Two giants of floating history soon will take up residency at Truman Waterfront.

Upon arrival in Key West, the 522-foot Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg will rest at the East Quay Wall in preparation for its final tour of duty as an artificial reef. At the same time, Key West's flagship, the Schooner Western Union, will undergo a major restoration at the waterfront.

Crews from a Massachusetts-based company today will use a winch to haul the 130-foot schooner out of the water until December.

While on dry land, expert shipwrights will replace the transom and the decking under the transom, said Guy DeBoer, chairman of the Schooner Western Union Preservation Society.

The planned improvements will cost about $800,000, and reflect a scaled-down version of initial plans that called for a complete deck replacement that would have cost about $1.25 million. The society does not have the additional $225,000.

Thus far, the Monroe County Tourist Development Council has contributed $405,000 to the project, and the Historic Florida Keys Foundation, with its largest grant ever, has contributed $300,000, DeBoer said.

The remaining $95,000 has come from private donations from people who are concerned with the future of the historic ship.

Schooner Western Union was built in Key West in 1939 and remains one of the oldest working schooners in the world. The two-masted vessel was designed to help lay and maintain Western Union's undersea telegraph cables.

In the 1980s, the schooner was renamed the New Way and was used as a sea school for troubled teens. She returned to her maiden name and native island in 1997 when the schooner was available for charters, weddings, day sails and sunset celebrations.

The public is invited to watch the waterfront restoration of the vessel, which will remain stately with its masts attached throughout the project.

City officials in September agreed to allow Key West's flagship to remain at the waterfront for the repairs, but the decision was not unanimous. While all the commissioners said they supported the restoration, Commissioner Teri Johnston was concerned about the large vessel being on land during hurricane season.

Commissioner Bill Verge was worried about the financial stability of the project.

"My concern is that we get the ship on land, drop the transom and then run out of money, so the ship sits there for two years," Verge said in September. "There's an awful lot of wooden ships sitting in the boatyard right now."

At the week's end, there will be three historic ships in and around Truman Waterfront: the Vandenberg, Schooner Western Union and the familiar World War II USS Mohawk Coast Guard Cutter, which has been moored there as a floating museum since 2006.

mbolen@keysnews.com