The second phase of the move of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers retired MV Mississippi IV to its new home on land was completed Saturday, with the final move to a permanent location downtown expected in about 30 days.

The boat returned Friday from a dry dock in Morgan City, La., where it was placed in a cradle, driven onto a barge and floated back to Vicksburg.

After waiting for an early morning thunderstorm to clear Saturday, the vessel started creeping off the barge about 11:45 a.m. and moved about 60 feet before stopping so adjustments could be made. Meanwhile, water was pumped into ballast tanks to keep the barge level as the 2,000-ton, 218-foot-long, 65-foot-high boat was driven off the barge, and put to rest on another stationary cradle.

The hydraulically powered moving cradle has 256 tires inflated to 150 pounds of air per square inch and is operated by remote control.

&#8220It’s a grown man’s Tonka toy,” said Mat Patterson, a project manager with Dutch company Mammoet, a subcontractor hired by the Corps to move the vessel.

Even though only one person is driving, everyone’s eyes are watching to make sure that the entire $4.89 million move is a smooth operation, said Patterson.

Moving large and heavy objects is a precarious process, which was why the move was not announced or open to the public, said Corps spokesman Frank Worley. Most of the 40 onlookers gathered at the site were members of the Corps, their families and workers. Many, like retired Corps employee Dean Caldwell brought cameras to capture the event.

&#8220I don’t even know how many trips,” I took on here, said Caldwell, who retired in 1999. His wife, Nellie Caldwell, is chairman of the Vicksburg riverfront mural project. They first took a trip on the vessel together in 1962.

&#8220I remember sitting on the back deck thinking, ‘we’re in high cotton now,” said Nellie, laughing.

Early morning lightning strikes raised safety concerns and delayed the project about an hour.

&#8220We can work through the rain, but we can’t allow anybody on the barge during lightning,” said Patterson.

Built in 1961, the MV Mississippi IV served the Corps for 30 years before being retired in 1991. The City of Vicksburg bought it in 1995 for $1 with intention of turning into a floating museum, but those plans never came to fruition. The boat sat moored in the Yazoo River Diversion Canal for nearly 10 years before the city turned the vessel and a tract of land over the Corps to speed up the project now aimed at making it a Corps and river museum.

The boat was towed downriver last month to Morgan City, where it was placed on the barge.

Security officers will remain on the North Washington Street site as the boat is cleaned and repaired, a process Corps officials expect to take nearly a month. The vessel will be moved one last time to Jackson Street between Washington and Levee streets and will be the first element of the Lower Mississippi River Museum and Interpretive Site, which is expected to open in 2009. The museum will include interactive exhibits discussing the history of the Corps and the Mississippi River.

The final phase of the museum project, scheduled for completion next August, is moving the century-old Fairground Street bridge to the museum area.

The MV Mississippi V and other Corps vessels based in cities across the United States monitor the Mississippi and other major rivers to maintain safe navigation routes and limit flooding.