When the USS Batfish was first brought to Muskogee in 1973, the idea was that her days of sailing were over. But in 2019, flooding caused the slumbering giant to snap her lines and almost go back down the river.
“She was sunken in, she had a couple of ropes holding her down which were pretty much decrepit,” said Victor Lezama, director of operations for the Muskogee War Memorial Park.
Lezama says since that time, the Batfish has been teetering back and forth by a few degrees on what they believe to be a sinkhole.
“There was a giant crater that started eroding over the last couple of years. That was actually phased one of the FEMA plans. We actually had to go in a couple of weeks ago, fill it in with rocks, concrete, and dirt because the Batfish was actually teeter-tottering on that crater,” he said.
