How North Carolina schoolchildren helped save the Battleship North Carolina
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Battleship North Carolina was built for global combat, but one of its hardest fights came after its military service ended.
The ship was scheduled to be scrapped by the Navy after becoming obsolete. Instead, a statewide campaign — powered in large part by North Carolina schoolchildren — helped save it and bring it to Wilmington.
The anniversary of the ship’s arrival at its permanent berth on the Cape Fear River is being marked this week.
After years of service to the nation, the battleship was facing an uncertain future until supporters began raising more than $300,000 to pay for its tow and permanent berth. Organizers even enlisted President John F. Kennedy as an honorary admiral.
But the campaign’s driving force came from classrooms across North Carolina.
Among the students who took part was Edna Rivenbark, who was in fifth grade at the time. More than 700,000 children statewide participated in the “Save Our Ship” campaign, collecting dimes to help preserve the battleship as a memorial to the 11,000 North Carolinians who died during World War II.
“Our teacher came in and said, ‘We’re going to collect dimes to get a battleship,’” Rivenbark recalled. “And so they gave us these little cards, which you put dimes in … and you fill that little card up and you brought it to school.”
The campaign helped raise the money needed to bring the ship to Wilmington.
On Oct. 2, 1961, thousands of people lined the Wilmington waterfront as the Battleship North Carolina arrived at its permanent berth.
For Rivenbark, seeing the ship in person was a moment she has never forgotten.
“Well, to me, it was a big, a big ship because I’d never seen anything that large,” she said. “And it was very emotional to see something that big and think that people lived on there and fighting on it and everything else. And it was just amazing.”
The Battleship North Carolina has since become one of Wilmington’s most recognizable landmarks and a memorial to the North Carolinians who served and died during World War II.
To commemorate the anniversary, original participants in the 1961 “Save Our Ship” campaign will receive special admission for $6.50 throughout the upcoming weekend.
The campaign that began with children collecting dimes ultimately helped ensure the battleship would remain part of North Carolina history for generations to come.
