USS Stewart (U.S. Navy photo/file)
GALVESTON (February 2, 2013)--Four men have been arrested and charged with criminal mischief after a World War II ship on display at a Galveston park was vandalized.
The USS Stewart, a destroyer escort, at SeaWolf Park was restored after it was damaged during Hurricane Ike Sept. 13, 2008.
Before dawn Thursday, police found four men hiding aboard the ship, which was covered with fire extinguisher powder.
The men evidently sprayed the substance over the deck and much of the ship's interior.
Penny Miller, the executive director of the American Undersea Warfare Center at the park, told the Houston Chronicle the solvent they sprayed would add to the ship's rust problem.
Volunteers, mostly veterans, had worked to repair the rust damage after Ike.
