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Originally Posted by JDHartman
I never served on a sub but one one my uncles did in the old Soviet Union(Cold War)  . He was the accustics guy.
I've only been lucky enough to walk around on board of the Red Scorpion russian sub.Pretty cool stuff but in reality i'd rather fly a fighter plane instead of sailing on a submarine  |
I've been on that sub too, it's only about 15 minutes from my house. It's docked at Long Beach next to the Queen Mary and only costs like $10-15 to enter. Nearly all of main body of the sub is open to explore, and there's a lot to see. There's a command compartment up a ladder that you cannot enter, unfortunately, but it's no reason not to make the trip.
The best part is that it is unguided, often there's nobody inside, and you can stay inside as long as you want. There's an annoying voiceover running the whole time, unfortunately, with an actor's cheesy russian accent making witty comments about each compartment and what life is like on the sub. It's really, really cheesy. Bring an iPod and a soundtrack of sub engine sounds with you to really enjoy the experience.
You can enter some of the rooms with bunks, the mess hall, sit down and really get a feel for what it's like to be there. The whole thing reeks of diesel fuel even though it hasn't been ran in years. They have a cheeky souvenier shop but it actually has some nice stuff, like replica crew wear (mostly just hats I think, no full uniforms or anything).
It's not the kind of thing you can schedule a whole day of activities around, even if you're sub-obsessed like us. But the Queen Mary is right next door to fill the rest of the time (costs a lot more though. You can always walk or drive a few minutes away and just hang out in the beautiful Long Beach marina to fill the day.)
I hear the sub may not be there much longer.
http://www.russiansublongbeach.com/