For more than 50 years after it was first launched, the USS Forrest Sherman has traveled the world, fought in Cold War battles, twice escaped the scrapheap and narrowly avoided being scuttled.
Now its fate rests with the Havre de Grace City Council.
The Harford County city on the Susquehanna River is considering a proposal that would give the destroyer - the prototype for naval destroyers today - a second life as a museum and tourist attraction, berthed at a pier that would be built at the city dock.
The Navy has donated the ship to the USS Forrest Sherman Foundation Inc., a nonprofit group formed in 1999, but has made the donation contingent on the group hauling the Sherman from the Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard to a permanent home.
"Now it is all up to Havre de Grace," said Kurt Wagemann, a Bel Air resident and foundation director, who served two years aboard the ship soon after it was commissioned.
The foundation, which numbers about 6,000 members, many of them former crew members, hopes to restore the 420-foot Sherman and have it towed to Havre de Grace.
"That's a right good-sized boat," said Jim Newby, Havre de Grace spokesman. "We are asking for public input and trying to get all the information. We know we won't be financially responsible, but we are not leaving any stones unturned in making this decision."
Wagemann gave a presentation to the City Council in December and held an informational meeting at City Hall earlier this month. Another is set for 7 p.m. Feb. 4.
The city seems evenly split over the idea, said Mayor Wayne H. Dougherty, who will remain neutral until the six-member council makes its decision.
Opponents are circulating a petition, hoping to gather 300 signatures.
"Once the ship gets here, it will not be movable," said Charlie Lawson, owner of a coffee shop. "How many destroyers do you see on a river? What if the foundation goes belly up? I just don't feel this is appropriate."
Donald R. Osman, a retired teacher and 40-year city resident, said the foundation has a great but impractical idea.
"It does not fit in with our history," Osman said. "We are not a Navy town. The ship has no connection to us. Havre de Grace is so beautiful with its majestic bridges. Having a huge ship sitting on prime waterfront would take away from the city's ambience."
