HISTORY SINKING INTO THE MUD!

I am being lazy today, but the issue is still in the forefront. So, here is a re-post!

I LOVE American history! I love being in the places where the history happened. The battlefield at Yorktown, the freedom trail in Boston ( now THAT will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, standing in Fanueil Hall where the founding fathers plotted the revolution!) My favorite part of our country's history is WWII, specifically the Pacific Theatre. As a teenager, I devoured every book I could find on the subject. My father had served on an aircraft carrier in that war and I guess that is what sparked my interest.We now have floating museums all around the country as monuments to that war and the men and women who served in it. There are aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers and submarines that anyone can tour and get a feel for what these brave men endured for our freedom. On the USS Hornet in Alameda I saw where Neil Armstrong took his first steps upon returning from the moon. Heady stuff, these floating monuments, but therein lies the problem. They don't float forever!We have left these venerable ships where they served, in the ocean. The problem with that is, since they are now immobile, they don't get into drydock for their regular repair and refitting that they so desperately need. Salt water has no feelings, no loyalty, no empathy, no patriotic zeal. It destroys everything steel with equal efficiency. And salt water is sinking our naval history.In Charleston, SC, Patriots Point is home to the USS Yorktown, USS Clamagore and "The Ship That Wouldn't Die" the USS Laffey. (You should google the story of how she got her nickname. Goosebumps will follow!) The Laffey is sinking. Eight million dollars is needed to keep her afloat. For a while. Then, more millions will be needed to keep the Yorktown and the Clamagore afloat. For a while. That is the problem, folks, for no matter how much we spend and how good a job is done on the repairs, they will be temporary, for salt water never stops destroying metal.If we want to preserve these magnificent fighting ships so that future generations can see and appreciate how their freedom was saved, then we must get the ships out of the ocean! Spending millions upon millions on constant, repetitive repairs is insane. The rust will not stop. The leaks will continue to appear and the money will continue to be dumped into a bottomless pit.I, for one, do not want to see these monuments to our fathers' sacrifices disappear. And the only way to save them that makes sense to me is to get them out of the water. Building drydocks seems like the best solution to me, but I am neither a ship builder nor an engineer. I don't know what the best solution would be, but those who are experts in the field better come up with one soon because, especially in this economic climate, Americans are NOT going to keep donating money to a cause that is hopeless.Save the ships!! Get them out of the saltwater!! Allow our children and grandchildren the chance to feel the same goosebumps we feel when we go aboard!! They are history. They are important. They need to be saved just as much as the Olde North Church, for they are just as much a part of our history!!