STOCKTON, Calif. — For years, David Rajkovich, president of Stockton's Maritime Museum, has envisioned the day that the calm waters of the McLeod Lake in downtown Stockton would see ripples of waves as a 775-ton floating museum moves in.
That day is coming soon after the Stockton Maritime Museum announced they have secured the land, and water, to permanently dock a 1953 U.S. Navy Minesweeping ship along Stockton’s iconic waterfront.
“We're going from a very industrial, low visibility area to a high visibility area here where we're going to open the ship to the public as a museum ship,” Rajkovich said. “We're quite excited about that, that's big news, huge news.”
The 172-foot, USS Lucid was originally built at a shipyard in New Orleans in 1953 under the U.S. government’s World War II Emergency Shipbuilding Program. The USS Lucid, donated in 2011 to the Stockton Maritime Museum, is the last minesweeping ship built during the World War II era, still left in the United States.
“We have the last one remaining in the United States. Of 101 that were built, there's only one left.” Rajkovich said.
Roughly 50,000 Americans served on minesweeping ships like the Lucid, many of which were constructed along the same Stockton waterways which the Lucid will now reside.
According to Rajkovich, the warship is a reflection of the old economy and lifestyle of people in the city of Stockton.
“At the peak of World War II, there were a dozen shipyards here (in Stockton) building ships, and landing craft and boats of all types,” Rajkovich said. “Maritime history goes way back here in Stockton and a lot of people don't even know about the current businesses here in Stockton, we have a very active port.”
For the past 11 years, the Lucid has enjoyed the less dangerous and non-wartime waters of the San Joaquin River near Stockton’s Louis Park.
There, local high school students have played a role in renovating and maintaining the historic ship through the San Joaquin County Office of Education’s “Building Futures Academy” program.
“We’ve been working on the ship at a site down the river here using at-risk high school vocational students to work on the ship, it's been a very beneficial program,” Rajkovich said.
USS Lucid to move to downtown Stockton
The move is one that community leaders have been waiting for, including Wes Rhea, CEO of Visit Stockton.
“We always knew the Lucid needed a downtown location,” Rhea said. “For us, it's a big deal, because we've never had anything to celebrate the maritime history or the shipbuilding history of downtown Stockton. And we really don't have any waterfront attractions.”
Rhea says the addition will activate Stockton's downtown waterfront and alter the city's skyline attracting more business and visitors.
"It's really going to be a catalyst project, especially considering it's looking at a piece of land that's been vacant for a couple of decades," Rhea said. "The ability to acquire this property is a huge win because it is definitely going to be visible from the cinema plaza in downtown Stockton, all of our special events at Weber Point, you'll be able to see the ship right across the water."
The warship will not be alone, however. Museum officials are also developing plans to add land structures and installations to support the floating museum.
"We have quite a bit of improvement to do here. We're going to start with some fencing and some landscaping and clean up the site," Rajkovich said. "It may be a year and a half or so before the ship is actually here."
While he may have to wait one more year until the warship finally sails the San Joaquin River on its three-mile trek to downtown Stockton, Rajkovich says he is happy and excited the change will be coming soon.
“It wasn't ready, but she's almost ready for primetime," Rajkovich said. "I think it's going to be an iconic part of this downtown waterfront."
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