I am in the conning tower, amidships. In the control room, banks of lights flash green. That means tanks, valves and hatches are closed; the great steel hull is pressurized.
”Dive!” I yell, scanning dials as we slip beneath the surface.
”Up scope.”
The tanker is in view now, full of oil to feed enemy warships.
”Bearing 10 degrees port, skipper,” a crewman yells. ”Range three miles.”
My sweaty hands squeeze the attack scope steady.
”Fire!”
Moments later the tanker is in flames, black smoke billowing from her belly where the torpedo hit.
OK, so it`s a dream. So this is Muskegon Lake in western Michigan, Silversides is berthed, and we`re about 6,500 air miles from the Pacific waters she heated up during World War II.
America`s most famous surviving WW II submarine has become a unique
”hotel” in Michigan. Below the lake`s surface, you can bunk aboard a vessel that sank 23 Japanese ships and damaged 15 others.
Public tours are offered daily. Only groups can be accommodated overnight. With such a unique attraction, curator Ted Downing fills a lot of bunks. ”Scout groups used to overnighting at various campgrounds find this is something different,” Downing says. ”We also get church groups, school groups, family reunions.”
The sub and museum is an all-volunteer effort. A goal is the ongoing restoration of the old warhorse.
Cramped and a little claustrophobic is what you feel inside this submarine. USS Silversides is full of compartments, gears and gauges, cables and dials. Peek up into the conning tower. See the captain`s quarters, engine rooms.
Silversides could accommodate eight officers and 72 enlisted personnel.
Visitors see the green-painted officers` mess where, in the 1943 film
”Destination Tokyo,” an emergency appendectomy was performed on the dining table.
