Day 133 & 134- August 27 & 28
Beautifully lit cloud as we left Ludington, MI.
It didn't take long for the day to turn gray.
Entering Muskegon
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Field Station
This field station promotes long-term observations, field work, and process studies essential for understanding and developing future ecological services.
The USS Silversides!
One of the most successful boats in the Pacific theater
One of the most successful boats in the Pacific theater
and the most successful surviving boat.
We didn't know then, but the next day we got to take the tour. Click on the title for more information on its missions.
We didn't know then, but the next day we got to take the tour. Click on the title for more information on its missions.
We got tied up and secured about 3 minutes before this happened.
I checked the owner's manual. The Nordic Tug 37 comes with an
unlimited number of U-turns and we used one today. So we took a harbor tour.
Maybe by the time we are finished with Lake Michigan
I might be able to figure out what a 'good' day is.
Today, the winds were looking perfect. But the leftover waves from the night before were coming all the way from Wisconsin. So, we got a free day in Muskegon. That's how we got to crawl around in the Silversides.
The 'Vomit Comet'. The fast ferry between Muskegon and Milwaukee. I've taken it twice on bike rides across country as a way to avoid Chicago. Full disclosure: The Vomit Comet was the name my mom gave to the fast ferry to Martha's Vineyard, which had a reputation for a 'lively' ride.
Das Boot!
Quite the war record. 30 ships sunk (5 were combatants), 14 damaged and two rescued aviators (the parachute), four Presidential Unit Citations and whole slew of 'attaboys'. More important, she came home. She only suffered one casualty, an assistant loader for the deck gun got shot by a Japanese vessel they were engaging on the surface.
These cylinder looking things were the ready use ammunition lockers for the 4" deck gun and the two anti aircraft 40mm and 20mm canons. The original decks were teak.
Another fun fact. For those of you who have ever watched those old movies about submarines in WWII, where the kid comes down with appendicitis and they have to operate? Well, this is the boat where that actually happened! They did the surgery on the wardroom table, bent spoons to use as retractors and the lad was back on duty in 14 days. He did get thrown out of his rack while in postop during a depth charge attack.
You can't make this stuff up.
You can't make this stuff up.
The 21 inch evasion device. Send one of these babies down range to the bad guys to keep them occupied while you sneak off to deep water.
Love these open knife switches!! Yipes!
And, yes. Every sailor aboard, from Captain to Cook, had to know what all of these switches, levers, valves, pipes and gauges did and how to operate them.
No movies until you are qualified. And until you were qualified, you were a no-load delinquent, breathing other people's air.
Looks really comfy, doesn't it? The link will explain how groups like the Boy Scouts get to experience what it was like.
Our guide, Phil. Another boomer sailor like me!
Paul talks like he knows lots of this submarine stuff... oh, wait, he does speak from experience. Paul started his Naval career as a submariner.
He did 5 tours underwater on a much larger, nuclear submarine.
It is alleged that the cartoonists at Disney drew the mascot art for the Fleet boats.
What you hoped you'd never have to use...
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