# Gato class submarine museum ships **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465 "2015-04-01T01:28:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SHARKBITEATTACK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@SHARKBITEATTACK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SHARKBITEATTACK)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/1 "2015-04-01T01:28:16Z")
I went and saw the US Cobia today in mantiwoc WI. I was wondering if this is the same type of sub as the Silverslides in muskakeegen MI ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/2 "2015-04-01T01:56:11Z")
They are both Gato class subs as you noted in the thread title, so I imagine they are both almost exact copies of each other. The Gato class subs were mass produced during WWIi and they weren’t much different than the Tambor class submarines before them. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/3 "2015-04-01T03:34:08Z")
I knew the USS Cod, in Cleveland, is also a Gato class sub. So [I looked it up](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gato-class_submarine#Museum_boats) and the following Gato class subs are currently museums: [ul] [li]USS Cavalla is at Seawolf Park near Galveston, Texas (in SSK configuration)[/li][li]USS Cobia is at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum[/li][li]USS Drum is at Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama[/li][li]USS Cod is on display in Cleveland. It does not have doors cut through its pressure hull nor stairwells added.[/li][li]USS Croaker is on display in Buffalo, New York (in SSK configuration)[/li][li]USS Silversides is on display in Muskegon, Michigan[/li][/ul] In contrast, the [U-505, at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry](http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/u-505/), is a Type-IXc u-boat. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/4 "2015-04-01T03:41:54Z")
The _Balao_ class subs weren’t much different either, and the USS Pampanito is moored next to the Jeremiah O’Brian at Pier 45 in San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/5 "2015-04-01T04:57:19Z")
Anyone have any idea what USN WWII submarine was on display at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in the early - mid 60’s? I went in it during a field trip with my Cub Scout pack. I was surprised to see it had a linoleum floor. And disappointed they wouldn’t let us look through the periscope. ---
**Author:** ![SHARKBITEATTACK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@SHARKBITEATTACK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SHARKBITEATTACK)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/6 "2015-04-01T20:58:03Z")
How is the USS cobia and silversides different than the u505? Shouldn’t Illinois have the same type of sub as WI and MI? ---
**Author:** ![buddy431](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@buddy431](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddy431)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/7 "2015-04-01T21:48:03Z")
> [@SHARKBITEATTACK](#): > > How is the USS cobia and silversides different than the u505? Shouldn’t Illinois have the same type of sub as WI and MI? Illinois has a captured German sub. Considerably different than a U.S.-made submarine (I mean, for submarines of the same era and designed for largely the same purpose. Obviously there will still be very significant similarities) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/8 "2015-04-01T21:55:20Z")
Nice OP/user handle combination. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/9 "2015-04-01T22:15:10Z")
> [@SHARKBITEATTACK](#): > > How is the USS cobia and silversides different than the u505? Shouldn’t Illinois have the same type of sub as WI and MI? Click the link in my post. The U-505 was the first enemy ship boarded and captured in battle by the US Navy between the War of 1812 and WWII. As such, it is rather more of a trophy than a memorial to US service personnel. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/10 "2015-04-01T22:20:17Z")
There is also a list of all submarine museums in the U.S., including their locations and the class of boat they were: [http://www.submarinemuseums.org](http://www.submarinemuseums.org) ---
**Author:** ![SHARKBITEATTACK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@SHARKBITEATTACK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SHARKBITEATTACK)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/11 "2015-04-01T23:04:56Z")
I’ve seen a couple submarine movies like u571 and red october but so far I’ve only visited the USS cobia but I would like to tour more of them. I wish I could go inside a newer submarine without enlisting in the navy lol. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/12 "2015-04-02T00:09:06Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Click the link in my post. > The U-505 was the first enemy ship boarded and captured in battle by the US Navy between the War of 1812 and WWII. As such, it is rather more of a trophy than a memorial to US service personnel. And the capture thereof almost got an entire task force court-martialed. It definitely put a crimp in the career advancement of the commanding officer, Daniel Gallery. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/13 "2015-04-02T00:22:50Z")
> [@SHARKBITEATTACK](#): > > I’ve seen a couple submarine movies like u571 and red october but so far I’ve only visited the USS cobia but I would like to tour more of them. I wish I could go inside a newer submarine without enlisting in the navy lol. There are quite a few nuclear subs listed here: > **[List of submarine museums](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_submarine_museums)** > > This is a list of submarines on display around the world separated by country. This list contains all preserved submarines and submersibles on display, including submarine museum boats, that currently exist as complete boats or as significant structural sections. > This list does not contain replicas or wrecks. See List of ship replicas, List of shipwrecks and List of sunken nuclear submarines respectively. > Download coordinates as: They aren’t quite the U.S. Navy’s latest and greatest, but they are a lot more advanced than the WWII boats. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/14 "2015-04-02T00:24:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > And the capture thereof almost got an entire task force court-martialed. It definitely put a crimp in the career advancement of the commanding officer, Daniel Gallery. Waa? The capture got the task force a Presidential Unit Citation (which I read was top secret until after the war) and Gallery was later promoted to admiral. That doesn’t sound like almost court-martialed to me. Do you have a cite for that? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/15 "2015-04-02T01:07:54Z")
_Eventually._ Gallery stated in one of his books ( I forget which, and they are all packed away) that the whole task force was put under radio silence after they towed the 505 to Bermuda (I think) and there was serious talk about court-martialing everybody involved because they seriously put the fact that we were reading the German Naval codes at risk since the 505 had an Enigma machine on board. They violated the Geneva Convention and kept all the prisoners under close confinement, not notifying the Red Cross that they were POWs and swore the whole mess of sailors to secrecy when they figured out that they really couldn’t court-martial that many people without publicity. It was only later that the government made a big deal about it. Gallery would have been promoted faster and higher if there hadn’t been that incident. It was only his success at keeping everybody silent that they forgave him and gave out the citations. _After the war._ ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/16 "2015-04-02T20:54:30Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The _Balao_ class subs weren’t much different either, and the USS Pampanito is moored next to the Jeremiah O’Brian at Pier 45 in San Francisco. There’s also the [USS Batfish](http://www.ussbatfish.com/wm-park.html) in Muskogee, OK. Yes, they really have a WWII submarine on dry land in Oklahoma. I’ve visited it. It’s rather surreal. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/17 "2015-04-03T10:39:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > And the capture thereof almost got an entire task force court-martialed. It definitely put a crimp in the career advancement of the commanding officer, Daniel Gallery. I don’t recall that. The squadron got a Presidential Unit Citation for the action, (although it was suppressed until after the Germans had surrendered to keep the Germans from realizing an Enigma machine had been captured). I thought Gallery’s troubles began with his later extremely public feud with advocates of reducing the Navy in the post-War era. (Much like Billy Mitchell’s earlier feud and court martial.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/18 "2015-04-03T11:44:12Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > There’s also the [USS Batfish](http://www.ussbatfish.com/wm-park.html) in Muskogee, OK. > > Yes, they really have a WWII submarine on dry land in Oklahoma. I’ve visited it. It’s rather surreal. … The Navy has infiltrated more of the continental US than you might expect. Here’s a couple of subs surfacing through people’s lawns: > **[File:USS George Washington Sail.JPG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_George_Washington_Sail.JPG)** > > Original file (1,944 × 2,592 pixels, file size: 3.04 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg) > Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. > You cannot overwrite this file. There are no pages that use this file. > **[File:USS Bancroft sail.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Bancroft_sail.jpg)** > > Original file (1,800 × 900 pixels, file size: 106 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) > https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse > Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. > You cannot overwrite this file. Very sneaky these darn subs; you never know when or where one will appear. :eek: Actually the former is at a museum [http://www.ussnautilus.org/](http://www.ussnautilus.org/) and the latter is guarding the gate of a sub base [http://www.navy.mil/local/subasekb/](http://www.navy.mil/local/subasekb/) ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/19 "2015-04-03T15:30:59Z")
FTR, there was a manual that went along with the Enigma machine. It told the operators which rotors to use, in which positions, and how to set up the cords in the patch panel. It was like the daily instruction and it was replaced every so often. So just losing a machine to the allies didn’t necessarily mean the whole thing was blown. Of course, the Germans didn’t know how far ULTRA had progressed in reverse engineering Enigma and the success the Allies had been having in decrypting their messages. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465/20 "2015-04-05T00:08:09Z")
> [@SHARKBITEATTACK](#): > > I’ve seen a couple submarine movies like u571 and red october but so far I’ve only visited the USS cobia but I would like to tour more of them. I wish I could go inside a newer submarine without enlisting in the navy lol. If you’re ever in Portsmouth, NH don’t miss out on a visit to the [USS Albacore](http://www.ussalbacore.org/html/welcome_aboard.html) (in service from 1953-72, set an underwater speed record of 40 mph). Neat experience. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gato-class-submarine-museum-ships/716465.md?page=2)