BULLETIN 34

RAZORBACK MAKES IT TO NORTH LITTLE ROCK

There is a here-to-fore untold story about the Razorback's trip up the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers to her final port of destination.

In the midst of summer the rivers of the United States dwindle in depth. The Arkansas is no exception and in August of 2004 it was at a very low level. Razorback is a typical Guppy and without batteries has a draft of nearly sixteen feet. The run up the Arkansas from the confluence of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers to North Little Rock was restricted in places to depths of around twelve feet. This meant that to get the boat up the river it was going to take a lot of weight reduction and perhaps some very innovative buoying.

The Razorback stopped at a point below the shallow stretches of the river while some Razorback veterans, the public works department of the City of North Little Rock, and several City engineers worked to remove weight from the boat. Several tons of lead ballast was found in the bilges of the after torpedo room and this was removed, but for every ton of released weight in the after end of the boat the bow sunk deeper due to its moment.

No amount of weight reduction was going to lift Razorback high enough in the water to get it over the shallows and on to North Little Rock. The JanTran Barge company was contacted and barges were set on both port and starboard sides of the Razorback. The barges were partially flooded while breast and spring lines kept the barges tightly in place. Three inch wire cables were run under the boat and were aligned exactly at the hard points of the ship's keel. These are the points on the ship's bottom which are used for blocking in dry dock. The barges were then pumped free of water while the breast and spring lines were adjusted. This brought the boat high enough in the water for it to continue its journey up the Arkansas River.

The engineering problems were complicated, but the Razorback veterans' memories of the boat's construction didn't fail them. They were able to solve the buoyancy problems and together with engineers and pilots snake the boat way up the river.

When the boat reached Little Rock she was moored in the stream which meant that she could only be reached by small boat. The logistical and clean-up work was immense and Razorback was on a schedule to be ready for the public by August 29th, 2004. The boat was moved down to North Little Rock to her final berth where serious clean-up work got underway. Local volunteer prisoners pitched in to help civilian volunteers. The prisoners had never been in a submarine and loved every minute of their experience in spite of being covered with grease and water.

The good-old Razorback will be ready for visitors in North Little Rock on August 29th in large part due to the remarkable memories of Razorback veterans who were comfortable in dealing with the boat's technical problems.

The story of the Razorback return is an amazing story full of insurmountable problems that were solved, political obstacles that were overcome and obstinate rivers that were conquered.

We submarine veterans owe much to these colleagues who have given of their time and energies to the preservation of submarine history.