CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The USS Drum (SS-228) is a retired WWII Gato-class submarine, now preserved as a museum ship in Mobile Bay, Alabama.

Battleship Memorial Park
Mobile, AL
Nov 2019

USS Drum by Paul Sager, on Flickr


Drum was laid down on 11 September 1940 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 12 May 1941. The boat was commissioned on 1 November 1941. Drum was the twelfth of the Gato class but was the first completed and the first to enter combat in World War II. She is the oldest of her class still in existence.

USS Drum


The Gato class was the first mass-production U.S. submarine class of World War II. Together with their near-sisters the Balao and Tench classes, their design formed the majority of the United States Navy's World War II submarine fleet. Gato's name comes from a species of small catshark. Like most other U.S. Navy submarines of the period, boats of the Gato class were given the names of marine creatures.

A drum is a large bottom-dwelling fish found off the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The fish is known for making a drumming or croaking noise by using muscles associated with its air bladder. The submarine's emblem of the octopus banging the drum was created by Walt Disney.

USS Drum


The Drum made 13 war patrols in WWII, 9 of which were deemed "successful". Every submariner onboard for each "successful" patrol earned his submarine combat insignia pin or else earned another star for their submarine combat insignia pin. She earned 12 battle stars for her service in WWII.

USS Drum


Images shared in this post come mostly from the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS with an EOS 5DIII captured in RAW. The B&W images use the same lens (or the EF 50mm f/1.8) and Kodak Tri-X 400 in an EOS 1v. The digital images and scanned JPEGs were further processed in Lightroom 6.

The Gatos were slow divers when compared to contemporary German and British designs, but that was mostly because the Gatos were significantly larger boats. Sufficient fuel bunkerage to provide the range necessary for 75-day patrols from Hawaii to Japan and back could be obtained with only a large boat. The Gato-class of boats had numerous crew comforts including air conditioning, refrigerated storage for food, generous fresh water distilling units, clothes washers, and bunks for nearly every crew member; these were luxuries virtually unheard of in other navies.

USS Drum


The crew was 83 men, 75 enlisted personnel with eight officers. Without the AC, the heat of 83 men and the engines would quickly raise the boat's internal temperature above 100F. High humidity generated by tropical waters condenses quickly and begins dripping into equipment, eventually causing electrical shorts and fires. Air conditioning, acting mostly as a dehumidifier, virtually eliminates this problem and greatly increases mechanical and electrical reliability. It proved to be a key factor in the success of these boats during World War II.

USS Drum


77 of these boats were commissioned from November 1941 (Drum) through April 1944 (Croaker). All of the Gatos (with one exception, Dorado) would eventually fight in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Twenty of the 52 US submarines lost in World War II were of this class.

Their principal weapon was the steam-powered Mark 14 torpedo in the early war years, with the electric Mark 18 torpedo supplementing the Mark 14 in late 1943. The Drum had 10 torpedo tubes, six at the bow (facing forward) and four tubes at the stern (facing the rearwards). This allowed the boat captain to attack in two directions without having to turn around the boat to face the enemy. Drum carried 24 torpedoes when fully armed.

USS Drum


During World War II, the U.S. Navy's submarine service suffered the highest casualty percentage of all the American armed forces, losing one in five submariners. Some 16,000 submariners served during the war, of whom 375 officers and 3,131 enlisted men were killed. During the war, submarines of the United States Navy were responsible for 55% of Japan's merchant marine losses. The war against shipping is now considered the single most decisive factor in the collapse of the Japanese economy during the war.

USS Drum


Drum was decommissioned on 16 February 1946 and on 18 March 1947, began service at Washington, D.C., to members of the Naval Reserve in the Potomac River Naval Command, which continued through 1967. She was in the inactive Fleet at Norfolk, Virginia from 1967 to 1969. Drum was donated to the USS Alabama Battleship Commission on 14 April 1969. She was towed to Battleship Alabama Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama arriving on 18 May 1969. Drum was dedicated and opened to the public on 4 July 1969.

USS Drum


Drum was moored in the waters behind Alabama, until she was substantially damaged by the storm surge of Hurricane Georges in 1998. As a result, she was moved on shore. Most funding to maintain the submarine comes from a community of American Submarine Vets.

USS Drum


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jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Nice work with the detail shots, Paul!

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Very interesting with explanations.
Thank you for sharing.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

This is a beautiful, well rendered tour of the USS Drum. As usual, excellent work!!

Thank you!

Happy Shooting!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Neat.
Thanks for posting.
Been a long time since I toured the Drum.

diclam Loc: Red Lake Falls, MN

Very interesting, Paul! Great pictures!

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Excellent photographs accompanied by an equally excellent narrative. Good work, Paul.
--Bob

sr71 Loc: In Col. Juan Seguin Land

Dive, Dive, Dive man your battle stations!!!!!! Very nice, and enjoyed the backstory.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Nice images Paul.... The only sub I've ever been on was the USS Torsk, which is berthed in Baltimore's Harbor...

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Super set, and words.

MT native Loc: Big Sky Country — Montana

Very nice series. I’m too claustrophobic for that kind of work. One has to respect those that served.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Great shots Paul, and it looks like this diesel electric is in very nice condition - I will have to visit the next time I’m in the area. Have you visited the other diesel electrics at Patriot’s Point in Charleston or at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore?

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

Great detail shots and excellent info.

Abo

The men that operated those things are some crazy brave souls.

Thanks for the work put into this.

It beats the hell out of your sound bites imho

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Thank you Chris! You and Scott are digging into my frustrations. I worked in Annapolis for a few years with the state government and have family in Baltimore proper. The submarine there in the harbor has gone under my radar for all these years. I have been on the Clamagore in Charleston, and a few others. The Drum is in excellent shape with access to all the nooks and crannies of the sub.