Quinn R. Stuart — The Sea Witch: Telling the Stories of USS Salem

Quinn R. Stuart

The US Naval Shipbuilding Museum was established in 1994 when the US Navy transferred USS Salem, a Cold War-era heavy cruiser, to the museum at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. Salem, nicknamed the Sea Witch, was commissioned in 1949 and placed in reserve status in 1959, retaining its entire armament and nearly all its equipment. Since 2020, Quinn and her colleagues have been working on documenting the ship’s history and preparing the museum’s first strategic management plan. This presentation we will tell the stories USS Salem’s service and crew (with plenty of period photographs) and the ongoing work to evolve and expand a more dynamic visitor experience at the museum.

[Recorded on August 12, 2023]