In mid June, the longest serving BALAO Class boat made a port call in the Big Easy (New Orleans). I toured her. The Turks put the North Atlantic sail on her and her outer hull shows 60 years fairly well. They took out her batteries and replaced them with sand & concrete for ballast. It took over 60 days to tow her across the Atlantic. I am the last Sharkhunters Admiral to see her in her active configuration. Inside is close to perfect.

I entered aft into the engine room hatch. Her electric and diesel motors looked great. The crew room, bunks and galley are clean. The CIC had the chart of her journey through the Mediterranean on the chart table I went up the hatch to see the range finder. Back down the hatch I went forward to the spacious officer’s quarters.

Continuing forward to the torpedo room. All six tubes are nice, shiny bright. They have to remove all the sand and concrete so it will ride higher. Crossing the Atlantic she was drawing about 24 feet. Freighters only draw about 16 to 18 feet. North of Baton Rouge it gets pretty shallow. If they can’t lighten her up enough, they’ll have to sling her between two barges. The final leg of her journey takes her up the Mississippi to the Arkansas River. She will become the anchor of the new Arkansas Inland Marine Museum. She is a distinguished veteran of World War II, Korea, Vietnam and 31 years serving in the Turkish Navy. She earned five Battle Stars in World War II and four more in Vietnam. She is the longest serving submarine in global history.