Galveston Naval Museum, Galveston Island, Texas

We went to visit the Galveston Naval Museum, American Undersea Warfare Center on Galveston Island when were still in Houston to see the USS Stewart and the USS Cavalla.

USS Cavalla, a WWII submarine, sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku on June 19, 1914. It is berthed in Seawolf Park, Galveston, Texas as a memorial to the lost submarine USS Seawolf. Cavalla was a Gato class fleet sub, designed and built in the summer of 1943 by the Electric Boat Company and launched on November 14, 1943. She was commissioned on Feb. 29, 1944, the first “leap year” boat built by E.B. On June 19, 1944, on her maiden patrol, she sank the 30,000 ton aircraft carrier Shokaku (veteran of Pearl Harbor and Battle of Coral Sea). This earned her the Presidential Unit Citation.

Jim going through a hatch

Torpedo

Chief Petty Officers' Quarters

In this cramped space Cavalla's five most senior petty officers elbowed, trod upon and otherwise harrassed each other while attempting to dress when the general alarm collusion alarm sounded.  Cavalla normally carried eight or more chief petty officers. The leftovers slept in the torpedo rooms. 

The USS Stewart began her service operating out of Miami as a "school ship" training student officers.  She escorted President Roosevelt in the presidential yacht down the Potomac River to rendezvous with USS Iowa in the Chesapeake Bay for his mission to Casablanca and Tehran. In 1944, she commenced North Atlantic convoy operations, making 30 crossings.

This is the deck of the USS Stewart, DE 238. As you look around, what do you think went through the heads of the 200 young men who boarded her for the first time back when she was built in 1943 at the Brown Shipyards in Houston. For most of these young men, she was to be "home" for many months. 

DE stands for Destroyer Escort. The Stewart (and 562 others like her) were designed and built in the first years of World War II. What was the mission of the DE's? To break the back of the submarine blockade Adolph Hitler had placed around Europe. 

The Stewart is an anti-submarine ship, and was state of the art when built. One two WWII DE's still remain in the U.S.  Restoration of the Stewart and Cavalla are being undertaken by the Cavalla Historical Foundation.

"K" Gun

The K guns used to project standard depth charges to either side of a moving ship.  The depth charge was attached to an "arbor" whose end fit into the barrel of the K gun. When fired, they were projected out into the water by a powder charge in the base of the gun. The arbor separated from the depth charge before hitting the water, and the depth charge was free to sink to a pre-set depth before exploding. The K gun effectively increased the number and size of patterns of depth charges that could be deployed against an enemy submarine.

Ice Cream Machine

Couldn't have been all bad - they had an ice cream machine! This ice cream machine consists of a "soft serve" unit that mixes and partially freezes the ice cream, and a hardening cabinet to freeze the product. Both units operate from one refrigeration unit in the ice cream machine. 

Ice cream machines were not installed aboard these ships during the Second World War. This machine was installed in the early 1950's when Stewart was being re-fitted for Korean conflict service, which she never entered.

Tight walkways