Author Topic: USS Cavalla Update  (Read 4521 times)

Offline nomad66

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USS Cavalla Update
« on: February 06, 2009, 03:59:24 PM »
Just saw this posted on thefacts.com.


Man hopes to resume tours aboard historic sub

By John Lowman
The Facts   

Published February 5, 2009

GALVESTON — Bill Thirtle disappears below the deck of the USS Cavalla, heading into the submarine known for sinking the Japanese destroyer Shokaku in 1944, but losing a battle against Hurricane Ike 64 years later.

Ike’s storm surge lifted the Cavalla from its base of sand and grass in Galveston’s Seawolf Park, where the vessel has been landlocked since 1971. The surge turned the boat about 8 feet to the west.

“Ike picked it up, moved it and set it down in the wrong place,” Thirtle said.

The hurricane pushed the 1,650-ton, 310-foot-long vessel about 15 feet to the north and left it sitting about 5 feet higher than it was Sept. 9, the date of the last tour. Thirtle has led people through the World War II-era, diesel-powered submarine for years and is one of several people making sure September’s public tour isn’t the last.

From inside the boat, there’s no evidence anything is amiss.

“I would love to see everybody tour a submarine and see how they lived during World War II,” said Thirtle, 75, a veteran of both the Air Force and Navy.

The Lake Jackson resident served in the Navy from 1951-54 and joined the Air Force in 1956, retiring in 1973. He served aboard the submarine USS Blenny on both the East and West coasts of the United States during his Navy tour.

Thirtle moves nimbly in the tight quarters of the Cavalla, swinging himself through hatches as though his days of service weren’t more than three decades ago. The submarine is 16 feet wide inside, but very few places are that open. Bunks stacked three tall, an amalgamation of gauges, wheels, knobs and dials, and cramped bathrooms line the walls of the machine that was home to 80 men at a time for weeks on end while at sea.

“It’s pretty tight, but that’s how we lived,” Thirtle said. “You learned to get along with others on the boat. There wasn’t enough room not to.”



A LONG VOYAGE

Built in the Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, Conn., the Cavalla received the Presidential Unit Citation along with four battle stars during her six World War II patrols, according to information at the boat’s official Web site, cavalla.org

After Ike, what once was green grass surrounding the boat now is an 8-foot-deep, 20-foot-wide pit bottomed with mud and water. The walkway between the Cavalla and the Naval Destroyer USS Stewart, also permanently moored before Ike, is covered in mud that crews are working to remove.

Damage to the fishing, sightseeing and historical park is estimated to be about $5 million, including the vessels.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay as much as $1 million for repair and righting of both vessels, agency spokeswoman Bettina Hutchings said.

“We repair infrastructure which benefits all of the people in a community,” Hutchings said. “Because this is a park owned by the city, they we’re able to include it in their repairs.”

Work to the Stewart was extensive, she said. A dam was built around the ship and filled with water to float the vessel, then was drained with the Stewart properly upright again.

The Cavalla was easier. Since Ike sucked it from the ground, the large hole acted as a natural dam. The hole was filled with water and the submarine righted, Hutchings said.

More flexible moorings will allow both vessels to move and not be pulled down should another storm float them in the future, she said.

“This is important because the park benefits the entire community, and the ships tell part of our history,” Hutchings said. “We’re trying to help bring the community back.”



GETTING READY

Before the storm, 50,000 people a year visited the ship and submarine, said John McMichael, who oversees the park.

“Since Ike?” McMichael said. “Zero.”

The inside of the Cavalla is ready for tours, but work around it prevents it from being re-opened, he said.

“We could technically let people in, but now it’s too much of a liability,” McMichael said. “It’s just fixing up the outside.”

That could be finished in as little as two weeks, he said. The Stewart will take longer.

McMichael served 32 years in the Navy and took over management of Seawolf Park about 10 years ago. He was hired to restore the Cavalla and became the park’s curator.

He’s back in the restoration business, but this time it’s more about access than the vessels themselves. While Ike brought destruction to the island, fortune smiled on Thirtle and McMichael. Because the submarine settled 5 feet taller than before Ike, metal stairs leading to the deck were left high in the air. A large set of new, wooden stairs washed onto the park during the storm.

It fit perfectly under the metal steps, allowing access to the submarine, Thirtle said.

Park worker Ryan Rubio didn’t take much time to count the $24 earned at the gate of the park last Thursday. He and co-worker David Ford help keep the park operational even when there are no people around.

“Before Ike, we’d have 150, maybe 200 people on the fishing pier,” Ford said. “It seems like it’s getting better now that we’re getting some things done. People used to come out from left and right to see the sub, and that’s why we’re working on it. It’s a big attraction.”

Thirtle smiles while McMichael squints in the bright afternoon sunshine outside in the park.

“We’re going to fix it back like it was pre-Hurricane Ike,” McMichael said. “We want people to come down and learn a little about Naval history.”



A SHOT AT HISTORY

Back in the belly of the submarine, Thirtle looks through the operational periscope at amidships and sees a vessel moving along the surface of Galveston Bay.

He also tells the history of double rows of disarmed, 21-foot-long torpedoes still in the places they were stored when the Cavalla was in service 64 years ago. Each metal cylinder weighs about 3,000 pounds, and when armed, was loaded with 958 pounds of explosives, including TNT. When active, the torpedoes were capped with a firing pin and black powder to begin the explosion on impact. Today, they’re still stored on the cabins as they originally were.

The weapons are of extreme interest to school children and Scout troops, which regularly tour the ship when it’s in shape, Thirtle said.

Boy Scouts routinely spent the night aboard the boat, and Thirtle hopes they will again as work to the park progresses and summer nears.

“There are only about four of these left in the world,” said the jovial and submarine-knowledgeable Naval history buff. “It would mean a lot to me for people to see this.”



John Lowman covers Brazoria County for The facts. Contact him at (979) 849-8581.





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SUB ON LAND

On January 21, 1971, the U.S. Navy transferred possession of Cavalla to the Texas Submarine Veterans of WWII. The Cavalla was then delivered to her permanent berth in Seawolf Park in Galveston.

Gulf coast locals usually refer to the Cavalla as the “Seawolf,” mistaking the name of the memorial park for that of the submarine on exhibit there. Next to her is the USS Stewart.

cavalla.org
« Last Edit: February 07, 2009, 10:00:16 AM by nomad66 »

Offline Darrin

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Re: USS Cavalla Update
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2009, 09:08:47 PM »
Cavalla and the Stewart didn't lose the battle of Hurricane Ike, they were left a little bruised and a little worse for wear but they did not lose..

Had they lost there would be people there stripping them out and scrapping them in place from whatever angle they finally were laid to rest at.

To me they did exactly what they were designed to do.. FLOAT when needed and go were the current takes them if they aren't using their own power to move themselves.

John McMichaels and crew have battled back from larger odds then Hurricane Ike and won and this one sounds like they are getting them both ready for a rematch that we all hope never takes place.

My hat is off to the Master Chief and crews who have worked so hard to bring them back to life once more ;)