USS Lucid - (MSO-458)
International Call Sign: November-India-Lima-Whiskey
The Stockton Maritime Museum (SMM), home of the USS Lucid (MSO-458), was founded in 2011 by Rex Ramsey and David Rajkovich. Our mission is, “To create a permanent museum commemorating Stockton’s historical shipbuilding culture and connection to the Delta to foster the city’s growth and prosperity.” The museum intends to highlight how maritime culture was instrumental to our city’s founding, growth, international trade, and our nation’s defense.
SMM acquired the former USS Lucid (MSO-458) in 2010 in the aftermath of a now-closed project to save several other MSOs. Lucid is an Aggressive-class ocean-going minesweeper and a true sister ship, or exact copy, of three vessels (USS Dynamic [MSO-432], USS Embattle [MSO-434], and USS Engage [MSO-433]) built in the 1950s for the United States Navy in Stockton, California at Colberg Boat Works, a shipbuilding company established in 1896. Lucid, however, was built in 1953 by Higgins Industries, a shipbuilding company in New Orleans, Louisiana established by Andrew Jackson Higgins, whom President Dwight Eisenhower dubbed, “the man who won the war for us.”
Launched November 14, 1953, Lucid served her country on several tours of the Western Pacific, and supported Operation Market Time through her decommissioning on December 23, 1970, when she was transferred to the US Naval Ship Repair Facility in Long Beach, CA. Eventually, the scrap yard removed any metal of value from her, and she was sold to a civilian in 1976 in the Bay Area. A decade later in 1986, she was then gifted to another civilian and moved to Bradford Island on the Sacramento Delta, where she was used as storage. In 2005, a year after her owner passed away, his widow gifted the ship to a sailor who had served on her and was spearheading the work to restore MSOs. Restoration began at this time.
A key component of restoration efforts was involving community youth. SMM established a collaboration agreement with the San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE) to partner on the restoration of this historic vessel as a floating museum ship and berth her in Stockton, CA. Students at their Building Futures Academy (BFA), a high school dropout credit recovery program, receive training in construction-related industries and get to utilize their skills restoring Lucid. Additionally, a partnership was established with the Discovery ChalleNGe Academy (DCA), a high school program of the California National Guard, in which students displaying leadership skills and academic excellence are selected to participate in restoration efforts. Currently, the ship is about 85% of the way to complete restoration. Once finished, Lucid will be moved to her future permanent home on the historic Downtown Stockton Waterfront, near Weber Point, where over a thousand boats and ships were built from the 1850s through the 1980s.
Stockton's shipbuilding industry started with freight shipping and passenger transportation from the San Francisco Bay to a departure point into the Gold Rush county of the Mother Lode. Stockton prospered providing a maritime way point for points south, east and north. As the maritime industry grew, so did the need to build ships and vessels, and provide some of the finest sailing ships, motor yachts, and military craft. This rich industry bred numerous supporting companies and provided upwards of 30,000 jobs at peak ship building activity during World War II. Many Stocktonians and their descendants can trace their livelihood and successes back to these companies that relied upon the strong maritime industry.
The SMM and Lucid will stand out as an iconic feature on our waterfront, a representation of Stockton's maritime and shipbuilding history. They will honor the men and women who labored in this industry, as well as those who served aboard these incredible wooden ships.
