The Battleship North Carolina is a living memorial honoring the more than 10,000 North Carolina sons and daughters who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War II. At the same time, the ship is a living history museum that strives to be educational and fun.

How you market a landmark that is also a memorial could be like a stroll across a high wire without a net, or it can be almost a stroll in the park.

Balancing the two goals in a sure-footed way is the ship’s chief executive, Capt. Terry Bragg. The former Navy captain, along with promotions director Heather Loftin, have set an ambitious course to market the Battleship.

This is Bragg’s second summer in command, and he appears comfortable sitting in his office which, appropriately, had been the captain’s quarters during the North Carolina’s active service.

Bragg, a member of a military family – including Gen. Braxton Bragg for whom Fort Bragg is named  – oversees 25 full-time employees and a yearly budget of $3 million. Thebattleship receives no state or federal funding.

A budget, he said, that is very much in the black. That success is due to a significant rise in attendance, remarkably during a time when tourism has dipped along with the economy. In 2008, Bragg said, attendance was 191,000. If he had kept the practices of the past  – primarily attracting World War II and Korean War veterans  – he would be in charge of a “doomed strategy.”

“It’s not that the marketing plan has changed,” he said, “but the programs have become more diversified.” The current push is to capitalize on the Battleship as “a great ship in a great physical location” that appeals to families and children and is fun but one that “stays true to our memorial obligation,” Bragg said.

Some promotions from the past have been kept, like Easter egg hunts. The Easter egg hunts are joined by Halloween trick-or-treating, birthday parties, private events, weddings and art and science programs. In the next year or so, overnight camping on board in former crew quarters will be available, a plan that has been 12 years in the making.

Like any attraction, getting people to visit is often the largest obstacle. However, once visitors come aboard, they have a new appreciation for the site, particularly women who may have made their initial trip not by choice but to accompany their spouses or children. Many have told Loftin that they were surprised at how much they enjoyed the experience and didn’t want to leave.

The Battleship holds its own in attracting visitors, Bragg said. Last year, attendance hit 206,000, that figure only counts paid attendance. Tryon Palace, in comparison, has attracted 50,000 visitors and has a staff twice the size. The ship ranks near the top of 175 historic naval attractions worldwide. Its attendance figures only reflect paid attendance and does not include events, such as the triathlon – ranked number 5 in the world – that uses Battleship Park.

Giving back to the community is important to Bragg and his staff. Working with local business, the New Hanover Convention and Visitors Bureau and the University of North Carolina Wilmington are ways, Loftin said, of staying in touch with the community.

Additionally, Phoenix Rising, a Wilmington marketing company, has been working on the Battleship account for many years.

Co-owner Cathey Luna, said she personally has worked on the Battleship account since 1996.

The new marketing push is a change in direction and creative, Luna said. While the ship is a historic place to visit, all the tourism ads are not historic in nature but emphasize a family tourist destination.

“It’s a different time, a different atmosphere,” Luna said, “but it is still very respectful.”

Luna recently hosted her son’s birthday party on board.

“It was the best thing in the world. Even Charlie came out to visit.”

Charlie, for the uninitiated, is an alligator of very large proportions and local lore who lives in the marshes near the Battleship apparently with his extended family.

Someday, the Battleship will float in the Cape Fear River, not rest in a muddy berth, Bragg said.

For now it seems fitting that a North Carolina native who grew up in nearby Jacksonville, who knows the marshes and the coast has come home to Wilmington as steward of the Battleship.

Coincidence or kismet, it is also fitting that there is a photo of Bragg’s wife, Phoebe, on his desk. It was taken when she first visited the ship, at 8 years old.