NC Submarine Museum proposed for Wilmington could bolster workforce

Madison Lipe, Wilmington StarNews
Updated ·2 min read

The North Carolina Submarine Foundation is looking to Wilmington as the preferred site for a submarine museum.

According to Christopher Perrien, executive director of the North Carolina Submarine Foundation, the museum would honor three nuclear-powered U.S. Navy submarines that represent North Carolina: the USS Asheville SSN 758, the USS Charlotte SSN 766, and the USS North Carolina SSN 777, which was commissioned in Wilmington in 2008.

The museum will also commemorate the men, women and their families who served aboard and supported the submarines.

"The North Carolina Submarine Museum will convey the wonder of American submarine design and operation as well as offer a keen sense of life and service beneath the seas," Perrien wrote in a letter.

The Wilmington City Council approved a resolution May 7 expressing support for consideration of Wilmington as the future site for the North Carolina Submarine Museum.

Perrien said he plans to go before the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners as well to ask for their partnership.

The USS Asheville, USS Charlotte and USS North Carolina are all still on active duty with varying projected decommissioning dates, so Perrien said the museum's team is getting a head start on fundraising for the project.

One objective of the museum would be to provide unique learning opportunities.

Perrien said, like many of other industries and companies around the country, the U.S. Navy has been suffering a shortfall of skilled labor.

Over the next eight years, Perrien said the Navy is expecting to have a skilled labor shortage of 100,000 people to build and repair the nuclear-powered submarines already funded to be built and repaired.

"This is a matter of skilled workforce fulfillment. It's a matter of national security," Perrien said.

The hope is that STEM education and Workforce Development Resource Center will inspire visitors to learn new skills and trades.

Perrien said the museum hopes to partner with Cape Fear Community College as well as the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

The museum's two missions will be to support the crews and families of the state's three submarines, as well as establishing a STEM education and workforce Development Resource Center.

Other goals include:

  • Portraying the related sub STEM principles and applications in real-world exhibitions.

  • Deploying evolving alternate reality and virtual reality technologies to permit personal learning experiences.

  • Interconnecting with education facilities across North Carolina.

  • Supporting Supplier Industrial Base workforce needs.

Perrien said the museum will not be a retired submarine resting pierside as there are already museums of the sort across the country. An exact location for the museum has not been decided yet but Perrien said that with the city's partnership his team will begin looking and hopes to have the project done by early 2028.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Submarine museum could be coming to Wilmington, NC