I was going through some old stuff I inherited years ago and came across a bunch of stuff from the SS Charles H. Cugle. Several old news clips, an original set of blueprints (side,top,elevation views). Mr. Cugle was a relative of mine and I just don't know what to do with this stuff. Any thoughts?
I understand the ship still exists at the James River Reserve Fleet outside Fort Eustis, VA.
The Liberty ship SS CHARLES H CUGLE had an interesting history, although none of it took place during World War II. She was built too late for war service, being one of the last Liberty ships constructed, launched on August 13, 1945, at the J. A. Jones Construction Company in Panama City, Florida. See http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwtwo/jonespanamacity.htm and scroll down to hull number 105. In September 1945 she was placed in the reserve fleet ("mothballed") in the James River near Newport News, Virginia.
She would certainly have been scrapped eventually, but in 1964 the U.S. Army acquired her, renamed her STURGIS, and converted her into a floating nuclear power plant. She supplied electricity to parts of the Panama Canal between 1968 and 1976. She was then decommissioned, her reactor was removed, and she was returned to the James River Reserve Fleet. There she remains to this day, a vastly different ship than she was as CHARLES H CUGLE. The potential or actual threat of radioactive contamination means that she is securely sealed and isolated, and it may be a very long time before she is scrapped. A Google search for "sturgis" and "nuclear" will produce thousands of hits.
As to the artifacts that you have, let me make a suggestion. In addition to being webmaster of the Armed Guard website, I wear another hat as a volunteer crew member aboard SS JOHN W BROWN in Baltimore, one of only two Liberty ships still in operating condition. Aboard the BROWN are three small museum areas: an Armed Guard museum, a shipbuilding museum (Baltimore was the site of a shipyard that built more Liberty ships than any other single yard), and a merchant marine museum. My wife is the curator of the merchant marine museum. I am sure the material you have would find a home in either the shipbuilding museum (the blueprints, for example) or the merchant marine museum. If you would like to donate your materials to Project Liberty Ship, which owns JOHN W BROWN, I am sure the Project would be very appreciative.
I will send a private e-mail with contact information.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard website www.armed-guard.com