T

he government plans to revive WWII warship as a floating museum in Ancol Dreamland, North Jakarta, kompas.com reported Thursday.

Ade Purnama, co-founder of Sahabat Museum (Friends of the Museum), said that a technical coordinating meeting would be held next week to prepare for the floating museum, at the Education and Culture Ministry.

“The government has successfully restored the warship and, when it becomes a museum, it will be a historical artefact not only for Indonesia but for the world to see. People from France, the United States and other countries will come for it,” he said Thursday.

The vessel, originally named USS Bledsoe County (LST-356), was used by the allied forces of British, American and Canadian troops in the Normandy Landings in northern France on June 6, 1944. Codenamed Operation Neptune, it was the largest amphibious invasion in world history. Over 5,000 ships were said to be involved.

In 1967, Bledsoe was bought by the Indonesian government and the name changed to KRI Teluk Tomini.

According to Ade, currently there is no other physical evidence of the landings but the remains of military tanks and jeeps in Normandy.