Check out these three cool murals in North Park! They’re painted on the parking lot side of the Queen Bee’s Art and Cultural Center building, north of University Avenue off Ohio Street.
The three murals, from left to right, depict a graffiti-style North Park, The Beatles’ yellow submarine, and cosmic mandalas with music-loving bees!
Around the corner, at the entrance to Queen Bee’s, you’ll find more fun artwork…
…
Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Every so often, a very unusual, one-of-a-kind ship will dock on San Diego’s Embarcadero. Today I saw a unique ship with the peculiar name DSSV Pressure Drop, so I had to check it out!
It turns out DSSV (Deep Submersible Support Vessel) Pressure Drop, a privately owned ex-US Navy ship, is absolutely extraordinary! Last year its submersible, called Limiting Factor, made the deepest manned dive ever in Earth’s oceans–it descended 10,928 meters into the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench!
This historic dive and others have produced important scientific research, such as mapping of the ocean floor and retrieval of deep sea specimens–including completely new species of living organisms!
The numerous exploits of DSSV Pressure Drop and its adventurous owner Victor Vescovo make for great reading. Here’s a recent article that provides a lot of background and detail.
I was told DSSV Pressure Drop will be hanging around San Diego for a couple of months, so if you happen to walk along the Embarcadero just north of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, keep your eyes peeled!
…
Thank you for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often, so you might want to bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and check back from time to time.
You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
It’s widely known that Coronado’s North Island is the birthplace of naval aviation. But did you know that shortly before World War I, Coronado was also home to a training school for submariners?
Camp Richardson, which was located on a block of First Street just north of the Ferry Landing, served as the homeport of the United States’ very first Pacific Submarine Fleet. This is one of many interesting facts you’ll learn should you enjoy A View from the Periscope, which is the current exhibit at the Coronado Historical Association‘s museum.
A View from the Periscope focuses primarily on twenty-eight works of art. The Coronado Historical Association’s website explains how these pieces of artwork from the Naval History & Heritage Command’s Navy Art Collection are on loan for the exhibition. Throughout the museum gallery visitors can view paintings of submarines in different settings and their working crews. The website further explains that many of the artists featured are affiliated with the Navy’s Combat Art Program, which places artists on board navy ships on duty and in combat.
But there’s much more to discover in this exhibition! When I walked through it a few days ago, what interested me most were displays that concern local history.
Not only did I learn about short-lived Camp Richardson, but I was surprised to read how the submariners in training, as they practiced diving and firing torpedoes, would put on pre-announced shows in San Diego Bay for tourists staying at Coronado’s Tent City!
I was also surprised to learn that a Coronado artist, a member of the San Diego Fine Arts Guild, was instrumental in successfully camouflaging naval vessels during World War II.
His name was Dayton Brown. His novel approach to camouflage involved mimicking the natural environment, eventually utilizing only two color shades like Haze Grey or Ocean Gray.
Until I visited this exhibition, I had no idea!
A View from the Periscope continues through January 2023.
…
Thank you for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often, so you might want to bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and check back from time to time.
You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
A San Diego memorial to U. S. Navy submariners lost at sea, the 52 Boats Memorial, needs your help. Some of the monuments that line two pathways at NTC Liberty Station in Point Loma are badly damaged.
I was walking through Liberty Station today when I took these photos. A search of the internet brought up this very recent article, which describes one man’s effort to restore broken markers, like those in my photographs.
The original markers need to be replaced with more durable concrete duplicates. There are already sufficient funds to undertake this endeavor–what they need is someone who can make concrete and use the molds…Ideally, the person or business also would be able to deliver and install the heavy monuments…
I first blogged about the 52 Boats Memorial over eight years ago here. It’s a very powerful Veteran’s memorial. Certainly someone out there can help.
Should you walk from the parking lot by Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography to the popular attraction’s entrance, you’ll see what looks like a small submarine. On its side is written Star III.
Star III is actually a submersible that was used for undersea studies back in the mid-20th century.
I looked at the cool little marvel of technology and wondered about its history.
A nearby sign provides interesting information concerning the submersible, which was built by General Dynamics.
When I got home, I found a book published in 1968 by the Naval Oceanographic Office titled Undersea Studies With the Deep Research Vehicle Star III which you can preview here. It concerns a series of 21 dives off Key West Florida in March 1967…to evaluate the Star III system as a platform from which to conduct underwater photogrammetric and various surveying tasks.
I also found the following old public domain photograph of Star III suspended above the water from a seagoing vessel.
Launched in 1966, Star III was capable of carrying a two-person crew and as much as 1,000 pounds of scientific equipment to a depth of 2,000 feet. The sub and its occupants could remain underwater for up to 120 hours…
…
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Lots of fascinating activity today at the Maritime Museum of San Diego!
As I walked about, I noticed volunteers and sail crew members were working on several very different vessels in the museum’s world-famous collection.
Sparks were flying from the black sail of the B-39 Soviet-era Russian submarine. Its life, sadly, has come to an end. Preparations are underway to tow the badly rusted Foxtrot-class diesel electric submarine to Mexico where it will be scrapped.
After watching guys using a torch on the sub’s outer hull, I walked to the far end of the Maritime Museum’s barge where the Robert Sharp’s stern was being restored. A friendly worker with a heat gun was crackling old varnish, which was then scraped off.
When I stepped onto the deck of the historic steam yacht Medea, I noticed a woodworker carefully repairing the boat’s wooden rail where it had split.
The elegant Medea has a fascinating history.
Did you know that, in addition to Medea being a pleasure yacht that cruised the isles and lochs of Scotland, it was used by France during World War I, and by the British Royal Navy and Norwegian Navy during World War II?
I was walking along the Embarcadero past the Maritime Museum of San Diego when I noticed the hull of their badly rusting old Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine, B-39, was partially wrapped with orange material. I asked at the ticket booth for the latest news concerning this historic Russian sub, and I was told it’s being prepared for one last journey. It is to be towed away from the museum next month.
During the Cold War this particular diesel electric submarine, which was commissioned in the 1970’s, might have lurked at times off the West Coast, tracking United States Navy ships. Its final destination will be the Pacific Ocean off Ensenada, Mexico. There it will be sunk to create a new underwater reef!
UPDATE!
Oh, the perils of a blogger whose website, through mysterious algorithms, is considered by some a news site. I make a lousy journalist!
The gentleman I relied on for the preceding information was only partially correct–and very wrong concerning the main matter. The submarine will indeed be towed to Ensenada (at an as yet unknown time) to be disassembled for its valuable metal components. But will it become a reef? I’m told, no.
I heard this a couple days later from a much more reliable source during another visit to the Maritime Museum.
I also took the following photographs. You can see strips of orange safety fence wrapped around a portion of the rusted outer hull.
…
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
A sign posted on San Diego’s Embarcadero near the Maritime Museum of San Diego indicates their Russian Foxtrot Class attack submarine B-39 has continued to rust, causing the historic vessel to near the end of its life.
A storm this winter that tore away sections of the outer metal skin has accelerated the submarine’s degradation. I believe it was the storm that I recorded back in January here. You can see waves in usually calm San Diego Bay breaking against the submarine.
It’s hoped that as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, museum visitors will have one more chance to take a look inside the B-39. I learned that once the submarine has reached the end of its life, it will likely be taken to a shipyard to recover whatever might be salvageable. I also learned the Maritime Museum has thoroughly recorded the interior of the vessel, to preserve a very important part of Cold War history.
Learn more about this submarine by checking out the museum web page concerning it here.
I enjoyed a self-guided tour inside the Foxtrot-class submarine nearly five years ago, and posted some interesting photographs. If you’d like to see them, click here.
…
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
To the Brink of WAR. A sound and light exhibit at the Maritime Museum of San Diego based on a true Cold War event during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
A fantastic exhibit recently opened at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. You’ll find it aboard their B-39 Foxtrot-class Soviet submarine. The exhibit, using videos, a light show and other exciting effects, tells the story of how one man likely saved the world.
At the height of the Cold War, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, a Soviet commander on the B-59, another Foxtrot-class submarine, spoke a few cautious words. Those words might have averted World War III and worldwide nuclear destruction.
The B-59 was one of four Soviet submarines that were sent to the Caribbean Sea to support ships delivering arms to Cuba. In October of 1962 the B-59 was detected by the United States, and Navy destroyers began dropping the sort of depth charges that are used for training–practice depth charges with very little explosive impact. It was the US Navy’s intention to have the sub surface in order to gain positive identification.
Aboard the B-59, however, batteries were running critically low, the air-conditioning had ceased working, and if the submarine didn’t surface eventually the crew would perish. They hadn’t had radio communication with Moscow for several days. The captain of the submarine, Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, believed that war had probably begun. He wanted to launch their T-5 nuclear torpedo at the USS Randolph aircraft carrier.
The exhibit inside the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s Foxtrot-class Soviet submarine allows visitors to relive those tense moments. They’ll hear how sub-flotilla commander Vasili Arkhipov, also on the B-59, reasoned that a conflict might not have started, and that firing their “Special Weapon” nuclear torpedo would certainly result in World War III. His calm words of council prevailed, the sub surfaced peacefully, and today visitors to the museum can appreciate his level-headed wisdom, and the extreme pressure that the crew of the B-59 felt on that fateful day.
Anyone visiting the exhibit should be prepared for very close quarters. Ducking and engaging in a variety of pretzel-like contortions while moving along the length of the submarine, one can appreciate how life must have been as a crewmember, even under normal circumstances. It’s definitely not a place for those who have claustrophobia!
Here are a few photos that give you a taste of what you’ll experience. Of course, enjoying the exhibit in person is a thousand times more interesting!
This man might have literally saved the world. Vasili Arkhipov argued against the B-59 captain’s determination to fire a nuclear torpedo against the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Randolph.
Today, the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s B-39 Foxtrot-class Soviet submarine allows visitors to see what sub warfare was like during the Cold War, and to relive the crisis.
Many signs containing interesting info can be read before boarding the B-39.
Sign provides some details about the B-39. It could cruise 20,000 miles on diesel-electric power. It was built in Leningrad. It’s design was generally based on late World War II German u-boats.
Life aboard a Foxtrot-class Soviet submarine is briefly described. Duty aboard a Foxtrot was not considered bad, but was often quite boring.
Sign shows main parts of the museum’s current Cuban Missile Crisis exhibit. Inside the sub, one must nimbly climb through rather small circular openings!
I’ve ascended the gangway and I’m standing forward of the submarine’s sail (or fin). I’ll enter the forward torpedo room via some steps behind me.
Enter Here! And prepare to relive a tense moment in history, when the future of humankind teetered on the brink.
Just inside the old Soviet sub. There’s a video explaining the Cold War and beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and many signs nearby. The B-59 was armed with a Special Weapon: one nuclear torpedo.
This museum torpedo represents what the B-59 Foxtrot carried back in 1962. A purple tip meant a particular torpedo had a nuclear warhead.
You might note this torpedo has a purple tip! To fire a nuclear weapon during the Cuban Missile Crisis would have certainly resulted in World War III.
A Hair’s Breadth from Nuclear War. President John F. Kennedy dealt with an extremely difficult crisis. Common sense, decisive action–and possibly some luck–helped the world avoid catastrophe.
It’s no easy feat going from one section of the sub to another! A visitor is about to head into a narrow corridor en route to the Control Room.
Heading through the Foxtrot-class Soviet submarine. Tiny rooms on either side include the Captain’s Cabin, the Officer’s Wardroom, and Medical Exam Room.
A look into the Electronic Officer Cabin.
The sonar room was critical to the safety of the submarine. Without sonar, the underwater vessel had no eyes.
A photo of equipment in one corner of the sonar room.
Into the Main Control Room we go, the scene of a sound and light show reenacting those tense minutes before the B-59 chose to surface peacefully without firing their nuclear torpedo.
Signs throughout the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s Cuban Missile Crisis exhibit help visitors understand their position in the Foxtrot submarine.
Photo includes the Foxtrot’s helm, where a Soviet sailor steered the submarine by moving a lever left and right.
Visitor inside the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s B-39 submarine looks through the periscope. Red lights come on as depth charges are heard. A fateful decision must be quickly made.
Voices from nearby speakers reenact tense discussions, then orders to the crew. The submarine captain wished to fire a nuclear torpedo; the level-headed flotilla commander convinced him not to.
We’ve left the Control Room and are continuing along the center of the submarine. Here’s part of the galley. The crew ate well by Soviet standards–better than most ordinary citizens.
More knobs, switches, levers, buttons, dials, gauges and whatnot on the way to the Engine Room.
The engine room contains three turbo diesel engines that each put out 2000 horsepower. They drove three shafts connected to six-blade propellers.
Another photo inside the museum’s B-39 engine room. During the 1962 events, the B-59’s batteries were low and the air conditioning had failed. Their hot engine room must have been intolerable.
Now we’re heading to the Motor Control Room.
Bunks for Enlisted Ratings line the corridor. These were shared by the crew and in constant use. No room to spare!
A very tight squeeze!
And finally we’ve made our way into the After Torpedo Room, where visitors can watch a concluding video documentary. After surfacing peacefully, the B-59 eventually re-submerged and vanished.
School students left notes. It seems most really liked the tour! It’s not every day one can see the interior of a Cold War Soviet submarine!
Climbing back out of the B-39 Foxtrot-class Soviet submarine, one of many historic vessels that are part of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
…
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to enjoy!
The black sail of submarine USS Dolphin (AGSS-555). The retired research sub is docked next to steam ferry Berkeley of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
Here come some photographs taken inside the USS Dolphin, the world record deepest diving submarine!
Anyone can tour the Dolphin when visiting the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The museum, located downtown on the waterfront, is home to a world-class collection of unique and historic ships.
I personally know very little about submarines. My descriptions come from various signs and a little searching performed on the internet. If you spot an error or would like to provide some info, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post!
The Maritime Museum of San Diego boasts two submarines in its world-class collection of ships. The USS Dolphin holds the world record for deep diving.
Display inside the Berkeley, next to doorway which leads museum visitors outside to the Dolphin.
The above Maritime Museum display includes the following information:
On November 24, 1968, barely two months after commissioning, the USS Dolphin dove to a depth in excess of three thousand feet to become the world’s deepest diving submarine…this record still stands today. The following year, in August 1969, the Dolphin achieved another world record by launching a torpedo from a depth never equaled by another submarine.
Built exclusively for research, Dolphin is responsible for many achievements. Most significant among these is her unique deep diving capability… Employed by both Navy and civilian researchers, she is equipped with an impressive array of instruments that can support multiple missions…. She is currently configured to conduct extensive deep water acoustic research, oceanic survey work, sensor trials, and engineering evaluations.
…With her decommissioning on January 15, 2007, the United States retired its last active diesel-electric submarine.
Second display contains info about the sub’s design and it’s numerous historic achievements.
External mounting pads: 6 port, 6 starboard, forward and aft of sail
Crew compliment: 3 officers, 18 enlisted, 4 scientists (46 crew, all are not deployed)
Operational endurance: Over 15 days (for long deployments, Dolphin can be towed at 9-10 knots)
ACHIEVEMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
First successful submarine-to-aircraft optical communication
Development of a Laser Imaging system of photographic clarity
Development of an Extreme Low Frequency (ELF) antenna
Evaluation of various non-acoustic Anti-Submarine Warfare techniques
Evaluation of various “low probability of interception” active sonars
First submarine launch of a mobile submarine simulator (MOSS) system
First successful submarine test of BQS-15 sonar system
Development of a highly accurate towed body position monitoring system
Development of a highly accurate target management system
Evaluation of a possible “fifth force of nature”
First successful submarine-to-aircraft two-way laser communication
A museum visitor gets ready to walk outside to a very cool submarine.
Walking along the deck to forward end of the submarine. The tower-like sail contains the bridge, periscope and communications masts.
This forward hatch (and the rear one) were cut into the hull so museum visitors could easily walk through the sub’s length. Originally there was one hatch, at the sail.
An electrician volunteer, Ed, at work just inside the USS Dolphin. He told me several stories from his days serving on submarines.
A sign inside the underwater research vessel provides answers to a few common questions.
This sign inside the submarine answers some common questions and includes the following fascinating facts:
Dolphin’s hull material is HY-80 steel…her hull is a ring-stiffened cylinder without pressure bulkheads (if she has a leak the whole boat will flood)…
When she had her torpedo tube installed, Dolphin could carry four torpedoes… After initial tests and the launch of a torpedo in 1969 from the deepest depth ever recorded, Dolphin was refitted for other research purposes, and never carried torpedoes again.
There are no visual viewing ports in this submarine…. Dolphin did carry imaging electronics for observing the bottom.
Dolphin did not have any claws for picking items off the seafloor as she was restricted to a minimum altitude of fifty feet above the bottom. One experiment launched an ROV (remote operated vehicle) with power and communication cable attached to Dolphin while submerged…
Starting along the very narrow main hallway. This unusual sub contains no compartments. To the left one can see a reverse osmosis water filtration system.
Red pyro locker used to safely house signal flares.
Those crew bunks on the left don’t look terribly spacious or comfortable.
There are more pipes, wires, gauges, valves and gizmos than you can shake a stick at.
A group of curious visitors is entering the amazing Control Room, near the center of the USS Dolphin.
The periscope works and tourists can view San Diego Bay and downtown buildings with perfect clarity.
Folks peer down through floor at Pump Room below the Control Room, where a hero defied death to save his crewmates.
On May 21, 2002, the room below was the center of heroic action to save the submarine and crew. On that day, Dolphin was conducting training exercises about 100 miles off the San Diego coastline when a torpedo shield door gasket failed, and water began to flood the submarine…
Chief Machinist’s Mate (SW) John D. Wise Jr., realizing what needed to be done, dove into the 57 degree water of the flooded pump room…with less than a foot of breathable space…he aligned the seawater valves and then remained in the pump room for more than 90 minutes…
For his courageous efforts, Chief Wise was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
A panel with many complicated switches. In the Control Room, one can monitor the main storage batteries, generators and propulsion system.
The wheel used to pilot the Dolphin. One drove using only instruments, including gauges that display rise/dive, ordered depth, system depth, cavitation, turns, dummy log, depth to keel.
Photo of tiny Officers’ Quarters was through glass, which produced some glare.
This is the first toilet I’ve photographed for my blog. Hopefully the last!
Photos on wall of tiny mess area show what life was like aboard Dolphin.
This is where food was prepared.
This dining table was constantly in use. Not much to see in the way of decor.
Continuing down the main hallway toward the rear of the submarine. Don’t ask me what all this stuff is.
Apparently this is some sort of freezer.
You get an idea of what it’s like to carefully walk through the narrow submarine.
High-Pressure Air Compressor Controllers among a jumble of pipes and valves.
Up a ladder and back outside into the bright San Diego sunshine!
…
To enjoy future posts, you can “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
Cool San Diego Sights! 