[PSUBS-MAILIST] Sub Museum at Washington Navy Yard has been Decommissioned

[SeaLordOne@aol.com]

Teammates,

I went to the Washington (DC) Navy Yard last week to visit the 3 WW II 
Midgets they have on display (one German 2-man Seehund, one Japanese manned 
torpedo and one Italian converted torpedo), and they were all gone.  It seems 
that the Navy loaded them on trucks last year and sent them off to other 
museums.  So don't plan to come to Washington to see them.

I will particularly miss the Seehund.  Unlike most of the Seehunds on 
display, it was not sealed.  The interior was preserved, the hatch was open, 
and there were display holes cut in the hull so you could see inside.  They 
had removed the bulkhead that separates the pilots from the batteries.  In 
actual operations, the pilots stared at a wall of seel.  But when you sat in 
the pilot's seat in this one, you could see all the way to the bow.

The best part of the display was the lack of security.  If you went there on 
a weekday in the middle of winter, you could slip down the hatch and spend 10 
or 15 minutes inside the boat.  I don't know how many of you have had the 
opportunity to sit in the pilot' s seat of a Seehund, but I thought it was 
pretty cool.

I will contact the museum staff to try to determine where the boat has gone.  
The main museum is closed for renovations and will not open again until 
September.  If any of you know the locaton of this particular Seehund, I 
would appreciate knowing.  My goal is to build a big boat, at least 10 tons, 
and the Seehund is, as I recall, about 14 tons.

Thanks,

Doug Farrow