BATON ROUGE - After sinking in debt for years, the U.S.S. Kidd appears to have righted the ship in 2015.

The ship's director says more people climbed aboard in 2015, than in any other year since 1990. Alex Juan also says 33,000 first time visitors dropped by this year. She credits her crew.

"I'm so proud of my crew, they've done such a great job," she told News 2. "They're passionate about history and love being able to educate people who come and visit us about all that is here."

The ship was sinking in debt before Juan took over. Her predecessor, Maury Drummond, tallied up $334,000 in unpaid insurance premiums to the state before he left office.The Investigative Unit also uncovered several thousand dollars worth of purchases and reiumbursements that did not have receipts to back them up.

The Kidd is paying back the state $5,000 a month.

The ship's undergoing renovations, and re-opens January 2nd, followed by a grand reopening January 15th.