Hi Gary.
As I described to a few people, visiting
submarines has been mostly a good excuse to visit places, some strange but most boring, that I otherwise had never bothered to visit before. For example, I had never visited Pittsburgh, PA. The sub was only worth twenty minutes but I had a nice day in the city.
There are many subs outside North America that are on display. Here's a list of the ones that can be visited in the USA and Canada (1) and a couple that I visited in the UK:
Name, location, SS/SSN, site, class, built, retired, museum
FORMER ACTIVE-DUTY USN SUBMARINES:
Cod, Cleveland, OH, 224, fresh, Gato, 1943, 1954, 1976
Drum, Mobile, AL, 228, dry, Gato, 1941, 1946, 1969
Silversides, Muskegon, MI, 236, fresh, Gato, 1941, 1946, 1979/1991
Cavalla, Galveston, TX, 244, dry, Gato , 1943, 1963, 1971
Cobia, Manitowoc, WI, 245, fresh, Gato, 1943, 1946, 1970?
Croaker, Buffalo, NY, 246, fresh, Gato, 1943, 1967, 1977/1988
Bowfin, Pearl Harbor, HI, 287, salt, Balao,
1942, 1953, 1972?
Ling, Hackensack, NJ, 297, brackish, Balao, 1943, 1946, 1972
Lionfish, Fall River, MA, 298, salt, Balao, 1943, 1953, 1973
Batfish, Muskogee, OK, 310, dry, Balao, 1943, 1946, 1972
Becuna, Philadelphia, PA, 319, brackish, Balao, 1944, 1969, 1976
Clamagore, Mt Pleasant, SC, 343, salt, Balao, 1945, 1975, 1981
Pampanito, San Francisco, CA, 383, salt, Balao, 1943, 1945, 1982
Razorback, Little Rock, AR, 394, fresh, Balao, 1944, 1970/2001, 2005
Torsk, Baltimore, MD, 423, brackish, Tench, 1944, 1968, 1973
Requin, Pittsburgh, PA, 481, fresh, Tench, 1945, 1968, 1972/1990
Nautilus, Groton, CT, 571, salt, Nautilus, 1954, 1980, 1986
Growler, New York, NY, 577, salt, Grayback, 1958, 1964, 1989
Blueback, Portland, OR, 581, fresh, Barbel, 1959, 1990, 1994
FORMER USN SPECIAL SUBMARINES:
Dolphin, San Diego, CA, 555, salt, Dolphin, 1968, 2006, 2009
Albacore, Portsmouth, NH, 569, dry, Albacore, 1953, 1972,
1985
NON USN SUBS IN NORTH AMERICA:
U-505, Chicago, IL, , dry, Type IX-C, 1941, 1944, 1954
B-39, San Diego, CA, , salt, "Foxtrot", 1967, 1994, 1996/2005
B-427, Long Beach, CA, , salt, "Foxtrot", 1972, 1994, 1995/1998
Onondaga, Rimouski, QB, , dry, Oberon, 1965, 2000, 2009
BRITISH SUBS (only those I have visited):
Holland 1, Gosport, UK, , dry, Holland, 1901, 1913, 1983
Alliance, Gosport, UK, , dry, Amphion, 1947, 1979, 1981
SMALL SUBS, NOT NORMALLY BOARDABLE:
Marlin, Omaha, NE, SST-2, dry, Mackerel, 1953, 1973, 1974
X-1, Groton, CT, X-1, dry, X-1, 1955, 1973, 1974/2001
Fenian Ram, Patterson, NJ, , dry, , 1881, 1883, 1980
Hunley, Charleston, SC, , dry, , 1863, ,
Intelligent Whale, Sea Girt, NJ, , dry, , 1864, ,
X-24, Gosport, UK, , dry, X-class, 1943, 1945, 1963
Of the subs on the list above, I have not yet visited Bowfin, Blueback, or Onondaga which are all on my "should see"
list.
There are many more submarines on display in museums around the world, including three US submarines, including the former USS Tang, which have been preserved in Turkey (after service in the Turkish Navy; Razorback which is now in Little Rock was in Turkish service until 2001!). Quite a few submarines, especially former Soviet subs, have gone on temporary display, sometimes in rather tawdry "amusement park" settings, and are then re-sited or scrapped if they fail to make money or for other reasons. I suspect that this is the case with the former Soviet sub that Alex mentioned on display near London. For a few years there was a former Soviet sub in Providence, RI which sank at its moorings in a storm (not a hurricane --just a lot of rain). It was later scrapped. This loss persuaded the USN that the local group trying to acquire the carrier USS Saratoga for a museum was not up to the task and Saratoga is now going to be scrapped or
"reefed".
Many of the subs in the list above are in rotten condition or otherwise not worth visiting. I would rate these as worth visiting, in rough order of the value of the visit: Nautilus, U-505, Cobia, Cod, Razorback, Pampanito, Holland One. Definitely NOT worth a trip (for the sub alone): Croaker, Cavalla, Lionfish, Becuna, Torsk, Requin, Clamagore (but even here, there are good reasons to visit the museums where Lionfish, Becuna, and Clamagore are on display). The others fall in the middle ground --worth a trip only if you're in the area.
-FER
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