After nearly 30 years, the sun could be setting on the USS Hornet’s time at Alameda Point. The chairman of the ship’s board of directors, Sam LaMonica, confirmed to ABC7 News he’s exploring ways to move the aircraft carrier to San Francisco.
“We don’t get any government funding at all so we have to rely entirely on attendance by our visitors and membership to be able to fund us,” said LaMonica.
The board believes if the ship was docked on the other side of the Bay, the Hornet would attract more visitors and more money.
The aircraft carrier has a long history.
After being commissioned in 1944 and serving in WWII, it then went on to be a part of several famous events.
“We actually recovered the Apollo 11 astronauts, who were the first astronauts to ever walk on the moon,” LaMonica said.
While the ship’s Alameda departure isn’t for certain, news of the possibility came as a shock to several locals.
“Oh my God! Why do they want to move it?” said Deborah Harrod.
Harrod says she would be devastated if the Hornet left.
“I took my grandson when he was nine, he’s now 29. We’ve seen thousands of things open up on there: the barbershop, the post office, the captain’s quarters,” she said.
If the Hornet does move to San Francisco, the big question is where it would go?
And the answer is, at least for now, no one knows.
The board says it’s looking at several piers along the city’s waterfront to find a potential home.
“We’re giving ourselves a five year time frame to be able to do all of the research and the logistics and to determine costs and funding,” said LaMonica.
Although decommissioned in the 1970s, the Hornet has been a museum since 1998.
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