The 1944 USS Gage (www.rpadden.com)

A World War II ship that transported U.S. troops in the invasion of Okinawa may soon be sunk by the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The 1944 USS Gage is the "worst-looking ship in the James River Reserve Fleet," U.S. Maritime Administration Spokeswoman Sharon Russell told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The cost of restoration, at an estimated $5 million, is too high, she said. 

Though local preservationists have campaigned to restore the USS Gage, in early August they missed a deadline to submit a restoration plan for the ship to Maritime Administration, which makes saving the ship more difficult.  The ship, which has not been cared for since 1946, is covered in a coat of red rust.

"All they see is a piece of steel in the water," says Peter Stoudt, who is leading local preservation efforts. Stoudt worked with the National Trust to review dozens of ships in the ghost fleet in 2003, has led preservation efforts; in his study, Stoudt rated the Gage the most historically significant vessel in the fleet of nearly 100 ships. Stoudt has proposed that the vessel be restored for use as a memorial to amphibious combat forces.

The U.S. Maritime has proposed that the Gage be used as target practice for the Navy.

The move to remove or destroy the Gage is part of a larger effort by the Maritime Administration to reduce the number of ghost ships in the James River. The agency has faced pressure to protect the river from environmental contaminants, such as leaking oil and flaking hull paint. So far, it has removed more than 60 ships and plans to keep only 10 of the more than 100 vessels.

The USS Gage, part of a "ghost fleet" of former war ships that rest in the James River in Virginia, delivered hundreds of soldiers and U.S. Marines to Okinawa, where soldiers fought for 82 days and more than 12,500 American troops were killed or wounded. Okinawa was the last island in Japan to fall before the country surrendered.

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