06/09/2026
(6/05/2026) - More life raft work at the KIDD Cave! The missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints were back with us on Friday. Tim NesSmith had washed down the rafts after their last round of sanding so that they could see what areas were still peeling. They followed up this time with a finer grit to get a smoother finish and not damage the canvas wrapping of the outer rings. Two rings are ready to paint with six more in various stages of sanding prep. A big thanks to all the missionaries for their service!
Meantime, volunteer Fred Enters (DD-868) continues to sand and prep the wooden center platforms for painting (picking on the theme here, right?). Tim has finished off fabrication of the snaking for the main deck railings. He shifted to fabrication of the netting that connects the center platforms to the outer rings of the life rafts and has completed it for all eight rafts. He's now shifting gears again to wrapping and coiling the 144 lifeline bundles that hang on the outer perimeters of the outer rings. And while Fred, Tim, and the missionaries are busy with life raft restoration, Nathan Bergeron continues reassembling many of the smaller, more fragile items removed from the searchlights, gun directors, torpedo directors, 20mm guns, etc. during the restoration of those macro artifacts prior to their remounting aboard ship last September and October.
If you'd like to volunteer with the USS KIDD Veterans Museum you can send an inquiry to [email protected] for more information.
There's still a need for funding to finish restoration of equipment not being restored by the shipyard, and to keep the lights on back home at the museum. Let's make KIDD better than the bare minimum!
Click here to donate to the USS KIDD: https://www.usskidd.com/product/donations/
The USS KIDD Veterans Museum is a non-funded state agency that receives no regular state or federal funding. We appreciate your support!
