SAN DIEGO — Retired U.S. Navy SEALS are taking a new mission to new heights.
Construction crews hoisted a SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) through the second story of the future San Diego U.S. Navy SEAL Museum in Downtown San Diego on Thursday.
Burger Construction used a crane to lift the near 1,600-pound SDV through a 5-foot wide, second-story window on Kettner Boulevard and Broadway.
“There hasn’t been an SDV presence in San Diego since about 1998 so it's coming back in a really cool way,” said Charlie Matranga, (Ret) U.S. Navy SEAL.
The retired senior officer says he piloted the SDV’s after he graduated from SEAL training in 1991. The senior officer then went on to train younger SEALs on how to navigate the 65-foot-long reconnaissance vessel that can be transported by submarines.
“It’s not a submarine because it’s completely wet. You’re completely immersed in water,” said Matranga.
The SDV deploys and extracts U.S. Navy SEALs and their equipment to stay hidden underwater during clandestine missions.
“You can’t see me, can’t hear me, and I’m there, which is the element that this brings to the table,” said Matranga.
That element of covert operators is the essence of SEALs who want to share their legacy in San Diego.
“We’re public now, everybody’s going to start knowing about this museum,” said Captain Todd Perry, (Ret) U.S. Navy SEAL.
Perry is the executive director for the U.S. Navy SEAL Museum San Diego that is scheduled to open in summer 2025.
The SDV is the first piece of equipment making its way into the museum that’s under construction in downtown San Diego.
“You see the SEAL teams in a different light, knowing that there’s another presence that’s out there in a really important way,” said Matranga.
Coronado is home to one of two bases that train U.S. Navy SEALs. The other is in Fort Pierce in Florida, where the original combat divers known as Frogmen trained during World War II and where the first U.S Navy SEAL Museum opened in 1985.
“I mean, this is the place to have a museum and look at the location right by the U.S.S. Midway, the San Diego Maritime Museum. I mean, what a great nautical triad to have here,” said Perry.
The museum's goal is to preserve and honor the history and heritage of the US Navy SEALs.
“Most museums, you want to entertain and you want to educate people, but we also really want to inspire, and we really want people coming out here with a call to action, to serve something higher than themselves,” said Perry.
The SDV will be suspended from the second story ceiling inside the museum.
The museum is located at 1001 Kettner Boulevard in the former downtown location of the Museum of Contemporary Arts San Diego.
For more information, visit navysealmuseumsd.org.