Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum

The Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum is dedicated to documenting the history of the United States Navy. The museum will be permanently housed in the USS Edson, a retired United States Navy destroyer that has recently been converted to a museum. The museum is located in Bay City, Michigan, United States. The man responsible for this destroyer being opened for a museum is Mike Kegley, the president of the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum, who has worked on the project for the last fifteen years. This destroyer will be the main event for the museum as it has plans to expand into other exhibits in the years to come. The vice president Richard Janke, the Secretary Mary Kegley, and the treasurer Mark Janke also run the museum.HistoryShip's backgroundThe retired US Naval warship the USS Edson was put into commission on November 7, 1958. The destroyer remained in commission for 30 years and was decommissioned on December 15, 1988. The USS Edson was built by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and then named after Major General Merritt Austin Edson. The ship was manned by 17 officers and 276 crew members. During its commission, it fired the most five-inch shells of any destroyer. This "fire first, ask questions later" policy earned the USS Edson the motto of “Three Guns, No Waiting”. The ship is a destroyer powered by four 1200psi boilers feeding by two steam turbines, driving a ship 418ft in length. Though this ship is known greatly for its forceful firing, it had only seen time in two major wars. The USS Edson was a part of both the Vietnam War and the Cold War.