Retired US Warship Burgled For No Apparent Reason In Quincy, Massachusetts

Nothing is sacred it seems, not even a retired U.S. Navy cruiser, the USS Salem, laid down in 1945, at the tail end of the Second World War.

Quincy police said four men broke into the ship recently that is docked in Quincy’s Fore River Shipyard. It is not clear why four men burgled the ship. Police did not say if anything was done to the ship. All the white males appear to be in their early 20s whose images were captured by surveillance cameras.

The keel for the cruiser was laid on July 4, 1945, one month after the Navy ordered the ship, said the U.S. Navy Shipbuilding Museum, which maintains the vessel.

The United States Naval Shipbuilding Museum in Quincy, Massachusetts is a private, non-profit visitor attraction. It is centered around the USS Salem (CA-139), the ship which has been burgled.

The local shipyard on the Fore River ended operations in 1986. In 1993, volunteers and local officials established the museum, in an effort to revive the shipyard area. The Museum hosts several exhibits on the USS Salem which relate to US naval and shipbuilding history. There are also exhibits on the dockside, and even a mini golf course.

The USS Salem was the flagship of the Second Fleet in the Atlantic and the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, Boston Herald reported.

Even though Salem never fired her guns, her appearance during the Cold War encouraged peace, she was a diplomatic alternative to force, says the museum’s website.

Ian Harvey

Ian Harvey is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE