home port of the battleship New Jersey.

The Navy will now conduct a yearlong environmental impact study. If the results are satisfactory, the Missouri and its support ships could be based at their new locations sometime in 1987, Wilson said.