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Master and Commander
Posts: 1893
Location: Patterson, New York | Subject: USS Requin - Pittsburgh
Went to Pittsburgh for the first time. Eileen and I were meeting some friends there for a fun weekend. I like to walk around town and sight see. I was very impressed by the USS Requin sitting on the river by the Carnegie Science Museum. This is a boat in great condition as a museum. Everything is polished and clean. The displays are informative; the whole deal is top shelf. The young tourists were having a good time with the interactive videos.
If you are in the area, go visit it.
Also, if you are a train buff like me, there is a great Lionel O-Gauge display and layout inside the museum. I mean its a big one. |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: USS Requin - Pittsburgh
Ah, The REQUIN...my qual boat, 1960...You're right, it's one of the few boats the Navy put out to stud, that wound up being taken care of and being properly maintained. She looks good in Pittsburgh, but after her decommisioning hysterectomy ( 252 tons of MLA77A Exide wet lead acid batts surgically removed from forward and after battery compartments...a damn near complete bunk-ectomy and a major torpedo transplant) she rides high in the water. Her first two commaning officers, Capt Slade Cutter and Capt George Steele (sp?) were WWII submarine combat legends (One Medal of Honor and a wheelbarrow load of Navy Crosses.) REQUIN was one of the great loves of my life. At a time long long ago, I was the Mayor of Hogan's Alley on REQUIN...an honor you never forget. She may have been turned out to pasture on the Ohio River but she lives in my heart as an old saltwater sweetie plowing through black water with a bone in her teeth...and the smell of fresh baked cinnamon rolls drifting up to the bridge through an open conning tower hatch...or when she was making turns for home and the COB opened the the showers and the whole damn boat reeked of Mennen's, Old Spice and Aqua-Velva. Yes, visit the old gal....the only difference is that today I have to shell out...back then you got base, sub and sea'n foriegn duty pay...Then, they paid you..now, you pay them....Oh yes, somewhere between then and now some lousy rascal stole all the skin books stored above the vent lines and tucked behind the pipes in the AB head...the old freckle maker, stainless steel thunder mug...the drum valve, 225 air blown poopers. When you're visiting REQUIN try to visualize her doing the dance of the fifty doo-dahs and saltwater fandango at 21 knots north of Iceland...She's a bloody sweetheart. And remember, most of her class got turned into Gillette Blue Blades. Love her...DEX |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: USS Requin - Pittsburgh
Make that Capt George Street....My physics professor was Capt. George Steele and at my age, your brain wiring gets tangled from time-to-time. Capt Street USN(ret) made most of REQUIN's early reunions and was a humble, non assuming gentlemen who never embellished his wartime exploits or felt comfortable in featured limelight. I beg your pardon for getting his name mixed up with my old dear prof....Lousing up a person's name is an unforgfiable sin in the young but a common accurance in old coots losing brain cells by the truck load, Again, my apologies to Capt. Street, wherever he is tonight and to Bob Garlock who was kind enough to introduce us in 1991. DEX |
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USS Requin - Pittsburgh
