USS Cod Submarine Memorial

09/17/2026

We're attending the Historic Naval Ships Association symposium in Evansville, Indiana, home of the LST 325. The ship is a WWII veteran that was returned to the US after her final career with the Greek Navy. The operational LST sails to and from ports on the Ohio River during the season. Networking and catching up with shipmates from our sister ships, big and small, is a great benefit to USS Cod Submarine Memorial.

09/11/2026

09/10/2026

It's no secret that WWII fleet subs were floating arsenals of small arms in addition to their torpedoes and large-caliber deck guns. Cod and her sisters carried ri**es, Thompson machine guns and the M1911 .45-cal pistols among other weapons. To keep the pistols organized and ready for use aboard Navy ships, the Philadelphia Navy Yard produced thousands of wood and leather pistol racks that held three weapons per side in leather holsters screwed to a wood baseboard. We have two and after 80+ years they were in need of restoration.

That's where Cod crewman Andrew Watkins stepped up and brought his talent to the task. Andrew reported the hold-diwn straps that secure the guns to the holsters "were pretty brittle and dry." But after carefull cleaning the leather came back to life with application of neatsfoot oil and leather conditioner.

Andrew said cleaning the brass screws and pegs used to fasten the leather to the wood was a challenge. First the built-up corrosion needed to be scraped off. He used a dremel with a wire brush to remove the rest of the corrosion and grime of time. He then soaked the parts in a mixture of lemon juice and baking soda to get, in his words, "that brand new shine back."

The wooden boards were cleaned with some good old Murphy's oil soap and a scrub pad. He added that 80 years of dirt took "a bit of elbow grease" to loosen.

The plastic replica pistols were scrubbed and soaked in vinegar to get rid of the mold growing on them. When the mold returned, plan B involved giving them a bath for several hours in some rubbing alcohol before they received a fresh coat of spray paint. Andrew added he had fun working on the project. We're really grateful for his help in preserving these small but important artifacts! Check them out when you visit the magazine below crew's mess.

09/04/2026

Airshow weekend, also known as Labor Day, is here and Cod is ready for hopefully a busy holiday. Since Big Henry isn't ready we executed "Plan B" -- a static display of our ASW Mk. 44 torpedo and two depth charges. Gotta remind air show fans there's a submarine next door to tour! A big thanks to our set up crew for assembling the display in less than ideal weather: Lou Vertosnik, Marschall Beers, and Luke and Rich Obratil.

Aboard Cod, crewman Dave Krejci is installing the last WWII-era style decking in crew's berthing. Its been a long project but we've learned some lessons along the way. The bricks are not a new historic exhibit but to help the sheets of rubber bond to the substrate. Soon we'll install the stainless steel strips across the room that mark the deck segments.

Happy Labor Day!

09/01/2026

Remember back a few weeks when crewman Evan Koren was stripping our 5-inch/25-caliber submarine deck gun barrel in preparation for a new paint job? Remember how he uncovered a highly unusual saw tooth camouflage pattern etched into the barrel? And remember how we said if we ever find a picture of a boat with this unique pattern that it might reveal what submarine originally carried our gun? Well Evan is "the man" today. From his college dorm he sent me this image of that exact pattern on a gun that was carried aboard USS Sennet!!! Now I can't be 100% certain but I will easily say that we can be 97% certain he solved the mystery! Way to go Evan!

The ironic thing is that my predecessor in operating USS Cod Submarine Memorial, Captain Donald Gairing, was a Sennet officer in the 1950s! He long wanted to get a wet mount for Cod under his tenure but atbthat time none were available from Navy curators. Only later did I convince the Navy we were worthy of one when our gun became available. Its a small and very interesting world!

Look at the pictures and comment... what do you think? Now that you've solved they gun mystery Evan, crack those college textbooks!

08/26/2026

Okay, where are we aboard USS Cod Submarine Memorial?

Pictures from crewmen Lou Vertosnik and Marschall Beers.

08/20/2026

There's a lot going inside Cod's superstructure ... that mysterious area below the steel and wood deck and above the pressure hull. This area contains vents and vent riser pipes, line lockers, mufflers and air induction piping. Those vent riser pipes allow air trapped in the ballast tanks (when surfaced) to escape and allow water to enter the ballast tanks to dive. The risers exit the tanks in a V-shaped channel running most of the sub's length. But the channels, called waterways, hold rain water. The bottom of the risers sitting in the waterways can rust out over time and allow water to enter ballast tanks. We've been working on repairing those rotted pipes and are in the words of former Navy hull tech and project supervisor Lou Vertosnik, "about halfway through."

We started at the bow and worked aft. Since the deck tapers down towards the stern, we are now working in an area that is getting more and more cramped. And to further complicate things, some vent risers are located under Cod's four massive engine mufflers. Thank God for our younger crewmen who have been crawling into the dirty cramped spaces to remove and later install the repaired risers. You will never notice this vital work directly, but keeping Cod upright on a zero bubble is very important! My thanks to Andrew Watkins for most of the images here.

08/12/2026

HOW HIGH & HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

An update on the refurbishing of our 5-inch 25-caliber submarine deck gun: in an effort to access hard-to-reach areas of this 7-ton gun, we removed our elevation and depression limiters so Evan Koren can prepare the gun for paint. What that illustrates is the unusual range of elevation and depression the gun barrel can achieve. I would not want try to load a 76-lb shell into a breech that is only inches off the deck. And in fact there would be little need for high elevation for this gun mount since firing at aircraft was forbidden. And as for the the depression of the barrel, well I'd not want to be on deck when shooting at a target so close as to require that amount of barrel depression. The target would have to be only a few yards away! Thanks to Evan for the pictures. Other Cod crew involved in the gun project include Marschall Beers and Lou Vertosnik.

08/09/2026

They're never too young to appreciate history!

USS Cod Submarine Memorial represents fascinating industrial, cultural and international history that is appreciated by this father and son duo who recently toured this Gato class sub. Junior was captivated by the scintillating text of our tour brochure. The graphics had him absolutely drooling as well!

08/05/2026

Lest you think all we do is scrape deck gun barrels aboard Cod let me give you a sampling of SOME of the other projects our crew is working on currently. Marschall Beers has been tackling Cod's signal/searchlight mounted in the shears. Marschall made new handles for the shutter mechanism and refurbished the barrel and mounting studs. He and the rest of us are trying to figure out how it came to be mounted upside down in its mounting cradle. Sadly when our absolutely newest crewman hauled the heavy light up into the shears to remount it, a bolt broke in half, requiring him to bring it and the light back to the workshop to fix it. Such are the tribulations of working on an 83-year-old submarine.

The deck cove molding in the forward battery will be completely reinstalled by the time you read this. We've been busy with higher priority jobs onboard Cod of late so its taken longer to finish this multi- compartment job than we hoped. Dave Krejci's efforts will return Cod's interior decks to original appearance. Now we have to finish it entirely by laying the custom-colored flooring on the afterbattery decks. Once complete we'll simulate the deck trim where the deck segments could be taken up during battery replacement operations. Crewman Jon Bradrick polished the metal cove moldings several years ago and more importantly marked them for proper reinstallation!

The ballast tank vent riser repair project continues towards the finish line thanks to the dedication of many of the crew who have been crawling into the dirty cramped spaces in the superstructure to remove, repair and reinstall large steel pipes that allow Cod to dive. Frequent rain and active wasp nesting is an additional joy. Corrosion holes in these pipes are the main culprit for many fleet subs taking rain water into their ballast tanks from above! We thank Steve Hogrefe for his expert welding work to repair the risers and Marschall and Jim Newton for diving the superstructure to install them, all under the watchful eye of hull tech Lou Vertosnik.