My tour of the USS COD 28 Nov 08

[Darrin]

On Friday (28 Nov 08) I made a call to Paul Farace and asked him what he was doing seeing how I was in Ohio bored out of my freaking gourd and he said absolutely nothing why and I asked him if he minded me coming up to look at the Cod.. Little did I know at the time that it was closed and was not going to be open that day nor did I fully realize how freakin cold it was in Cleveland that fine day..

While I have heard that COD is a thing of beauty I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I was jealous of how intact she is both topside and below decks and looking in her superstructure area I missed seeing the carnage from the pigeons and other debris and the wasted material topside.

For the next 3+ hours Paul walked me through the boat and told me stories about finding stuff all around the country (with the exception of JRRF which he hasn't been in) and other tidbits of information of the COD and let me look and play with just about any part of the boat that I wanted to, and to my surprise his 1MC stack works (modified slightly) and is left on 24/7 along with all of the alarms and air systems are pressurized and the hydraulics even work on the boat without having to be supplimented with an outside source of power (their DC power is fully operational). To say that most of their gear doesn't work would be a lie (now their radio's may need some help there Radiomen).

Sadly they didn't bring anyone down to crank up the Dinky for me, too little planning on my part and they have a dedicated Enginemen restoring a Gimmy and it should be running hopefully this spring or early summer (I think that is what he said).

And when we were done on the boat he took me to see bldg 13 where they store their torpedo carrier and a Mk 27 that is outside and a Mk 43 that is inside the bldg along with other various other pieces parts. To top it off he even took me to lunch and paid for it! 

He has earned the Martha Stewart nickname and he should be damned proud of it because that boat looks good AND it is also starting to work on top of it.

IF you have the chance to stop by and see the COD please do, it is a beautiful boat (not saying that Torsk isn't because she is a great boat also)

Thank you Paul for the one of a kind tour, it was truly awesome and I appreciate it.

Darrin

[Paul Farace]

You are welcome Darrin.

But don't make it sound like I bent ove backwards to accommodate your visit... after Turkey Day and the two days of cleaning the house for the wife's family to tear up, she agreed that I should play submarine for the day. So while the numbskulls in New York were trampling WalMart employees to get cheap Wii games, I got to talk submarine restoration with one of the key players... no medal of honor earned there!  I had a great time doing it.



... but what is this sh*t about "coldest day in history" -- come visit in January!   When your toes go numb standing on the steel deck and you're wearing thick thermal boots!   

[JTheotonio]

I'm jealous - during this past week I tried twice to get company to go to the Becuna.  I offered Philly cheese steak sandwiches, and to pay for the tours.  No, company wanted to stay home and eat all my food and finish off a big batch of gilly juice. (ok one thought it was a hurricane)

I did finally get to fire up my gas-powered blender for margaritas (made with gilly juice instead of tequila).

The wife's Ohio-clan is planning next year's family picnic.  I told the wife that the only way in hell I was going to one of her families picnics was that I get to go to Cleveland to see the COD.  Advance warning Paul - I may need a bunk come spring time.

[Darrin]

John,
the trip to Ohio is worth going just to see the COD, and no Paul it wasn't the coldest day in history there in Cleveland.. I can remember coming home on leave from Hawaii to Ohio and it being 80+ degrees there and -25 degrees when touching down in Dayton (colder then hell that day and I was dumb enough not to check the weather and wore shorts home on that trip, learned my lesson real quick that day)