The USS Wisconsin (BB-64) Association
"OUR SHIP"

May 28, 1991; Norfolk, Virginia

189 former crewmembers of the USS WISCONSIN went aboard for a 2-day cruise sailing from Norfolk VA to Earle, NJ. This cruise brought back wonderful memories .It was as if we never left the ship some 35 to 45 years ago. Howard Lynn, BT 2 who served aboard the WISCONSIN from 9-50 to 6-54 in B Div. expressed his feelings about this Farewell Cruise and Decommissioning with the following poem.

OUR SHIP
We sailed again after many years,
A farewell cruise brought joy and tears.
Three decades passed, yet there it was,
Same pulse, same smells, same sounds, same buzz.
Here she was our ship, the best.
Like baby back to mother’s breast.
We are home again, we sail content,
With shipmates old and new, time spent.
Now bleak she stands, though not alone,
Ten thousand men have called her home.
Her graceful lines have won us all,
Broad in beam, yet very tall.
She’s tethered here with line and chain,
Her engines stilled, and boilers drained.
Some say she’ll never sail again,
This sleek greyhound with sixteen’s main.
She has laid before in this same yard,
Neglected hull and beaten hard.
Still her beauty shines right through,
I feel her heart is beating, too.
Young she is with memories bold.
Our ship like us, will not grow old
We’ll both sail on with pride, you see,
Because we’re part of history.
By Howard Lynn

Back to General                                    Top of Page