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 Re: Seaworthy Gato class?
Author: J.T. McDaniel 
Date:   02-07-07 17:50

Cod's screws were removed when she was converted to a pierside trainer to replace Gar at the Reserve Center in Cleveland. This was a standard part of the process, along with things like removing the battery cells, and ripping all of the bunks out of the after battery in order to create a classroom. I believe it has been quite some time since Cod was last docked, and I do know they have a fund for doing just that. She does have one advantage over some boats in that she's been in fresh water since 1959. You still get corrosion in fresh water, but it's nowhere near as aggressive as in salt water, which is more conductive.

I'm really not sure if there is still a drydock in Cleveland that can accomodate a 312' ship, but there are certainly docks of that size on Lake Erie. Whether they'd have to tow her all the way to Erie, PA, or if there's a closer facility, I have no idea.

Some recently published pictures of Pampanito in a floating drydock show something that isn't obvious when the boat is in the water. The ends of the prop shafts are covered by a truncated cone shaped cover welded to the open end of the strut, which would seal the shaft from contact with the water. I'd suspect this is less protection for the shaft than it is protection for the packing glands, and an extra layer of protection in case they fail.

I know for sure that Cod's dinky runs, and the main engines are either ready to run, or nearly so. She also has one of only two fully functional TDCs in a museum boat, the other being in Pampanito. (There might be a third, now that Razorback has been brought home, depending on whether the Turks kept hers functional after they retired the boat.)

Even if you put the screws back on one of these boats, having operating engines wouldn't necessarily mean you could move her. You also need to insure that the electric motors work, and to do it properly it would be a good idea to have batteries. It wouldn't hurt to have batteries, even if you kept them dry, or just filled them with plain water, for appearance's sake. The common factor with museum subs is that they all float way too high. None of the torpedo tubes should be above water, and the lack of a couple hundred tons of batteries is a big contributor.

J.T. McDaniel
Webmaster, FleetSubmarine.com
Author of: Bacalao & With Honour in Battle
Series Editor: American Submarine War Patrol Reports
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 Topics Author  Date
 Seaworthy Gato class?  new
wylie2112 12-20-06 17:53 
 Re: Seaworthy Gato class?  new
J.T. McDaniel 12-20-06 22:29 
 Re: Seaworthy Gato class?  new
aptivaboy 02-07-07 12:25 
 Re: Seaworthy Gato class?  new
J.T. McDaniel 02-07-07 17:50 
 Torsk still has a screw  new
Gil423 03-06-07 21:36 
 Re: Seaworthy Gato class?  new
wylie2112 03-11-07 12:48 


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