By Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor
The foundation raising funds for the future National Museum of the United States Navy in Washington, D.C., is receiving support from the defense industrial base, including shipbuilders and suppliers.
In addition to displays that highlight the history of the U.S. Navy, the museum will also include features that describe the role of the industrial base in providing the ships, weapons, sensors, and other systems that supplied the Navy equipment it needed to defend the nation.
Dawn Massa Stancavish, president/CEO and chief innovation officer of Massa Products Corporation of Hingham, Massachusetts, is a founding donor for the Navy Museum Development Foundation (NMDF) and is the chairwoman of its Industrial Base Coalition Committee (IBCC), which is organizing companies that provide the Navy with its platforms, weapons, sensors, and other equipment to contribute to the museum foundation’s fundraising and exhibits.
“I am working with the team — not just for fundraising purposes but also for shaping the story that the museum is going to present,” Stancavish said. The goal is … to inspire the next generation [of] industry because all of the equipment and tools that our Sailors and fliers use are built by industry. It’s that collaboration that allowed us to win World War II, and that’s what’s needed today.”
Massa, a nearly 80-year-old company, designs and provides acoustic sensor systems to the Navy, especially sonar transducers for submarines. The exhibit space is intended to tell the stories of the Navy and its relationship with industry and vice versa. It's also important to link through technology to other Navy museums and attract and educate children of all ages on the various aspects and careers associated with the U.S. Navy.
The new museum build is currently the fourth largest museum project in the world. It will occupy 4.5 acres, including three historic properties in Washington’s Southeast Federal Center, adjacent to the Washington Navy Yard, said Jennifer A. Kaye, business development director for NMDF.
Kaye told Seapower that NMDF’s mission is to raise the necessary funding to design and build the museum, which, when completed, will be turned over to the Navy. The foundation will run the museum operations, including retail services, and hopes to raise $75-100 million from the IBCC alone.
Massa’s Booth 957 at the Sea-Air-Space Expo will also host NMDF. The two organizations are also co-sponsors of the expo’s Secretary of the Navy luncheon.
