Suffolk County takes ownership of Lt. Michael Murphy museum in West Sayville

Ownership of the Navy SEAL museum in West Sayville was passed to Suffolk County on Wednesday, a year and a half after it opened, though officials said they expect no changes to operations.

The Lt. Michael P. Murphy Navy SEAL Museum, which at its grand opening attracted several Navy SEALs, including one involved in the killing of Osama bin Laden, is drawing growing numbers of visitors, said Chris Wyllie, the museum’s executive director. Its newest addition will be a monument honoring service dogs killed in action while assisting SEALS.

On Wednesday night, Wyllie and other museum officials held a ceremony officially handing over the title of the building to Suffolk County. It was partly a ceremonial act, since Wyllie and his private group will continue to operate the facility, including paying for maintenance.

Ownership of the building was initially held by the private organization partly because it allowed construction to be done for far less money, Wyllie said.

The museum construction would normally have cost $5 million, but because of donated materials and labor cost only $2 million, he said.

Now that the museum is complete, ownership is reverting to the county, as originally called for when the county allowed the group to construct the facility on county property next the West Sayville Golf Course and the Long Island Maritime Museum.

Museum officials thanked Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who they said helped push the project through, and Vincent Calvosa, who oversaw the construction and arranged for millions of dollars in donations.

“This building would not be here without these two individuals,” Daniel Murphy, Michael Murphy’s father, told a small crowd.

Attendance at the museum is going strong, attracting 10,000 visitors including 2,000 students since it opened, Wyllie said. They include people from 43 states and 19 countries.

One section focuses on the facility's namesake, Michael Murphy, a Patchogue native killed on June 28, 2005, at age 29, while on a mission behind enemy lines to find a Taliban-aligned terrorist leader in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Two other SEALs were killed on the ground, along with eight other SEALs and eight Army “Night Stalker” special forces personnel who tried to rescue Murphy’s unit but crashed in a helicopter.

The episode at the time was the single largest loss of life for Naval Special Warfare Command since World War II.

This Memorial Day weekend, the museum plans to dedicate a new monument to the 12 dogs killed either in action or during training with the Navy SEALs.