New Jersey Museum of the NJ National Guard Sea Girt NJ The Northern version of the CSS Hunley.

[Kyushuj7w]

I'll post these as they are small museums many of us will never get to see. I don't know how many menbers are in the area of South Jersey but maybe this fall we could have a meet up to tour a couple if Covid does not shut things down again.

The NJ National Guard Museum at Sea Girt on the coast. Another of those places close to you that you never knew existed. Took a beating in Sandy a few outdoor exhibits were total losses but its hard to wash away a tank. Took a few years to come back the docent told me but has some very unusual exhibits including another submarine. The docent had a great story. Not just the usual mechanics but including, graft, sex and international intrigue tied to it.

The Intelligent Whale was an experimental hand-cranked submarine developed for potential use by the United States Navy in the 1860s

Note the high water stain on the interior wall Sandy was a devastating storm for NJ The sub would have floated away if the bottomm hatch had not been open and the prop seals were any good.

 

[Kyushuj7w]

Page 2 This place is well worth the visit. Just call ahead as the sub may be a special back room items to see.

 

[GrauGeist]

Excellent photos, thanks for sharing!

And as a side note: the Confederate Navy didn't operate the Hunley, the Confederate Army did, so it was not the "CSS Hunley", it was just the "H.L. Hunley".

 

[Kyushuj7w]

Good point she as manned by Army crews . She took a few crews down. I'm not sure they have an absolute case closed on her loss. I always believed she drifted off and settled after the explosion that stunned the hell out of the crew and in those moments air that was always an issue ran out and they drifted off and suffocated . The crew bones seemed to be found pretty much at their stations vs jumbled up in a pile that one would think if they had been floating decomposing corpses and just piling up on each other. Over time silt and sand made it way in from the cracked light port . The Hunley center is a great place to visit as is the cemetary. When I first went they were still treating the sub in the tank and had not yet entered it. TY and I went back again a few years ago. Finding that coin must have been an experience of a life time for the museum staffer who pulled it from the mud. Need to go back there. Patriots point and Charleston I can visit every few years and still see something new.

 

[special ed]

The Louisiana National Guard Museum, New Orleans, still has volunteers cleaning firearms that were underwater in Katrina. They welcome visitors to volunteer and several members of our model club participate. They are also building a Flybaby, a Peter Bowers homebuilt design, which will be finished and painted on one side while the other will be open to show internal construction.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That's actually pretty impressive little place and I had no idea that sub still existed.

On a side note and I'm probably in the minority, but I really enjoyed C-Rations.

For those who have not have the chance to se the Hunley in Charleston, they have really done it well. I collect old newspapers and was able to donate one to them talking about the attack and sinking of the USS Housatonic by her right after it had happened. When my college (also in Charleston) was redoing our football stadium, they discovered the graves of the 2nd or 3rd crew. Apparently when they cleared the land a long time ago they only moved the headstones and left the actual graves.

 

[Kyushuj7w]

Only moved the headstones. Pretty shabby treatment but not unusual. Who is going to visit our graves after our kids pass on & even if they do as most people in our times are far more mobile and won't make a special trip.

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots!

 

[Wurger]