SAVING the CARP's CONNING TOWER

[shoaling hal]

This is my first post on SubCommittee, but I've been building a Balao conversion of the Revell Gato on SubPirates for a while now. The sub I've been building is the Carp SS338, and last Monday the 2nd of July, I saw her conning tower loaded up in Groton and sent off to the Cavalla museum in Galveston, Texas, for restoration and display.

Here is how she's been for the last 18 years, sitting in a yard in Connecticut.



In case you think that might be a big pink septic tank, you'd be wrong. Inside is the almost intact fighting center of a WW2 Balao class submarine.





The only major element that seems to be missing is her periscopes and radar mast. I know where her periscopes are.



I think the Cavalla people will have to get another set.

The TDC (target data computer) is almost intact, plus or minus a knob or two, and Terry Lindell, the guy who restored the TDC on the Pampanito, says he thinks it will run again. He's also the guy who connected me up with the Cavalla organisation, and between the two of us we got the conning tower into the hands of people who will restore it to it's former glory.





Here are a few shots of the interior.









Those of you who know your fleet submarines can see that almost everything is intact, though a little worse for wear and tear. Those not familliar can look at the virtual tours of most of the WW2 museum subs and see how the Carp conning tower compares.

Here's the move.











And there she goes, off to Galveston.



For scale, take a look at my car, and think about fighting the Imperial Japanese Navy with at least five other guys in something this size.



Her spec's are : 19' long, 8' wide, and the crane scale said she weighs 53,000 lbs, or 26 1/2 tons.

Hal

[JWLaRue]

Hi Hal,

You done good! The

Hi Hal,

You done good! The interior condition of the tower is unbelievably good.

Folks....what Hal has not said is that he was instrumental in ensuring that this valuable and historic artifact was saved and sent to a good home.

Hopefully the folks in Galveston will allow visitors to go inside the conning tower when they complete the restoration. I know that I'd pay good money to do so.

-Jeff

[shoaling hal]

Jeff,

If you go to the

Jeff,

If you go to the Cavalla website and go to their webcam, you can see a spot between the sub and their destroyer escort. I've been told that that spot is where the Carp's conning tower will have the place of honor in the center of their new museum complex.

http://www.galveston.com/webcams/seawolf/home.htm

I hope they'll send me some pictures of the restoration process, if so I'll post them for you all to see.

Hal

[JWLaRue]

Hal,

That's good news.....if they already

Hal,

That's good news.....if they already have a place picked out for it, then they definitely are serious.

-Jeff

[crazy ivan]

What's with the two large

What's with the two large oval doors, one on the aft end and one on the forward starboard side? Surely these were not a feature of the original pressure hull! Tourist access as an exhibit maybe?

[shoaling hal]

George,

Those were put in by

George,

Those were put in by the scrapping yard for the guy who bought the conning tower, as you suggest, for display access. For many years he and his daughter gave tours to anyone interested, and they definitely were not coming up from the control room hatch, and it was a tough climb to the bridge hatch (I know first hand, I climbed it). The preliminary word I have is that the Cavalla people may not close them up, since they're already there, and use them as display access as well. They also could serve as a first screening device, since the same doors are in the sub. "If you can't get into the conning tower, you shouldn't go into the sub", or something like that.

By the way, the owner, the late Frank Scheetz, a 23 year subvet, hardhat navy salvage diver, and instructor at New London, was also the main force in getting the Nautilus brought to New London, and I think he also may have owned the sub now on display at Portsmouth, NH. So the sub community owes him a great deal of grattitude for all he helped save.

Hal

[rokket]

Hal,

thank you for the info,

Hal,

thank you for the info, the photos, and the effort.

She's a beauty.

So, what can we all do t help? Especially those who live far, far away. Is there a donations fund organized? What do we need to do to get Carp's CT restored?

[shoaling hal]

Rokket,

As of now, the Cavalla

Rokket,

As of now, the Cavalla group just came into some big grant bucks (see their press section on the website).

http://www.cavalla.org/

But nonprofits can always use money, I suppose, so I'll have to ask them to set up a dedicated donation for the Carp. If that happens, I'll post it and let you all know. Thanks for your support.

Hal

[scott t]

Visited USS Cavalla friday July

Visited USS Cavalla friday July 13th. The operater of the park (John)said the conning tower was in Galvaston and that the exterior was being sand blasted and painted at a different location from the park.

The Cavalla was excelent to visit. While I was their John demonstrated the restoration they have acomplished by rigging the control room lights to red and explaining the reason.

Scott T

[shoaling hal]

Thanks for the heads-up, Scott.

I

Thanks for the heads-up, Scott.

I just got an email a few days ago letting me know it had arrived, and John McMichael, who may be the same man you talked to, gave me the following release:


The Cavalla Historical Foundation is a 501 C 3 organization that was formed in 1998 to restore the submarine Cavalla in Galveston, Texas. Since the inception, we have taken over the restoration of the destroyer escort Stewart, also at Seawolf Park.

Several months ago it was learned by our foundation that the submarine Carp’s conning tower was available. Although the money was not in the budget for this acquisition, opportunities like this are not something that comes along every day. Other tasks were put on hold and the money was allocated to acquire the conning tower and it is now being sand blasted and painted.

The Cavalla Historical Foundation is determined to have the most complete undersea warfare display in the country. To that end we have a WW II Submarine, the destroyer escort Stewart, the sail from the nuclear submarine Tautog, and now the conning tower from the Carp.

The board of the Cavalla Historical Foundation decided when the money was ear marked for the Carp conning tower, we would start a campaign in an attempt to help defray the cost of this very valuable and historic piece of history. All donations, annotated “Carp restoration”, will be used to help pay these expenses and further the restoration of the interior of the conning tower.

John McMichael MMCM(SS) USN Ret.

COB/Curator


So everyone who loves fleet boats, feel free to help out.

Hal

[shoaling hal]

I just received the information

I just received the information that the Carp Conn will be delivered to the Cavalla site day after tomorrow, Friday the 20th. Check out the webcam linked above, there was a replica of the Hunly between the Cavalla and the Stewart yesterday, the space was empty today, the Carp Conn should be there Friday.

Hal

[shoaling hal]

The Carp Conn was delivered

The Carp Conn was delivered to Seawolf park this afternoon in rainy foggy weather, after spending a week at a marine painting company in the Galveston area, being sandblasted and painted a nice haze grey. Unfortunately, the delivery truck couldn't get into the designated area, so the conn was offloaded in the parking lot area for the short term. Here are some screenshots from the webcam, remember it was bad weather, usually their webcam delivers much better pictures.

Here's the crain, waiting for the conn to arrive.



They extended the boom, then packed up the crain and exited the picture.



Then the webcam panned left past the Cavalla, and there the Carp Conn was, in the parking lot.



The riggers hooked up some chains,



and off she comes !



They just plonked (arcane nautical term) her down in the parking lot for the time being, hopfully they'll get her in front of the camera soon so I can take a look once in a while



Hal

[shoaling hal]

Friday, August 10, the Carp

Friday, August 10, the Carp Conn was placed in her display location, between the Cavalla and the destroyer escort.







The site director says he's gotten the inside lights working already.

Hal