WWII Ship Rearmed as Monument : Memorial: Merchant Marine veterans are slowly winning acceptance from the Port of Los Angeles for their restoration project.

Forty-five years after the last big guns were stripped from the decks of the merchant ship Lane Victory, the salty “crew” of the retired vessel watched as the ship was rearmed while docked in Los Angeles Harbor.

The crew, members of the U.S. Merchant Marine Veterans of World War II, gave each other slaps on the back as a 50-foot-tall crane hoisted a four-ton, anti-aircraft cannon to the ship’s stern. The former merchant seamen are converting the ship into a floating museum to honor comrades killed at sea.

“This is just one more step in restoring this ship to its original, pristine condition; as it came out of Cal Ship shipyards just up the harbor in 1945. We want it to look again just like it did,” said Joseph B. Vernick, 76, president of the local group.

Built in 1945, the Lane Victory delivered supplies to U.S. forces in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The ship sailed with five-inch and three-inch guns aboard for its first few months at sea, but was disarmed shortly after the end of World War II.

The Lane Victory and its crew have been involved in another kind of conflict since last summer when they towed--without authorization--the 7,000-ton vessel into the Port of Los Angeles from a mothball fleet near San Francisco. Port officials at first refused to grant the ship a permanent place to dock, but the crew members met regularly with the officials and have gradually won acceptance of their dream.

The Lane Victory has been moved four times and still does not have a permanent berth, but the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners in January authorized port staff members to study possible berthing sites.

The veterans group has already begun working on the museum in the ship’s hold despite its uncertain future.