I think that the Navy retains some sort of 'ownership' of many museum vessels if not the ability to take them back, they threatened to take back the USS Olympia a few years ago if she wasn't fixed. I know they still own most if not all of the aircraft in museums, a guy in my reserve unit was hired to oversee of the program that kept track of them and the inspectors who were being hired to inspect them. The guy was a bit special, but at least he was detail oriented and couldn't wreck anything since they couldn't move any more.
I knew about the DoD museums retaining ownership of aircraft - I have a vague memory that it’s actually some sort of ITAR thing, at least for more modern a/c. I’ve tried to understand more about the Museum Hold process for ships but I still don’t really get it. I know DOT/MARAD is involved in it somehow.
Olympia should be a cautionary tale for every city council that gets all starry-eyed thinking they can get a carrier or whatever as their next big tourist draw. They get sticker shock real quick when they learn how much it costs to keep an old ship afloat indefinitely. Boston tried for years to get
JFK but never could get a committed funding stream big-reliable enough to convince the Navy.
Anyway, it would be cool if they could get a museum ship for the NMUSN someday, maybe moored in an “annex” somewhere down-river near Old Town Alexandria or whatever. One of the
Ticos, seeing as they’re in the process of going away, or
Arleigh Burke whenever she decomms. I know it’s not going to happen, but…kinda lame that the Navy Museum won’t ever have an actual, you know, Navy warship.