Long Beach Begins Drive to Stop Missouri Transfer

icials here began a drive Wednesday to keep the battleship Missouri from being moved to San Francisco, Honolulu, San Diego or anyplace else.

Mayor Ernie Kell and Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce officials said they will lobby in Washington, launch a letter-writing drive and enlist support from local service clubs to keep the Missouri, its 1,604 crewmen and $28.6-million annual payroll in Long Beach.

“We, at the city level, will do everything we can to see that the Navy home-bases the Missouri here,” Kell said at a press conference aboard the Queen Mary.

A tug-of-war over the World War II-era battleship began last week when Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said he had been told the Navy has changed its plan to transfer the ship from Long Beach to San Francisco and would instead move it to Honolulu.

Navy Denies Report

Navy officials have denied that report, but concede that cities other than San Francisco may be considered as the ship’s new home port.

One of the cities under consideration is San Diego, the Navy has said. San Diego Chamber of Commerce officials are scheduled to meet today to vote on a proposal for a campaign to persuade the Navy to station the battleship here.

The Navy has long planned to transfer the ship to San Francisco, but has begun to reconsider its position in light of the recent election of Mayor Art Agnos, a vocal opponent of a plan to station the Missouri there.

Long Beach officials said their city has cheaper housing than Honolulu and a longstanding supportive relationship with the Navy. The Navy would need to only spend $3.6 million for pier improvements in Long Beach rather than spending $100 million to make the move to San Francisco, said Joseph F. Prevratil, chairman of the board of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.