SAM FORCE HAS ACQUIRED AN MSO FOR USE AS A MUSEUM
Go to  http://USSLucid.org for additional info.

 

This once proud Ocean Going Minesweeper has been reduced to trash.

Go to http://www.usslucid.org/ for more pictures of the old girl in her current state.

 

Copy of an eMail from Mike Warren of the SAM Force

Friends and supporters of the Save an MSO Foundation, members of the Navy MSO Association, former sailors from any minewarfare vessel and especially the MSO community of Wooden Ships & Iron Men; On June 13, 2005, the USS Lucid, MSO-458 was donated to the Save an MSO Foundation, and was accepted in the names of all those former and current sailors that served on any of the 101 MSO's around the world, from eleven different countries (including the United States) and is proudly presented to the MSO community worldwide. A special thank you goes out to Ms. Charlotte Gardner, of Sacramento, California for her gracious donation of the USS Lucid, in fond memory of her late husband Bill Gardner. Bill Gardner saved the USS Lucid from the final scrap yard and his name will forever be a part of the history of the old ship. I personally am buying the seven acres of land that she and her husband owned on Bradford Island for our restoration project to take place so we don't have to move the old ship or pay for additional dock space. The restoration project for the USS Lucid will certainly begin sometime before Fall 2005 sets in on Bradford Island, in the California Delta. What if we really have a chance here for an MSO Museum?? Will you help us out with a $120 a year ... that's 10 bucks a month = much better if we had $20 a month. Just from the MSO guys we know out there; if we had $20 a month ($240 a year) or $0.66 cents a day from each of you we'd have enough to make a sizeable dent in a few bills that we'll be creating for the USS Lucid Project real soon. I don't know how much your MPG on your car or truck may be.. but think about driving a few less miles than you normally do. For me anyway, it's about 6 miles less a day, or 42 miles a week. Conserve some valuable energy (consolidate some trips) and at the same time, help us paint the ship or buy some tools. The time's here .. and the price is right. We're going to need a few years of sweat equity = a lot of hard work from people that want to visit the USS Lucid Project and become a hand in a work party - - but also money. Money that will pay off in the long run. Money that will go for good things that we'll be able to see in bright and shiny new items working in every compartment. Money to pay the light bill and the day to day expenses. "Honor Restored; Dignity to Follow" ..... Let the opportunity become your challenge. Support the USS Lucid Project for all the right reasons. We'll be changing a lot of Foundation contact information between now and the end of the year and also some responsibilities for a few people .. including me, but please pay that debt forward for the 2005 calendar year (because we need the money now) and plan for 2006 ... for the memory of your old ship and to honor your old shipmates and every Iron Man out there that ever served on one of our old Wooden Ships; owes that debt. For those of you that never fail with that monthly check, it's your wonderful support that's helped get the Save an MSO Foundation to this point. Thank you so much for that financial promise you've kept .. and stand by with boarding parties to the Port side; you ain't seen nothing yet. Talk it up between yourselves, your friends, family and military contacts and use the PayPal site with a credit card http://MineSweep.org/SAMFORCE-Donations for the Foundation, or send it direct to our new address in Sacramento, California. Save an MSO Foundation 7485 Rush River Dr. Suite 710-336 Sacramento, CA 95831-5260 Pay us forward with that $0.66 cents a day ($240) and you'll get triple that satisfaction in return, knowing you're doing your part. Don't stop there either, register with Rick Szpyrka at the USS Lucid Project site http://usslucid.org/ ASAP for those future work parties and if you know some friends or family (non-MSO guys) that want to spend a few days with us having some fun - roughing it (really roughing it in the early days) and working off some of that spare tire and breathe some dirty snipe air down in the bilges <<just kidding>> get your family and buddies together for a few fun days working on the USS Lucid Project. We don't have any firm dates set for individual work parties just yet but we'll begin today. Don Cole, RMC USN (Ret) will be our project "Chief" = on site in California; so he and Rick Szpyrka will organize your visit and work details. Think about it ...... Picnic on an Island with "Swim Call" over the side and "Movies on the Fantail" once again. Bring your swimming trunks and your willing attitude to Bradford Island, along with your tools and work clothes. I'll bet by time Spring sets in next year, we can even establish the official "George Dean" Memorial Golf Course on the back '40 complete with that little windmill thingy and red clown's mouth that we top golfers love so much. Moose can drive the golfers back in the official USS Lucid golf cart and we no longer need any place to have a reunion, we can have a perpetual one going on Bradford Island. <<GRIN>> BYOB ....... and we'll always have a cold beer and hot dog waiting for you. It will be our intention, hopefully before mid 2006; to establish the USS Lucid as a separate corporation (USS Lucid MSO-458, Inc) Tax Exempt 501 (c) .. IRS recognized charity so we can start asking for donations of items from corporations, and organizations that will allow them real tax benefits when they support the USS Lucid Project. That will also allow us many opportunities that don't fit right now with the Save an MSO Foundation and the NMSOA. As we continue our work with the SAM Foundation and the NMSOA membership organization, the USS Lucid will be able to stand on its own ... but still supported by both the Foundation and individual members of the NMSOA. <<More Details to Follow>> Give us a few months to put things in perspective and welcome aboard the USS Lucid ............ Yours in MSO Brotherhood and Friendship, Mike Warren