So how did the Batfish get there?

[Lance Dean]

So I've been wondering, just how did the Batfish get out there to Oklahoma?  Isn't a submarine too large to be transported by truck? 

[Mark Sarsfield]

Barges up the river from the Gulf.  It was destined for Tulsa, but couldn't make it that far due to river layout.

[Lance Dean]

I bet that would have really been something to see!

[Mark Sarsfield]

The museum has photos of the towing, berthing, etc.  They dug out a canal and I think they used a crane to remove it from the barges.  Then they sealed up the canal and the basin eventually dried up.  The river flooded one year and the sub was afloat for a little while.  When the water subsided she ended up with a 1 degree list to starboard PORT - Jim.

One of my ideas is to permanently flood the basin to keep her afloat, but make it possible to drain the water for maintenance.  Rick also has the idea of maybe putting it up on cement supports.  That would make it easy to paint the underside.

[AVGWarhawk]

Great book on how most of the museum submarines got to were they are is called "Final Patrol"  The Batfish chapter is a great read. If I'm not mistaken the state was given a different submarine then the Batfish.  It is in the book.  Get it at Amazon.com for a song. 

[Mark Sarsfield]

We were going to get the USS Piranah (sp?) and then we noticed the Batfish and that she was more intact and in better condition.  At the last minute the Navy let OK make the switch, which was really nice, since she has the signifigance of sinking the most number of subs.

[Travis McLain]

I think it would be nice to have the Batfish afloat again, however I remember Rick telling me they have some problems with flooding before.

[Mark Sarsfield]

The flooding was because of the river.  The real trick would be keeping the water in there, because it naturally drains through the soil.  We would either have to continually pump water into it or make a basin out of some material that would not leak.  It would also need to be treated with chlorine or aerated to keep the algae down.  All of this would be a lot of maintenance and money.  His idea of using pedastals would probably be a good idea for the near future and then we could always float it above the pedastals later, if it's feasible.

[Travis McLain]

Yea that sounds alot better. Over the summer when it rained quite abit in Muskogee, there was a small pool of water around her that did not go away for about a week. It almost looked as though she was afloat again.

[MWALLEN]

One of the big factors is that one of the forward tubes was open and that was a major concern.  Vaughn fixed it about a year or so ago...but with the rust problem, I'd be hesitant to flood the area.  Besides, it's nice to get up close and inspect the tubes.  For those that asked earlier, I borrowed some photos from the museum today to scan and post on the website that shows them moving the BATFISH into place.  Hope to have them up this week.

[Travis McLain]

One of the big factors is that one of the forward tubes was open and that was a major concern.  Vaughn fixed it about a year or so ago...but with the rust problem, I'd be hesitant to flood the area.  Besides, it's nice to get up close and inspect the tubes.  For those that asked earlier, I borrowed some photos from the museum today to scan and post on the website that shows them moving the BATFISH into place.  Hope to have them up this week.

I love being able to get up close to the side of the hull. Also Mark, thanks for keeping the website looking great!

[MWALLEN]

So I've been wondering, just how did the Batfish get out there to Oklahoma?  Isn't a submarine too large to be transported by truck?

I've added a few photos of the event to the BATFISH website:

http://www.ussbatfish.com/batfish-stats3.html

Shameless plug...sign our guestbook 

[Lance Dean]

Wow, looks like it took a lot of people getting really muddy to get the Batfish to its new home!

[AVGWarhawk]

If you think about it, it was quite something what they did to get her where she is.

[Travis McLain]

You should hear it from the subvets. They are the ones that wanted her not the state, and they got barely any help from the state. The subvets racked up a debt of about 400,000 dollars because of all the costs for transporting her and things like that, luckily the local bank manager was a WWII subvet himself and just wrote off all the debt. However that was not the end of it. They had to find a piece of land to put the Batfish on, that took forever, and finally I believe it was the corps of engineers or the Port of Muskogee that finally donated the land to them. Once that happened, they had to get the water levels raised, and Nick Guagliardo (one of the subvets who got here there) had a major time trying to convince the Corps of engineers to raise the water level an inch, luckily on of the engineers just said whats the big deal, and dit it. If you want a more in depth knowledge of how, I think it is on the website.