U.S.S. Requin -- Extended Tour of the Cold War Submarine at the Carnegie Science Center

Our extended behind-the-scenes tour of the USS Requin (the cold war submarine docked at the Carnegie Science Center) begins with a look at the blueprints. Just two weeks after she arrived in Hawaii for her first tour, WWII ended.

Soon after the war, the USS Requin began serving as a training target for sonar crews. After several refits during the Cold War, she eventually came to rest in Pittsburgh as a museum exhibit in 1990.

Our extended behind-the-scenes tour of the USS Requin (the cold war submarine docked at the Carnegie Science Center) begins with a look at the blueprints. Just two weeks after she arrived in Hawaii for her first tour, WWII ended.

Soon after the war, the USS Requin began serving as a training target for sonar crews. After several refits during the Cold War, she eventually came to rest in Pittsburgh as a museum exhibit in 1990.

The ordinary tour does not include a visit to the sail, but we’re going to visit there as part of our behind-the-scenes tour.

I soon learned that the gentleman in the blue shirt on the right had actually served aboard the Requin. He brought his son along to show him this piece of his past.

The railings and decking were added as part of adapting the boat to its postwar educational mission.

There was a small boat alongside the hull… I imagine that his open hatch has something to do with the ongoing maintenance, but there was so much to see, and I was more interested in hearing the tour guide talk to the member of our tour who had actually served on the Requin. So I didn’t ask many questions about what I was seeing.

You don’t see many windows in a submarine.

Our group split in two; one went up, we went down.

Yes, those are bunks, filling pretty much any available space.

With the camera very near the floor, you get some sense of just how present, how busy, and how prominent the ceiling is in this small space. Our tour guide (himself a former SEAL and submariner) told us that in operation, the boat would be even more crowded — plenty was taken out when the Requin was converted for its training mission.

A bunk hangs on a chain just a few inches above a torpedo. This was considered one of the better places to sleep, as it’s far forward of the engine room — which was very hot.

Our guide Carl walks us through exactly what was involved in the loading, arming, and firing of a torpedo.

This fold-up basin was right in the middle of the forward torpedo room. A few steps away was the shower (which also doubled as a place to store food) and head. All systems on a submarine are self-contained and complex… if you happened to try using the toilet when the sanitary tanks were being vented into the sea, you learned a very unpleasant lesson.

In other boats, this area towards the back of the forward torpedo room was walled off as a separate sonar room, but on the Requin it’s just some equipment in the corner.

Once the other half of the tour finished its visit to the sail, we swapped. I didn’t get a picture of anyone climbing into the little horizontal hatch, but here is my son climbing up to the middle of the tower.

Remember those windows we saw earlier from the outside? Here they are again, from the inside.

Atop the Sail of the USS Requin, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh

This view emphasizes the skyline.

With permission from the tour guide, I hopped up onto the very top of the sail… here I am perched between two poles — are they the periscopes, or vents of some sort? There was so much to look at, I couldn’t ask questions fast enough. Anyway, here I am, way too high up.

Descending to the main deck again, USS Requin

Looking aft, from forward torpedo room, USS Requin

So it’s not just classic Star Trek that throws a colored light on a metal-gray background to provide some aesthetic interest. Actually, the red lights were of course to preserve the night vision for any above-water duties.

Carl described many of the different safety features of the submarine. If a section is flooded with water, from a neighboring section you could pump in enough air to push out the water and restore flotation — and in the process, that would save any men trapped in the section. (Carl frequently reminded us that the comfort and safety of the men was only something you worry about once the equipment is safe.)

Space to seat 10. Officers ate the same food as the crew — and word is the food was pretty much the only luxury on this boat.

Our little tour group sure made the boat look crowded. There is no official height limit to serve on a boat, but Carl told us that if you are 6-foot-4 and you conk yourself on the head more than two or three times, then you pretty much don’t get sent out on another deployment.

A tiny fold-out office, next to a rack of three bunks. This is luxurious, compared to what the crew dealt with.

The first captain of the Requin was unusually tall, so he managed to get his bunk extended a little. The captain was the only man on the boat who had his own private space, though Carl tells us, “I guarantee you, he didn’t see much of it.”

Equipment detail, USS Requin behind-the-scenes tour.

USS Requin behind-the-scenes tour, Carnegie Science Center. (I would call this the “bridge,” but perhaps it has a different term.)

Former USS Requin crew member studies equipment on a behind-the-scenes tour of the cold-war era submarine docked at the Carnegie Science Center.

This image reminds me of the “woman” part of that “man/woman control panel” joke.

Floor grate, USS Requin (Carnegie Science Center)

USS Requin lower level, seen through floor grate (Carnegie Science Center)

Proudly displayed in what is now a ham radio room in the USS Requin, the cold war submarine docked at the Carnegie Science Center.

Apart from the lipstick kiss, the message from Betty Grable reads: “Good Luck / Radio Gang / USS Requin / Betty”

Okay, isn’t there one knob that you’re just dying to turn just a little bit? (I resisted the urge to touch.)

Equipment detail, USS Requin behind-the-scenes tour, Carnegie Science Center.

A film projector sits in on the counter in the galley, the only area of the sub devoted to any kind of downtime. In addition to meals and movies, education and medical procedures happened here, too.

Empty hallway, USS Requin behind-the-scenes tour, Carnegie Science Center.

Galley instructions detail, USS Requin behind-the-scenes tour, Carnegie Science Center.

Steering room, USS Requin behind-the-scenes tour, Carnegie Science Center.

"Coffin Bunks," under-mattress storage that our tour guide says was invented by the CO of the USS Requin, and is still standard issue on navy subs.

Top bunk in a rack of three; USS Requin crew quarters, Carnegie Science Museum behind-the-scenes tour.

After the tour cleared out of the mess hall, I went back for a few more photos.

So much to look at… we were a good 2 hours into the tour by this time. I think this was when our tour guide told us that the electrical crew used to annoy the navigational crew by deliberately reducing the power output of the generators, which would slow down the clocks, which would make the navigation crew want to speed up because it looked like they were falling behind schedule.