Former crew wants sub kept out of water

The sailors who crewed the 325-foot-long submarine Clamagore think it's time to pull the boat out of the water at Patriots Point and put it on display on dry land.

If not, they fear their Cold War memorial to the "Silent Service" will get lost to the elements, maybe forever.

"I think it will be a national disgrace if they let that boat perish, or let it perish any more than it has," said Jim Frostman, who was stationed aboard the Clamagore from 1955-1958.

"It can't survive down there," said Don Ulmer of Seattle, who went from sailor to U.S. Naval Academy graduate and the Clamagore's captain in the late 1960s.

The pair are in town for the annual reunion of the Clamagore Veterans Association. In between telling Cold War stories at their hotel Tuesday, several of the ex-crew members said it's time for the submarine to leave the water, contending that it could survive almost indefinitely clear of Charleston Harbor's damaging salts.

With the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum's two other major vessels -- the destroyer Laffey and aircraft carrier Yorktown -- also under stress, the crew of the Clamagore said their boat is being overshadowed by the two larger ships, something they consider an injustice given the submarine's role in defending the United States.

The Clamagore's story might be one that's been under-told in history. Commissioned in March 1945, much of her work was done under the cloak of the 1950s and '60s Cold War, when American and Soviet subs globally played games of Blind Man's Bluff beneath the sea.

Some of her crew let on that the Clamagore's hush-hush missions included trips to the shallows off Cuba during the missile crisis, where they spied on heavily used communist roads.

There also were cold-water runs to the frigid north shores of Russia, and war games where the Clamagore acted as a prowling enemy submarine.

Several of the men also said they've signed government documents in which they swore to secrecy on specific details of their work. But all have stories of life in the submarine's cramped quarters, where the stink of diesel fuel stuck to everything and every member of the 80-man crew.

"You can still smell it on the boat today," Frostman said. Historically, of the nine U.S. submarines that was classified as a Guppy III, eight have been scrapped; only the Clamagore survives.

The Clamagore's status is far from secure. A recent report by the Navy said conditions don't appear good.

"The outer hull has holes and sections where hull plate has been eaten away by corrosion," it read.

"Below the waterline the hull is covered by thick marine growth and therefore cannot fully be assessed as to its condition. However, the severe pitting at the waterline is a good indicator that the plate beneath the waterline is in poor condition as well."

Dick Trammel, executive director at the Patriots Point Development Authority, said officials are looking at solutions to protect the sub, ranging from raising it and moving it to land to putting it dry dock for repairs.

A study has been commissioned to look at a variety of costs, including what it would mean to take out piers and the loss of revenue if the sub leaves or is closed off for a while.

Meanwhile, the Clamagore's crew members said they just want their ship considered on equally footing when it comes to keeping the vessel ship-shape and on display.

"I know the carrier is a big thing," Ulmer said. "But (the Clamagore) is a unique experience."