Certainly no giant steps, like the repairs to the superstructure or cleaning of the hull, have happened yet but inside, little changes are coming about.
We're into our 3rd week of cleaning 'behind the glass' and now we are in the conning tower! It has been locked up and dark for many years with a giant exhaust fan drawing air filled with dirt and dust thru it until we entered last week. Electricians got us light up there and we've sucked out probably 20lbs of dirt, which is hardly noticeable. The scope (#2) still works and is perfectly clear but it hasn't been greased in many moons so I haven't tried to turn it in fear of snapping off a handle or something. We'll get to it though. There's some salt corrosion, chipping paint and lots of the rubber is rotten but I hope we can make it presentable enough to put a camera up there and link vidio down to the control room for guest to see. A large exhaust fan sits over the upper hatch now, providing ventilation in the summer, but I'm in hopes an alternate to that can be found. Keeping it reasonably clean will be a hard, continuous chore otherwise.
I'd like to publicly thank MM3 Thomas Dillenburg and MM3 Patrick Plants from the NPTU who have volunteered their time in the conning tower and MM3 T.J. Work for several days of hard work before he transferred. Below are some pictures of the conning tower.
Two more dirt movers! Petty Officers Cole and Ballis(?)
