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Preserving/Constructing Memorials
Additional Boat Memorial Background Information 

From JIM  MANDELBLATT
9 March 1998:
REQUIN
 

"I wasn't involved with getting REQUIN to Pittsburgh, but I researched it for my book. The story goes that REQUIN was basically abandoned (read "closed - no public interest") in Tampa, Florida (to this day TAMPA is a naughty word to REQUIN vets). Sometime in 1986, they tried moving her to a more accessible location, but she got stuck on the bottom of the Hillsborough River and after numerous attempts, they just left her in the middle of the river. A year later, (I've got a newspaper article covering this), the people in Tampa were able to move REQUIN closer to shore. An attempt was made to open her up again in 1988, but this didn't last long. It was basically the end of REQUIN in Tampa (at one point, Slade Cutter, REQUIN's first skipper, recommended that she be towed out into the Gulf of Mexico and sunk as an artificial reef, as he said "at least the fish could enjoy her"). The City of Tampa then basically said to the Navy "Get her out of here."

Pittsburgh came onto the scene in early 1989, when plans were developed to build what would eventually come to be the Carnegie Science Center. From what one of the trustees, Jim Winokur (he made two war patrols on SEA FOX SS-402 told me, the Navy League in Pittsburgh and others began high power lobbying to get REQUIN. (I later found out from the son of a REQUIN vet that he tried to get her for Miami). It kind of helps to have a powerful politician on your side and the people in Pittsburgh had H. John Heinz III (yep, heir to the Heinz ketchup company fortune), who was a strong supporter of the Navy (as well as being from the Pittsburgh area) soon got involved.

An aside here: there is a 60 day debating period mandated by law governing the transfer of an obsolete Navy ship for memorials. It has to go through the Navy, then a committee in the House and one in the Senate. Heinz introduced a resolution in the Senate (S. 1271, Feb. 1990 - I have a copy of it at home) that sought waiver of the waiting period, due to the course of REQUIN's travel to Pittsburgh. The latest she could be towed up the Mississippi River to the Ohio (one of the three rivers in the 'burgh) was late August (the museum was planning to open in October of 1990). With the waiting period in effect, it would have pushed REQUIN's move back to 1991. (the main problems were the water levels in the various stretches of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers).

Suffice it to say the resolution passed, REQUIN was towed from the Hillsborough River in Tampa to Tampa Shipyard (where the money for the drydock and tow up the rivers to Pittsburgh was supposedly furnished by George Steinbrenner - yep, the one and the same), repaired, and towed to Pittsburgh, arriving there on Sept. 4, 1990. She was opened for tours in October of 1990 (when I saw her again), and since then, she's become a part of the Pittsburgh landscape. To date, they've had over 700,000 people go through her.

That's pretty much what it took to get REQUIN to Pittsburgh. A lot of pull, a lot of money, and people to give a damn......Jim Mandelblatt, author: USS Requin SS-481/SSR-481 Rockville, MD.

From RON SMITH:
Return To Texas
The story of the USS Seawolf SS-197 memorial.
 

Early on U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II established as one of their objectives the building of a memorial to each of the 52 boats lost during the war. Each state picked one with two left over so a couple of states got two. Texas got the SEAWOLF SS-197. In 1963 after a banner National Convention in Dallas, the one Adm. Lockwood attended, the state group started a downhill slide in membership and interest. As the State Commander I thought it might get some renewed interest if we undertook to build the memorial we had accepted and were obligated to do. I 'ran it up the flagpole' and garnered some support. We ran a contest for the best design for the monument. My sons drawing was chosen. A simple rectangle base with a Torpedo on top.

We started talking it up in local papers in Dallas with the help of Navy PR support, namely LTCMDR Jack Raskopf. Jack became one of my best friends while working tirelessly for the cause. The next step was to find a location. Several were mentioned, Dealy Plaza in Dallas, the State Capital in Austin and the San Jacinto Battleground State Park just east of Houston. Nothing had been allowed on this site since 1919 when the Masonic Order built some columns across the road north of the great obelisk that rises out of the Texas coastal plains, higher than the Washinton Monument, that commemorates the Texas victory against the Mexican Army in 1836.  The Battleship TEXAS was also allowed to park there after WWII.

The Dallas Chapter had grown due to the publicity we were getting but the Houston Chapter had grown even more. They promised that they would get donations and free labor to build it at the San Jacinto Battleground State Park. No small task considering that only two other structures had been allowed there in it's entire history. As fate would have it we had some really strong members. We tried in vain to get into John Connaly who was Governor of Texas and had recently been the Secretary of the Navy under LBJ. Ford Motor Company owned Philco at that time and each state was a separate entity in the sale of Philco products. One of our members, Bill Rogers, was VP of Philco of Texas. Bill contacted the Ford lobbyist in the LBJ administration in Washington, DC. Within a week I got a call from Mike Meyers, Governor Connaly's Adm. Assistant that the governor would like to meet with us.

A time was agreed on and Bill Rogers, Joe Sanger and I flew to Austin to keep the appointment. We were met at the airport by Doug Nichols our state Sec/Treas who lived in Austin. One of my favorite memories of this was the four of us being ushered into the governor's office with our knees shaking, until--- THERE ON THE WALL BEHIND JOHN CONNALY'S DESK WAS A HUGE SET OF DOLPHINS.------ We knew we had it made then.

We told the governor that we wanted to build this memorial to the USS SEAWOLF SS-197 at the San Jacinto Battleground State park. He picked up the phone and told his secretary to get the Head of the Texas Park system into his office. He came in less than five minutes. Connaly said," Give these men whatever they want". We all shook hands, thanked them and left. Within two weeks, with some letters and phone calls back and forth and a trip to the Battleground to pick the site, we had a letter from the State of Texas Deeding us one and 1/4 acres " In perpetuity for the location of a memorial to the USS SEAWOLF".   Led by Paul Stolpman, Houston Chapter President, the memorial was built with donated material and labor from companies around Houston. We dedicated it in 1967 with a crowd estimated at over 500 people.

The Seawolf Memorial still stands there, just off the starboard bow of the Battleship TEXAS proudly telling the history, accomplishments, and tragic loss of SEAWOLFf forever etched in Bronze. One must walk past it to get to the Battleship TEXAS. There is no way to estimate the thousands and thousands of people that have visited this memorial. Each Memorial Day, U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II hold a service there, and now we are joined by our younger brothers from U.S. Submarines Veterans, Inc. as we honor all submarines and submariners "STILL ON PATROL".

Ron Smith TMM2/C SS

From JIM FLANDERS:
Return To BATFISH
 

In the book "BATFISH" an addendum describes the terrific obstacles in getting the BATFISH up the rivers to Muskogee, OK. Politicians who blessed it in the beginning, soon backed off of any knowledge as the debts rose. I covered it in a past issue of "TUBES FORWARD". Today, the BATFISH is barely financially stable. One thing it needs badly is a sign on the highway (67) telling tourists that they are passing a WWII submarine. I wish I had some great ideas on how to fund that sign.  This is partly why I am sponsoring the "WWII Submarine Memorial Radio Room Reactivation Day."  The coverage in the papers and Magazines should get these Memorials more attendance. Each year I get more participation.  This year the surface navy and the Italian Submariners are interested.  Eventually it will become a world wide event.

Jim SS-272, SS-319 W0OOG 

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