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charlielima

USS Ling, SS-297

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Great.

Here is another one. Stuck in the mud and getting evicted i think.

CL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

post-11823-0-97210200-1497317221_thumb.jpg

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Charlielima, that wasn't always the case.  I was part of the USS Ling's volunteer crew during the early 1980s. We kept her well-maintained back then, and I experienced a bit of what life must have been like on a fleet boat during her heyday. 

 

Two of my fellow volunteers, Frank McGill and Herb Georges, were also coworkers of mine and had served on Fleet and GUPPY boats during the late 1940s and early 1950s (one was an NCO, the other, a Commissioned Officer, who was also a Ling plank-owner). Another volunteer (Dean Smith) was just out of the USN, having served on a Sturgeon-class SSN. I recall them complaining to the staff at the Naval Museum that the boat was irretrievably stuck in the mud, back in 1981, after we performed an impromptu waterline inspection prior to a chip 'n paint session. 

 

The inside of that boat gleamed as if it were awaiting inspection.  We even had the radar and radio working at one point.  It was cool listening to HAM operators around the world tapping out conversations in Morse code, and seeing the Court Street bridge's bright return on the SJ radar's Phosphor display.

 

From what I've heard, even if they were to dredge a channel through the mud and into deeper water, she would probably not survive being towed to a proper dry dock facility. I am truly saddened to see her in that state.

 

If I can dig up any of the snap shots I took of the Ling (in her better days), I will scan and post them.

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how sad.

 

I hope you can find those pics, Ed!!

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