FleetSubmarine.com

U.S.S. Cod Photographs

Most of these pictures were taken during a visit to Cod at her berth in Cleveland on 19 July 2003. The digital photos, including those in the conning tower and on the bridge, were taken 6 September 2001. Clicking the links will open the picture in a pop-up window. (We never use pop-ups for advertising, only to display photos or information.) The order of the pictures more or less follows the route a visitor would take, entering through the forward torpedo room and exiting through the after torpedo room. The exceptions are the pictures of the interior of the conning tower and the bridge, which are not normally open to visitors.

Conning Tower Fairwater
A newer picture of the conning tower fairwater. Commonly called the "conning tower," the fairwater is the superstructure that surrounds and conceals the conning tower, which is an 8-foot diameter, 14-foot long steel cylinder. The flags indicate enemy vessels sunk or damaged. The cocktail glass commemorates the rescue of the crew of the Dutch submarine O-19. Neither the flags, nor the number, would be present during a combat patrol. Since my last visit, Cod has been repainted in the typical wartime camoflage scheme, with all horizontal surfaces painted black and vertical surfaces painted gray. Starting at the forward end of the fairwater, visible in the picture are the forward 40-mm, the bridge, search periscope, attack periscope, SJ radar, SD radar mast, after Target Bearing Transmitter, and after 40-mm. The main induction valve, which supplies air for the diesel engines, is located inside the fairwater under the after 40-mm.

Forward Torpedo Room 1
A closeup shot of the number three torpedo tube (middle tube on the starboard side). The square-ended shaft on the upper left corner can be used to open and close the muzzle door. The small handwheel in the center of the door is used for adjusting the Torpedo Tail Stop, which positions the torpedo correctly in the tube. The two vertical windows are a two-section reflex water gauge. This will show the depth of water inside the tube. The round pressure gauge is fitted with a check valve, so that it can hold its reading. The door is locked by a rotating ring, which is operated by a pinion gear attached to the square-ended shaft that's barely visible on the right side of the tube, between the hinges. The projection just below the lower water gauge is a ring, to which a pulley is attached for loading a torpedo.

Forward Torpedo Room 2
Looking forward between the tubes at the Gyro Setting Indicator-Regulator. The square boxes on the side of each tube mark the location of the gyro setting spindles. Normally, the gyro angles are automatically updated with current information transmitted from the Torpdo Data Computer in the conning tower. They can also be set manually when required.

Captain's Stateroom 1
A view of the captain's stateroom, showing the gyro repeater and depth gauge at the foot of his bed. The captain also had a small, fold-down desk. Note the rail on the side of the bunk. Grown men don't generally roll out of bed, but it's a lot easier when the bed itself is rolling from side to side with the motion of the boat.

Captain's Stateroom 2
Another view of the captain's desk. The cup is a typical officer's teacup. Officers drank from good china cup, while enlisted men drank their coffee from heavy earthenware mugs. Those used by chief petty officers had a handle, while those for the "white hats" did not. The captain had the only private stateroom, which was about the size of a small walk-in closet, but did have the luxury of a small washbasin, and the ability to sit upright on the bunk. Other officers' staterooms were about the same size, but held three bunks stacked one above the other.

Officers' Pantry
Located next to the wardroom, the steward's mates assigned to the take care of the officers did their serving and cleanup from this small compartment. The corner of the pass-through opening to the wardroom is visible at the lower left.

Control Room 1
This is the auxiliary steering station in the control room. The heavy gray cylinder on the left is the gyro compass. The large, square cabinet to the right is the Fathometer, with the indicator dial for the Pitometer log (the boat's speedometer) above it, directly behind the battle lantern. The two boxes with dials and red knobs are the motor telegraphs, used to give speed change orders to the electricians back in the maneuvering room. The brass lever under the port telegraph engages the notched clutch that connects and disconnects the wheel from the steering mechanism. Normally, the boat is steered from the conning tower.

Control Room 2
A closer view of the Fathometer. This works by sending a sound "ping" from a transducer at the bottom of the boat and measuring the length of time required for the sound to reflect back from the bottom. Depth is indicated on the large dial. For afficionados of submarine movies, this depth sounder, and not the sonar, is the source of the monotonous pinging in the background sound track. In actual practice, the depth sounder was operated for no more than a few seconds at a time, since the sound could also be heard by an enemy sonar operator. (In real life, the submarine's sonar operators were normally the only people aboard who could hear the device at all, since the sound was directed at the bottom of the ocean and not into the boat.)(2001 photo)

Control Room 3
The hull opening and vent indicator panel, commonly called the "Christmas Tree" because of the green and red lights. Green lights indicate a closed vent/opening and red lights indicate open. (2001 photo)

Control Room 4
The bathythermograph traced water temperature and depth on a carbon-coated card. By getting below a thermal layer, the boat could hide from enemy sonar, which was reflected off the layer. The vents in a fleet submarine were operated by hydraulic power, but there was always a manual backup, such as the handwheel at the upper left. When the indicator boards were originally designed there were more lights for the flood valves, but most of these were indicated along with the actual valves, which were retained only for variable and fuel-ballast tanks.

Control Room 5
The depth gauges, located between the bow and stern planes operators. The large gauge is used for shallow dives, while the smaller deep sea gauge keeps track of deep dives. Unlike in the movies, there are no bright red danger markings on these gauges. Gato class boats like Cod had a rated safe diving depth of 350, but sometimes went deeper in an emergency. The red markings on the large gauge are at 64 and 18 feet. Contrary to the reading on the large gauge, the boat was on the surface when this photo was taken and not at 110 feet. (2001 photo)

Control Room 6
Diving controls. The three levers grouped together at the bottom control, from left to right, Safety Tank, Negative Tank, and Main Induction. Each has a distinctively shaped handle, allowing them to be easily distinguished even in total darkness. This was a result of the accidental sinking of Squalus. One theory on that accident suggested that the vent operator may have accidentally opened the main induction when he intended to close the negative tank flood valve. (The operator was adamant that he didn't, and other problems, while less serious, were also reported with the type of induction valve involved.) The cans of food are typical of a submarine at the beginning of a patrol, when food was stuffed into every available space. (2001 photo)

Conning Tower 1
The Torpedo Data Computer in the conning tower. This complex electro-mechanical computer was used to calculate the proper firing angles. The section shown here is the angle solver, which set the gyro angles for both the bow and stern torpedo nests. As complex as the TDC was, its only function was to set a torpedo's gyro angle so that it would take the correct course to intercept the target. (2001 photo)

Conning Tower 2
The position keeper section of the TDC. This integrated device was designed to keep track of where the target was between observations. It was this ability that resulted in the huge technical superiority of the American TDC over the simpler angle solvers used in all other contemporary navies. The operator could input target bearing, angle on the bow, range and speed, which the TDC would combine with "own ship" speed and course data from the Pitometer log and gyro-compass, giving him continuously updated information on the positions of both vessels in relationship to each other.

Conning Tower 3
Part of the sonar stack. On the right is the JK/QC remote control unit, which is used for aiming the port projector. The inner dial, with the compass rose on it, is a gyro repeater and shows the submarine's actual course. The outer dial shows the relative bearing to the target. A diamond-shaped "bug" between the two scales indicates the direction the projector is aimed. (The projectors are located on retractable shafts, which can be seen on either side of the after hatch in the forward torpedo room.) The large dial at the center of the stack is the range indicator. Below these two units is one of the two receiver-amplifiers (one for each projector). (2001 photo)

Conning Tower 4
The starboard (QB) remote control unit, with a different angle view of the range indicator. In this photo the speaker is visible above the range indicator. The remote control dials indicate that the projector is aimed dead ahead, and the submarine's course of 130°, or slightly south of southwest, which is actually just about correct. (2001 photo)

Conning Tower 5
The displays for the SJ and SD radar, located at the rear of the conning tower. (2001 photo)

Conning Tower 6
The conning tower chart table. This is located on the starboard side, just abaft the bridge ladder, which is located on the other side of the metal partition. The main chart table, which includes an automatic dead reckoning plotter, is located in the control room. (2001 photo)

Conning Tower 7
The Number Two (attack) periscope, looking aft. The left handle controls elevation of the upper prism, allowing the periscope to be used for searching the sky as well as the sea. The right handle is used to set the power, from 1.5 to 6.0. The dial at the bottom is for the stadimeter (rangefinder), and there is a second on the opposite side. This is operated by turning the knob beneath the right handle. The knob above the right handle is the focus knob. The rectangular black box with the lens in the middle is the rayfilter assembly. This allows colored filters to be rotated into the optical path to improve visibility. The rubber eye buffer is not installed. (2001 photo)

Bridge
The current view from Cod's bridge is a bit less inspiring than a sea vista. The switch box in the center of the picture is part of the announcing system, as is the pressure-proof speaker on the left. At the right is part of the cloth cover for the Target Bearing Transmitter, and the hatch leading to the forward gun position. One of the sights for the forward 40-mm Bofors is visible over the bulwark. (2001 photo)

Galley
In this narrow space the cooks produced all the crew's meals. The galley was all electric, and contained everything needed to keep the crew well fed. Submariners generally got the best food, and the cuisine on American subs was frequently considered absolutely luxurious by foreign submariners, including, as it did, such things as fresh-baked bread.

Enlisted Mess
Crew meals were served in this space in the after battery compartment. The second of Cod's two 126-cell batteries was located beneath the deck in this area, which includes the galley and crew berthing area. Note the difference in tableware from that used by the officers, including the handleless coffee mugs. This particular difference is gone from the modern Navy.

Enlisted Berthing Area 1
The enlisted berthing area in the after battery compartment, looking forward. This compartment contained 36 bunks, showers, toilets and the ice cream machine—though there are plenty of submariners who will question whether what came out of the latter could really be called ice cream. The galley and crew's mess is located just forward of the bulkhead. The battery cells were installed and removed through a soft patch in the overhead in this compartment. When Cod served as a pierside trainer this compartment was used as a classroom and all the bunks were removed. The current, meticulously-restored condition of this compartment and the rest of the boat is a tribute to the dedication and hard work of the boat's current caretakers, the Cleveland Coordinating Committee for Cod, Inc.

Enlisted Berthing Area 2
Another shot of the enlisted berthing area in the after battery compartment, this time looking toward the after port corner.

Forward Engine Room 1
The forward engine room, looking forward, showing one of the two massive V-16 General Motors Model 16-248 diesels installed in this compartment. Two more are located in the after engine room. These engines were built in Cleveland, to a design created by the former Winton Motors Company. In Gato class submarines, the four main diesels, and one (or two) auxiliary engine(s) drove generators, but were not directly coupled to the propeller shafts.

Forward Engine Room 2
Another picture of the Number 1 main engine, looking aft.

Forward Engine Room 3
The two Badger fresh water distillers. These are located against the forward bulkhead in the forward engine room. These two stills were capable of distilling enough fresh water from sea water to keep the batteries topped up, provide sufficient water for drinking and allow the crew to take "navy" showers in fresh water—another "luxury" not usually found in foreign submarines of the same period. The brass units, marked "GM," on the top of the stills are compressors. (2001 photo)

Maneuvering Room 1
View looking forward along the starboard side of the main control cubicle in the maneuvering room. The cage contains the electrical control equipment. At the left is part of one of the two motor telegraphs.

Maneuvering Room 2
Cod's General Electric main control board. Using this complicated switchboard, the electrician's mates on duty in the maneuvering room were able to transfer power where it was needed. The boat's four General Electric motors (two per shaft) are located under the platform deck in this compartment.

After torpedo room 1
There are four 21-inch torpedo tubes in the after torpedo room, firing aft. Since the torpedo gyros could be set to guide the 'fish' at a fairly extreme angle, this actually meant that it was possible to fire these at targets forward of the beam. Generally, extreme angle shots were avoided in favor of easier shots. The TDC transmitted updated firing solutions to both torpedo rooms at the same time. The Torpedo Gyro Setting Indicator-Regulator between the tubes normally provided a report of the settings provided by the TDC, but could also be used to set the angle from the torpedo room if the conning tower connection failed.

After Torpedo Room 2
This is really just your webmaster taking the opportunity to get his grizzled old mug up on this site. There isn't much else in the picture, other than the bunk over his left shoulder and a ventilator duct. Both of these, along with the light fixture, were very important to the men who worked and slept in this compartment.

Deck Gun 1
This is Cod's 5"/25-caliber deck gun, located on the after deck. These guns were designed specifically for submarine use, and were manufactured using corrosion-resistant steel, with operating parts sealed to keep water out. The short barrel was a concession to the relatively unstable conditions on a surfaced submarine, which made the usual long barrel considerably less useful.

Deck Gun 2
Another view of the deck gun, this time from the breech end. These guns were so precisely balanced that an 8-year-old was able to train this one with little effort. As the war progressed and there were fewer large Japanese ships worthy of a torpedo, the deck gun became increasingly important for the American submarine forces. This was in marked contrast to the German Navy, which was faced with far better anti-submarine forces (American and British) than the Japanese could muster, and generally couldn't surface long enough to use a deck gun after 1943.

After 40-mm Gun
This is one of two 40-mm wet mount Bofors guns. Mounted on the cigarette deck, at the after end of the conning tower fairwater, there is a second on the forward end of the fairwater. The barrel is clamped in a travel lock on the rail. Directly behind the gun, under the cover, is the after Target Bearing Transmitter. The wire mesh cage directly below the center rail contains one of Cod's blast phones, which are underwater microphones used to locate the direction of depth charges. The mast just beyond the TBT supports the SD air-warning radar antenna. Behind this, the boat's searchlight can be seen, at the aft edge of the bridge overhead. In combat, lookouts were stationed here. While the 40-mm Bofors was designed as an anti-aircraft weapon, American naval policy was that submarines did not engage enemy aircraft at sea, but would submerge to avoid attack. These guns were used to engage small enemy vessels during surface actions.