Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Torpedoes Arrived



Our torpedoes arrived safe and sound. We picked them up from the ABF terminal here in North Little Rock (Thank you (again) ABF). The torpedoes will be cleaned and their paint touched up before loading.

When we have a firm loading date, we will let everyone know.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Closed for Thanksgiving

As a reminder, AIMM will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

We apologize for the inconvinience, but this is the only weekend we are closed each year, and thus is our only opportunity for our staff and tour guides to spend a little extra time with our families.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Torpedoes Inbound - Hot, Straight & Normal!


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.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

New in the Library - Submarine Review - October 2007



The October 2007 issue of The Submarine Review has arrived.

Notable articles include:

  • U.S. Submarine Mining Successes During World War II
  • Survivor's Story - USS Flier (SS-250) - August 1944 - Part II
  • USS Salmon's Last Patrol
  • British Astute Class Nuclear Attack Submarines
  • Submarine News from Around the World
This, and other great periodicals, including American Submarines, Navy Times, Naval History and many others, are available to all museum patrons.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Yeti on a Submarine!

The kids at the North Little Rock High School Video Production Department have produced a short video as part of the 2007 Apple Insomnia Film Contest.

At 9:00 a.m. on Saturday October 13, a list of film elements was posted to the Contest Website.

Teams then had 24 hours to write, cast, shoot, add music, edit and upload a 3-minute movie.

"Yeti on a Submarine" was the entry submitted by NRLSD.