For the past two years, AIMM has been working with the
Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, WA to acquire one or more torpedoes to display inside
Razorback.
Last year, we were approved for three Mark XIV torpedoes. These were, of course, the standard torpedo during World War II, and were carried by American submarines, including
Razorback, during much of the Cold War.
The final hurdle was getting the paperwork finalized by the Navy's Explosive Ordnance experts certifying that these torpedoes, were, in fact, completely inert so that they could be picked up by a commercial trucking company and carried on the highways. Although the museum staff knew the torpedoes were safe, by law, they needed the paperwork, and, obviously, that's the kind of stuff you don't mess around with.
Well, the paperwork was finally finished a few weeks ago, and our three torpedoes were picked up yesterday at the museum and delivered to the
Arkansas Best Freightways terminal in Tacoma, Washington, about five hours away.
In addition, the Naval Undersea Museum has loaned us the tail section of a fourth torpedo. This tail section, complete with propellers, will be loaded into one of the torpedo tubes, so that our visitors can see what it looks like once the torpedo is loaded.
ABF has graciously donated the trucking from Tacoma to central Arkansas.
THANK YOU ABF!John Clear, a volunteer at NUM, photographed the loading, and we will post pictures as soon as they are available.
Once we have a schedule from ABF as to when the torpedoes will arrive, we will let everyone know.
We look forward to having these torpedoes on board, and would like to take this time to thank the great people at the Naval Undersea Museum for their hard work on AIMM's behalf, and we would especially like to thank ABF.
