The year is 1982, and 10,000 people are gathered around to watch the arrival of Baton Rouge’s newest attraction. Floating down the river comes a destroyer, the USS Kidd, freshly refurbished and ready for tours.
It rides into its innovative cradle alongside the levee and gets ready for a long stay.
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That was 40 years ago. Today, much has changed. So much, in fact, that Baton Rouge’s storied destroyer is set to depart the city later this year for repairs—and a few upgrades.
On 225’s Between the Lines series, we found out that after years of rising and falling with the Mississippi River, the Kidd’s cradle has started to turn into her worst enemy.
“Being in freshwater half the year and out of the water the other half, Kidd is actually in pretty good shape. But, as she has come down on the cradle, they’re starting to push through the hull and break hull plates, letting water in,” USS Kidd Veterans Museum’s Executive Director Parks Stephenson explains.
The US Department of the Interior recommends that ships like the Kidd undergo major overhauls every 20 years, according to Stephenson. The Kidd hasn’t had one since 1962.
As of right now, the Kidd has 10 holes in her hull. After years of trying to patch her up here in town, Louisiana’s state legislature allocated funds for an overhaul. Sometime in May, the ship is slated to make its way down the river and into a shipyard in Houma.
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“During that time, we of course are going to get the hull repaired. We will also design the cradle with lessons learned from the last 40 years to make it less damaging to the ship,” Stephenson says. “We will be blasting the ship and painting her again … It’s time to give (Baton Rouge) something new to look at.”
The Kidd will return with dazzling black and white stripes. And Stephenson says her return will be celebrated just like anything else here in Louisiana—with a party.