Old sub in San Pedro

[jorgenandersen]

New guy reporting on board! Am an odd man out here, I think, as my military background is the Danish Army 1969-1973 and then the Royal Danish Air Force (Guard) 1980-1993!

I am looking for which submarine it could be that was on display in San Pedro, CA in between 1991 and early 1993, where my then-not-yet wife took a tour of it. It was probably a Fleet Boat, although my wife says it was pretty small (maybe she means cramped), and she also says it was "falling apart".

[Lance Dean]

Welcome to the forum, Jorgen!  I hope someone will have an answer for you. 

You may also want to try Rontini's BBS at:

http://messdeck.com/forum/

Lots of knowledgeable submariners there!

[Darrin]

Jorge,

I don't believe that we had a museum submarine on display in San Pedro, are you sure that it wasn't San Francisco? because that is the USS Pampanito and she has been there for many years to include the time frame you have asked about, the Pamp is the only WWII Fleet boat in California. Had it been a nuke boat then good luck, if you have a picture please post it so that we can verify what boat it is.

Darrin

[Lance Dean]

From Facebook:

"Roncador was there in the 80s. For a while it was tied up next to the Queen Mary. It would have met the "falling apart" criteria since it had been parted out by then. Not sure how long it lasted before scrapping. It was painted pink underneath the pealing grey."

[BrokenArrowtiger]

Yea lance is right http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Roncador_%28SS-301%29  thats  her wikki profile she was in san pedro in the 80s..though im suprised your wife could have toured it

[jorgenandersen]

It could maybe have been the Roncador, although my wife is certain she saw this boat between 1991 and mid-1993, because she saw it with a boyfriend she was dating in that period of time - before I got into the picture! She also says the boat she saw had no conning tower, there was only a hole instead, and it was through that hole they entered the boat. So could that boat, if it was the Roncador, really have been lying moored there from the 1980's?

[ChrisV71]

That was a Diesel Boat, but not a Fleet Boat. That would have been Barbel (SS-580). She was stricken on January 17, 1990 and sold in the early 90's to Southwest Recycling at Terminal Island, the same firm that scrapped Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) and Chicago (CG-11). They went bankrupt after starting on Barbel and she was left there for about 9 years with no sail. She was used in the movie Crimson Tide as a mockup of the Alabama (with a wooden conning tower and deck) and eventually sunk as a target on January 30, 2001.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08580b.htm
Scroll down to the last two pictures to see what I'm talking about.

Roncador was sold on October 21, 1982 to National Metal & Steel of Terminal Island btw.

[jorgenandersen]

Bingo! When my wife saw the pics she said "THAT'S IT!!!" I must have seen the boat there myself without realizing what it was. Many thanks!

I have a second puzzler also. When I was in elementary school in Denmark - I believe this would have been in 1962 - 2 USN Fleet boats visited the port of my home town, Aarhus, and I went through one of them. I had started reading Jane's Fighting Ships at the time, and could see that one would be GUPPY I modernized, with the sail looking like the one on the USS Nautilus, and the other GUPPY II with the little cockpit and spray shield in the forward part of the sail. Which could those have been?

These boats were roomy compared to the small RDN submarines. I was on a 2-week ride on HDMS Nordkaperen in 1972, and all the food tasted like diesel! That was so incredibly cramped, with a regular crew of 22 and the an Army patrol of 5 with bulky "luggage" thrown in.