The Croaker

We went to Buffalo and the Naval Park to view the Croaker submarine. Named after a fish that croaks, our friend Gary served on the boat from 1965 to 1967. The Museum, gift shop, and all of the artifacts right here at the entrance are well situated and the staff is numerous and very helpful.

 



The Croaker is moored at the Buffalo waterfront with the USS Little Rock, a guided missile cruiser, and the USS The Sullivans, named after five brothers all killed on one ship during WWII. Really well done park and display. To see all the ships you could take most of the day, so we just concentrated on the Croaker.

The Gato class diesel sub is 300 feet long and manned by 70+ personnel. You enter through the forward torpedo room and walk aft, first through the officers quarters, galley, wardroom, and then on to the rest of the boat. This warship accounted for the sinking of 11 Japanese ships during WWII and is highly decorated.

Below is the control room and map table ... the periscope has been removed. You can see the two dive plane wheels and between them the depth gauge which goes to 550 feet ... wow. Gary said on one particular deep dive the boat, groaned, popped, whistled, and leaked a bit .... what an experience!

And below the enlisted galley which is compact indeed to feed 60 or more guys at least 3 times a day.

And one of the bunk racks in the enlisted bunk room just aft of the galley; I think 24 guys were in this room.

Then the business end of this war machine, the aft torpedo room, with two "fish" ready to be loaded and fired. Gary said he also had a bunk in here which was suspended from the ceiling and quite a wild ride in rough seas.

Lastly some nose art on one of the torpedoes. The paper in front of the weapon describes the Croaker's first sinking during WWII.

Quite a display and what a machine. Gary said that in addition to their normal training they went across the Atlantic and toured the Med in the boat. We've toured some other sub displays but this is by far the most complete and well presented of all ... something we won't forget, nor the brave sailors who manned her in both war and peace.