Conning Tower Access Door: How Submarine Design Evolved During WWII

[@Dripfed]

Another one sent this way by the boundless enthusiasm of "Hi, I'm Ryan Szimanski..."

[@zacharyporter9407]

Same!

[@josephmoylan9199]

Ahh another cross planker

[@paulfarace9595]

Welcome to the world of small and intimate!

[@Bob-ed9tc]

Same same!

[@rtqii]

❤Ryan

[@mrpotter315]

In 1968, my seventh grade history, teacher organized a field trip to the SS cod. Turned out only myself and two other kids signed up but he said let’s just go ahead and do it anyway. We went down there on a weekday afternoon, and a sailor who had served on the cod was our tour guide. This guy was a salty old fellow, if ever, there was one, but he was quite a lot of fun and it was a fascinating tour. That’s probably one of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had. Going through a submarine With just a half a dozen people is pretty amazing. Thanks to everyone on the volunteer crew who is saving this important piece of history. It’s wonderful and any of you who have not seen it or who have kids make the trip It’s very worthwhile.

[@MikeF1189]

Field trips are important. Too bad they don't happen much anymore.

[@PaulLoveless-Cincinnati]

I was referred here from Ryan from Battleship New Jersey! Please keep making content!

[@bluerebel01]

All the respect to those who served on the Fleet Subs. My Grandfather served in the silent service during WWII and Korea and I am proud to have his Dolphins. Thank you for caring for this treasure and sharing its incredible history.

[@John-jl9de]

Thanks him for his service and may he rest in peace.

[@chopsjazz1]

What a wonderful story. My dad served in WWII, and was stationed at Pearl Harbor.

[@andreww9513]

It's cool hearing how rapid development changed designs over the war, thank you!

[@pauld6967]

I am a lifelong fan of the GATO class. Until tonight, I hadn't realized the later boats had lost the conning tower watertight door rather than it being done as part of what signifies the change from GATO to BALAO class. So, thank you for adding to my knowledge.

[@shipleyoffroadandperforman932]

I love what you guys are doing to preserve this beautiful vessel I just visited actually on New Year's Eve and I'm in love I'd love to get more information about volunteering for restoration and maintenance I'm a heavy equipment mechanic and a bit of a historian. Thanks!

[@steeltrap3800]

The two books written by Richard O'Kane, "Wahoo" and "Clear the Bridge", are some of my all-time favourite books about WW2. Such remarkable accounts from a man who certainly "did it all".

[@mach1553]

Been there, very well kept WWII appearance.

[@ColKorn1965]

I visited the Cod in 1985 and just now found this channel thanks to BB62's channel

[@paulbfields8284]

Been to the COD twice. I hope to return soon. Thank you for the history.

[@rhinehardt1]

Many years ago (close to 60), my brother and I got a laugh when seeing that the "breezeway" had a screen door on it, as in the old joke.

[@mikehenthorn1778]

I have been to the Codd several times. Looking forward to again this Aug. I have a great video down the barrel of the deck gun as i aim at the USCG cutter next to her.

[@USSCod]

The Coast Guard loves that!

[@MrRoadchaser]

Drum was almost lost because of that door! Glad she survived to make it to Mobile.

[@wittwittwer1043]

I was a Marine in the '60s and spent quite a bit of time aboard ships--over seven in all. Being part of the Navy, we always called doors "hatches," and used other naval terminology: Deck, bulkhead, overhead, ladder, passageway, &c, whether a-ship or ashore.

[@lkmh3223]

i love your work. you do these videos very well, thank you Paul for your hard work

[@slotcarfan]

I would have thought the open hatchways on the sides of the conning tower would have created drag and noise.

[@paulfarace9595]

Not an big issue given that these subs were submerged only when necessary and rarely moving fast. Post war it was an issue.

[@Mike-01234]

Went to the USS Pampanito in 2000 at Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco just happen to be Veterans day some of men who served on the Pampanito were there in the sub. They were in different places in the boat explaining what their jobs were. It was super cool to actually talk to submariner who served in WW2. I wish I had brought my video camera would have been great to get some footage I remember one talking about being depth charged by a Japanese ship how the entire boat shook like someone shaking up a can of spray paint. He said it was really scary he had nightmares for years being at depth hit by a depth charge.

[@anthonyburke5656]

I had the pleasure of going over the sub at Pearl Harbor and was surprised at the design quality. I’m a critic of the strategy of the Pacific campaign, but that doesn’t extend to the submarine aspect, to paraphrase Churchill “Never has so much been owed by so many to so few”

[@yes_head]

You do a great job with these videos, Paul and crew. Cheers from WA state!

[@ghost307]

What hatch was used for the gun crew once the door was closed off? What hatch was used by the lookouts to get to the bridge?

[@paulfarace9595]

On Cod the after battery hatch was used. The lookouts used the bridge hatch.

[@jamestarbet9608]

I'm really looking forward to visiting the Cod during the upcoming living history event. These videos are very informative!

[@dougtaylor7724]

I always recommend people read the fleet sub manual three time before touring a sub. It doesn’t make complete sense until you walk into the sub. But you have many “hey, I know what that does” moments. Otherwise you are just eyeballing machinery like a hog staring at a wristwatch.

[@allaboutboats]

Great video Paul! I met you at the HNSA Conference in Bremerton, and afterwards, your crew came down to Portland to see the PT658 and the LCI713. So the gunners on your boat accessed their gun via the aft battery hatch? Where is that exactly? Thanks for doing these great videos! Jerry G

[@paulfarace9595]

We still talk about how great your ship and its crew are! Hope all is well with you all!

[@jamescaron6465]

I've been to the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile and saw the Gato Class USS Drum. That was quite an experience. You can still smell the sweat, machine oil and mold.

[@robertporterfield2023]

Enjoyed your talk on this topic. I served on a Balao-class boat, USS Carp. As you mentioned the Balao's had conning towers with no water tight doors (WTD). However, a conning tower identified as Carps has been on display in Galveston, Texas. However, the conning tower there has an after door and a starboard side door just outboard the bridge deck access. I have no idea what boat it came from, but it wasn't Carp's.

[@paulfarace9595]

Might be a Frankenstein piece.

[@FaustoTheBoozehound]

Probably scabbed on to ease access as a training mockup before it was donated

[@robertlassiter907]

When did you serve on the USS Carp? I spent eight years in the Air Force because I was an aircraft fanatic. But I always thought that if I joined the Navy I would have wanted to be on submarines. While based at Langley AFB, Virginia back in the late seventies we had a retired Navy guy working in our electric shop. We became friends and he invited me to tour the USS Baton Rouge over at Newport News ship building company. His wife worked there on the sub and it was employee family day. We went down into the boat and it was really something. It was almost finished. Sadly it had a relatively short life. Take care.

[@ryanjones6303]

Very cool. I love this kind of technical history.

[@alanjameson8664]

My dad's stepfather worked as a plumber building submarines at Mare Island in both WWI and WWII. He said that at least as far as plumbing went, they were just the same. One thing he mentioned was that the decks were convex, and met the concave hull--which was where the toilets were located. Just how they dealt with that I don't know, but it was certainly different from houses.

[@FaustoTheBoozehound]

No plumbers in ships, only pipe fitters The decks are convex because it lets them better support a heavy load

[@paulfarace9595]

Fleet boats like Cod in WWII had flat decks. The very old pre-fleet subs if the R, O and perhaps the S classes had the convex decks inside their pressure hulls.

[@josephmoylan9199]

Keep em coming Paul!! ❤❤

[@ChasOnErie]

CLEVELAND PROUD …The USS COD … best ship display in country protected by a great group of patriots and fighting people …!!!

[@wandrinyew]

Thanks for mentioning the Squalus, which, after being rescued was re-christened the USS Sailfish... as some of the saltier sailors called her, the Squa(i)lfish. Strictly forbidden by Command, of course.

[@jeffsr8300]

Great Job Thanks.👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@dbcooper4037]

It would be interesting to hear the reports from the leaking doors. Depending on how bad the leak was, it would have added several tons of water to the boat during a depth charge as well as what damage that would cause given it was contained to just conning tower

[@paulfarace9595]

There were cases of flooded conning towers!

[@silverado0938]

Dang I love videos like this

[@allenbuck5589]

Enjoyed the video thanks from Sc

[@johnbecay6887]

interesting. why did they weld the door shut with a sphere? also was the compartment where the host is sitting flooded when submerged?.

[@s.porter8646]

It's the shape of the CONN

[@paulfarace9595]

A continuous done without a door is much stronger. And yes the passageway flooded.

[@johnbecay6887]

@@paulfarace9595 that makes sense. thanks for the info.

[@melodicgrog]

Always surprised to see how large and tiny these guys are.

[@brianhauptman]

Great content. May I suggest you guys use those bluetooth wireless microphones that all the content creators are using these days? It would really help, especially with the acoustics when outside or even inside of a metal tube.

[@paulfarace9595]

We have cheap one th at we use 99% of the time. But our camera man wanted to do this episode as an afterthought to test his new iPhone without plugging the receiver in. He will be flogged for his lack of sound awareness! And it turned out to be the most popular program!

[@dks13827]

Paul, upon hearing 'Battle Stations' call... do sleeping guys have to get up ?? I would be crowded if so. How about the 4 cooks ?

[@paulfarace9595]

Well if you have a battle stations yes you get up! Cooks might serve as ammo passers and talkers stationed in compartments.

[@These_Old_Engines]

I will have to watch for this hatch the next time I am on the Silversides

[@stinker43]

This conning tower has riveted construction. I maybe wrong, but I thought Gatos were welded?

[@USSCod]

The pressure hulls were welded... the superstructures were riveted. This is a good topic for a future program!

[@JDHitchman]

So there was no door on those portals? Didn't that create a great deal of drag when submerged?

[@henrycarlson7514]

Interesting , Thank You

[@burroaks7]

very very cool

[@kpd3308]

You might have mentioned that a doorway is more vulnerable than a hatchway if that is, in fact, the case. Also, I'm not clear on what the alternative to the gun crew doorway was. Did I miss it?

[@paulfarace9595]

Well if the door is out of found d it is weaker than a circular door ... which is why the Balao boats used kibd doors in their escape trunks. The Gato gun crews used the after battery hatch.

[@robertmurphy4836]

What are the twin hatches on the aft end of the conning tower for?

[@paulfarace9595]

The subject of this video!

[@paulfarace9595]

Unless you mean the ready ammo lockers.

[@gordonhorn8867]

So, if the door was eliminated, how did the gun crew get out?

[@realvanman1]

“There’s a lot of spiders”.?? DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!

[@davidgrandy4681]

That door way must have cost the boat some underwater speed. It would be like driving a car on a highway with the windows down.

[@paulfarace9595]

Yes and its like driving a family sedan ... not a formula 1 or a Ferrari so the slight increase in drag isn't noticeable

[@austin62halo]

Are there any items y’all don’t have aboard the Submarine that y’all wish y’all had?

[@paulfarace9595]

Where to begin....😢😮😂❤

[@jeffsmith2022]

The area you are in was permanently open to the air and water?...

[@paulfarace9595]

Yes

[@ypaulbrown]

fantastic.....

[@Paulftate]

semper fi,,semper fortis

[@gaveintothedarkness]

great video, you've earned a sub! - haha get it?

[@TonyGilbert1]

Wait your subs on land no 😞

[@paulfarace9595]

Afloat

[@TonyGilbert1]

​@@paulfarace9595oh thank god

[@greggweber9967]

0:15 According to the Closed Captioning, you are God's something. It didn't quite get the pronunciation correctly.

[@paulfarace9595]

President

[@greggweber9967]

​@@paulfarace9595I think you fixed it as it used to read "God's submarine" or something like that.

[@davidbaldwin1591]

We doan neet no stinkin' doors. We neet to get out kwik like...

[@speedbirdoneone]

Door? No!! Hatch.

[@paulfarace9595]

Hatches have hinges parallel to the deck on submarines. Doors have hinges perpendicular to the deck. I'll cover that in a future episode.

[@PhilipMReeder]

Uh.

[@John-jl9de]

dd

[@72chargerse72]

You need to stop with the "AH" all the time. Americans like to make fun of Canadians but we really dont use the phrase that often. it makes a person sound less intelligent. so STOP IT.