[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

True. But here was a boat that finished her last patrol in Febuary 1945. She finished most of the war, and was there as a participant on day 1 of WW2 for the US.

I never understood why the Navy would use old boats as target ships. Now i think i do. Sinking the Tautog as a target would have been a better ending for that boat then the scrappers torch. Being sunk as a target would have given the boat something akin to "a soliders death" as it were.

I see your point about giving the boat a honorable send off. I just read she had been slated to be a target at one of the post war A-bomb tests, but was saved to become a training vessel at Great Lakes (stationary, I think).

I would have thought, she would have been one of those saved for posterity, given her unique history.

As a footnote; the U-505, came close to being sunk/used for target practice after the war, eventhough it was (originally) in good condition and there were people who wanted to save it. It seems it was a crapshoot as to whether a ship was saved or not.