With restoration of a retired Navy minesweeper nearing completion, the Stockton Maritime Museum is taking the next step — a new downtown home.
Officials envision a stunning new site for the ship with a new land-side exhibit and event space that would make the complex a magnet for tourists, veterans and school children alike.
Besides the USS Lucid itself being open for tours and events, the project would include constructing a facsimile of the building that housed one of Stockton’s most historic shipbuilders. The museum would offer a 5,000-square-foot upstairs event space that could host fundraisers, wedding receptions, meetings and more.
“It’s going to instantly become an iconic part of downtown,” said David Rajkovich, president of the Stockton Maritime Museum.
The building would be a reproduction of the Colberg Boat Works, a fixture in the port since the late 1800s. The shipbuilder constructed smaller vessels — tugboats, patrol craft, barges and alike — for the Navy. The yard’s roster also includes building three Aggressive Class sister ships to the Lucid and civilian work, such as passenger ferries. Since Colberg’s original headquarters building was destroyed by fire, the plan is for a new building that mirrors the look and atmosphere of the original.
The Lucid would be moved to a site near Weber Point where the new building would be constructed. It would be close to the waterfront warehouse building, bars and restaurants and become another valuable addition to one of Stockton’s top entertainment districts. Besides becoming a site for events, Rajkovich envisions the Lucid and museum as a tourist destination with multiple missions, from honoring veterans to educating school groups.
“Our ship is going to be that iconic piece of Stockton history that every kid is going to visit and they are going to encourage their parents to bring them back,” Rajkovich said.
The Lucid is a sturdy wooden-hulled, 172-foot vessel built in the 1950s to range the oceans in search of enemy mines. Though three sister ships were built in Stockton, Lucid hails from a yard in New Orleans. During the Vietnam War, the Lucid, armed with a deck gun and lighter weapons, showed its versatility. It patrolled the South Vietnam coast to stop smuggling of enemy weapons and supplies in addition to mine-hunting duties.
The ship’s service life ended and the Lucid, designated MSO-458, was sold. It became a floating home in the backwaters of the Delta, stripped of valuable metal fittings. Just when it appeared that the Lucid might be headed to the same sad fate as so many other derelict vessels, a group of volunteers and veterans came to the rescue. They towed the ship to Stockton where today it’s tied up on the San Joaquin River near Louis Park.
Going to painstaking detail, they spent years scraping paint, welding original equipment back in place and scouring warship boneyards for surplus gear. Though nearly complete, the process goes on. Rajkovich said a parts-hunting trip is being planned to Taiwan to strip a former American minesweeper, the former USS Implicit, of items needed aboard Lucid. Even without the additions, maritime museum volunteers couldn’t be happier with what they’ve accomplished so far.
“We’ve been working on this for 12 years now and the ship looks really good,” Rajkovich said.
There’s no firm timetable yet for the downtown project and money needs to be raised. Rajkovich said the museum received a grant from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy, which has allowed for the planning and drawings of how the museum could look. He said they also plan to apply for federal grants to get the downtown project off the ground.
City Councilman Michael Blower, who recently met with museum officials, sounds impressed. “I think it’s just remarkable with what that the plan is and what’re eventually going to do,” he said at last week’s Stockton City Council meeting. “I think that’s great to have that downtown.”
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