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20 March 2025 — The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park
In last month’s edition of Sea History Today we learned a little about the port of Buffalo, New York, host city of the upcoming Maritime Heritage Conference (MHC) in September. This month, we’re taking a closer look at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park—a name often shortened to Buffalo Naval Park (BNP)—host of the 2025 Historic Naval Ships Association (HNSA) symposium, which this year will be an integral component of the aggregate Maritime Heritage Conference. The Naval Park’s president and CEO, Paul J. Marzello Sr., is looking forward to September: “We are extremely proud and excited to be welcoming the Maritime Heritage and Historic Naval Ships communities to our Buffalo waterfront and the Buffalo Naval Park for the 2025 Maritime Heritage Conference. Our planning team has been working for months to offer a unique and educational blend of seminars and events that will create a memorable experience for all.” We’re enjoying working with that team—not only are they a great crew, but their museum has a lot of neat spaces to explore.
| A birds-eye view of the Buffalo Naval Park. All images courtesy BNP | |
The idea for the museum took shape in the mid-1970s. Buffalo City Court Judge Anthony P. LoRusso, who would be instrumental to the museum’s founding, related to newspaper reporters that he was inspired by the museum ship North Carolina, berthed in Wilmington, NC, as well as other institutions, like Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA. LoRusso reached out to Representative Henry Nowak for assistance, and with like-minded Buffalonians formed the Citizens Committee to Create a Buffalo Waterfront Naval Park. They traveled to the Philadelphia Inactive Ship Facility (mothball fleet) to tour the two decommissioned vessels they wanted to “adopt”—the destroyer USS The Sullivans and the submarine USS Becuna. LoRusso told the Canandaigua Daily Messenger that his long-term vision included a naval museum building on the waterfront to complement the vessels in telling the American naval story. The committee, in conjunction with the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency, arrived at an agreement with the Department of the Navy to receive The Sullivans and the guided missile cruiser USS Little Rock (Becuna became a museum vessel companion to the cruiser Olympia at Penn’s Landing on the Philadelphia waterfront), and in 1979 the new museum ships began welcoming the public to explore our naval past.
During the negotiation process, for a moment in spring of 1978, it looked as if Little Rock might have been headed for a far different career in retirement; Paul Wieland, publicist for the Buffalo Sabres hockey team, announced via a press release that the team ownership had outbid all other interested parties, purchasing Little Rock for team outings and practices. The team’s general manager was quoted as saying “the company that’s at sea together builds closer ties,” also suggesting that he wasn’t ruling out an attack on Toronto “if we don’t like the ways things are going in our rivalry.” Any locals concerned about the loss of their hoped-for museum ship were no doubt relieved to note the date stamped at the top of the press release: April 1!
| USS Croaker submarine and the cruiser USS Little Rock | |
Over the years, the Buffalo Naval Park grew. The Little Rock and The Sullivans were joined by the “Patrol Torpedo, Fast” boat USS PTF-17 in 1979 and the submarine USS Croaker (SSK-246) in 1988. The year 2008 saw the fulfillment of LoRusso’s hopes for a museum building—two, in fact—coordinating with a shift of the entire operation to its present location, in partnership with the Empire State Development Corporation. Today, visitors can explore the history of western New York during times of war through a wide variety of uniforms, patches, medals, equipment, tools, and medicines, and many other items used by service members. The museum’s Outdoor Exhibit Yard continues the experience with large military equipment including aircraft, a tank, and the PTF boat.
The museum’s team keeps busy, not just keeping the fleet afloat, but steadily improving the visitor experience. This past winter marked the inaugural season of Blue Nose (named for a Navy tradition that recognizes sailors who cross the Arctic Circle) guided tours of the vessels, giving visitors a taste of the shipboard experience while much of the park awaits the spring opening. Thanks to careful renovation, visitors are able to experience spaces never before seen by the public, like Little Rock’s laundry areas, which are still equipped with the high-volume machinery that used to serve its crew. One of the reasons for the museum’s success is its powerful community: last year the Naval Park’s volunteer corps logged 16,000 hours of service. Over 100 volunteers serve regularly as docents, ambassadors, and landscapers; many others pitch in on individual programs and projects—and their numbers have been growing each year. The continued growth and success of the volunteer program is thanks to the new volunteer coordinator, John Moffat (himself a volunteer). John and the Director of Operations Bill Abbot have been establishing relationships with corporations to provide support and community days of service; last year saw 30 days of service at the BNP involving 24 corporate and community groups, and on September 11th over 250 volunteers participated in the largest National Day of Service program in BNP history. And in a new program, the position of volunteer ambassador was introduced, to welcome guests to the museum and provide helpful information. You can learn more about volunteering on the BNP website.
| | While the stories that the BNP and its ships tell are deeply meaningful and important to our understanding of our history, sometimes visitors are introduced to the history thanks to a more fanciful reason: like many historic structures, the ships have a reputation as “haunted ships.” A local-attractions column in the Sun and the Erie County Independent by writer June Streamer in the summer of 1979 noted the expectation of a supernatural encounter. Streamer reported that she and her companions did indeed hear strange noises, but confessed that “the gentle slap of the water, even at dockside on a calm day, the squeaks and rattles and clangs of any slight movement, could be described as ghostly, especially as the boiler and engine rooms were silent.” Years later John Branning, a former superintendent of the BNP, took a diplomatic approach to stories of the ships’ reputations as “haunted ships.” In 2015, when the television show Ghost Hunters featured the BNP as a “haunted” space, Banning told the local news station WVIB: “I don’t know if that’s so much true as so much that, as a sailor who has spent most of my adult life on board ship, when you’re on board one of these tin cans, for any length of time, you can’t help but leave a part of your personality behind.” | | |
The next major project the BNP will undertake is a planned drydocking in Erie, PA, for hull repairs to both The Sullivans and Croaker to ensure the vessels will be fulfilling their missions well into the future. Museum leadership has secured funding for the work, expected to carry a price tag of around $21 million, via a bundle of reimbursable grants. The city of Buffalo released a request for proposals (RFP) in December to select a marine management company to oversee the project; we ought to learn the results of the RFP process in the next few weeks. Then steps will need to be taken to plan the dredging necessary to move the ships to dry dock and to ensure the vessels can be moved safely. It will be a fascinating project to follow; be sure and subscribe to their newsletter and check their YouTube channel for updates.
In the meantime, this Saturday (22 March) the BNP will be opening for another busy season, hosting veterans’ reunions, observing special days set aside on the calendar for recognizing the service of veterans, and welcoming youth groups aboard for overnight encampments, as well telling the stories of our naval and military history through the historic fleet and artifacts. We hope you can join us for the Maritime Heritage Conference in September, and we also hope you are able to set aside a day to explore this special place.
Extra Credit
“We are hopeful”: Repairs for USS The Sullivans and USS Croaker may be near
Ship profile: Croaker
Ship profile: Little Rock
Ship profile: The Sullivans
Sea History Today is written by Shelley Reid, NMHS senior staff writer. Past issues can be read online by clicking here.
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