[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Good point and your probably right but there's a little money involved here as well. The sub is moored directly behind the SS Jeremiah O'brien Liberty Ship; creating a lucrative 1-2 punch for enthusiasts to tour both: at $20 a head...each along famed Fisherman's Wharf. With proper reserve funds for a refit every 7-10 years and the more than adequate drydock facilities of the Bay Area it's $till a better arrangement and in a proper setting. It opened for tours in 1982 and attracts more than 100,000 (U do the mathematic$!!?) visitors a year. This is its fifth time in dry-dock, and this visit finally happened after $200,000 was secured in a National Maritime Heritage Grant. The funds come from scrap metal sales as ships in the Mothball Fleet in Suisun Bay are dismantled. Considering they're sanding the sanitary tank and replacing the torpedo gaskets for the first time...it's a happy ship. <Said Suisun Mothball fleet, just 50 miles NE, over my boat's stowed whisker-pole: Down to about eight ships now. The vessels' old lead-based flaking rust & hull-paint has created a decades-old considerable toxic-environmental mess; so the demise of old cargo ships is not a bad thing, in addition to helping preserve the USS Pampanito.

I can see your point as well. I can understand it takes money to maintain these vessels. Still,With the Torsk In Baltimore, the Balao-class submarine, the USS Pampanito in San Francisco and many others, they are a piece of history that other generations can learn from. The Pampanito earned six battle stars for World War II service as well. It is not like the vessels don't have a value beyond what they are worth as scrap metal.

With the pacific fleet in tatters after Dec 7 of 1941, These Submarines and more importantly, the men who crewed them, carried on the fight while the Pacific fleet was being rebuilt. Like many, I feel they are a legacy one can't put a dollar value on and thus should be maintained.

The U.K dealt with similar issues I believe.