PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) - A U.S. Coast Guard ship that participated in early tests of the atomic bomb has been sold by the Port Huron Museum.
The museum said it couldn't afford to keep the Bramble and had to sell it, despite protests by a Detroit-area man who tried to rally the public to the ship's defense.
Jon Ottman of Warren got the ship on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that didn't prevent the Bramble from being sold Wednesday to a Marine City man for slightly less than $200,000. Ottman was worried that the 180-foot vessel would be modified.
But the owner, Bob Klingler, tells The Detroit News that he'll attract people with tours and sleepovers.
The museum said the ship cost $80,000 a year to staff and maintain.
