Established | 2005 |
---|---|
Location | 120 Riverfront Park Drive North Little Rock, Arkansas |
Coordinates | 34°45′09″N92°16′00″W / 34.752592°N 92.2667°W |
Type | Maritime museum |
Website | aimmuseum.org |
The Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum is a maritime museum located at 120 Riverfront Park Drive, North Little Rock, Arkansas which opened on May 15, 2005. The museum's collection includes artifacts from multiple vessels from the state's history, as well as two World War 2 vessels.
The genesis of the museum came in 2001, when a group of U.S. Navy veterans started efforts to bring the USS Razorback back to America from Turkey after its decommission from the Turkish Navy. The veterans approached North Little Rock Mayor Hayes and secured his support. [1]
The museum was opened in July 2005 after the arrival of the USS Razorback a month prior. The museum consists of three Army Corp of Engineer barges, which hold the museum, waiting room, and observation deck. In November 2013, a memorial to the submarine USS Scorpion was added to the grounds of the museum. [1]
The museum's primary exhibit is USS Razorback, a Balao-class submarine, which served during World War II (commissioned in 1944) and then served in the Korean, Vietnam and Cold Wars. The submarine was eventually transferred to the Turkish Navy (serving as TCG Muratreis until 2001) before returning to the US to become a museum ship. It is arguably the longest-serving submarine still existing in the world, and was commissioned by the United States and Turkey for 57 years of active duty (Taiwan has two World War II-era submarines that have been continuously in service since 1945 and 1946 first with the US Navy and then the Republic of China Navy, which are ROCS Hai Shih and ROCS Hai Pao). The museum provides tours of Razorback and even offers sleepovers on the submarine. [2]
The museum's collection also includes the Hoga, a US Navy tugboat. This vessel, which survived and responded to the Attack on Pearl Harbor, was acquired by the museum on 28 November 2015. [3]
The museum has vessels that are bookends for the US in World War II, with Hoga from the beginning of the war at Pearl Harbor, alongside Razorback which was present in Tokyo Bay at the surrender of Japan. [4]
The museum has an exhibit on the World War 1 Dreadnought, including the ship's bell and officer's china. The USS Arkansas was active in the U.S. Navy for 34 years, having seen combat at the occupation of Vera Cruz and Operation Overlord. [5]
The museum has an exhibit on the nuclear-powered cruiser USS Arkansas, including the ship's bell and anchor.
The Type A Ko-hyoteki class was a class of Japanese midget submarines (Kō-hyōteki) used during World War II. They had hull numbers but no names. For simplicity, they are most often referred to by the hull number of the mother submarine. Thus, the midget carried by I-16-class submarine was known as I-16's boat, or "I-16tou."
The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, Hawaii, with large secondary facilities at Naval Air Station North Island, California.
USS Pampanito (SS-383/AGSS-383), a Balao-class submarine, is a United States Navy ship, the third named for the pompano fish. She completed six war patrols from 1944 to 1945 and served as a United States Naval Reserve training ship from 1960 to 1971. She is now a National Historic Landmark, preserved as a memorial and museum ship in the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association located at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California.
A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small number of museum ships that are still operational and thus capable of regular movement.
USS Bowfin (SS/AGSS-287), is a Balao-class submarine of the United States Navy named for the bowfin fish. Since 1981, she has been open to public tours at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, next to the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center.
The Balao class was a design of United States Navy submarine used during World War II, and with 120 boats completed, the largest class of submarines in the United States Navy. An improvement on the earlier Gato class, the boats had slight internal differences. The most significant improvement was the use of thicker, higher yield strength steel in the pressure hull skins and frames, which increased their test depth to 400 feet (120 m). Tang actually achieved a depth of 612 ft (187 m) during a test dive, and exceeded that test depth when taking on water in the forward torpedo room while evading a destroyer.
USS Snook (SS-279), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the common snook, an Atlantic marine fish that is bluish-gray above and silvery below a black lateral line.
USS Silversides (SS/AGSS-236) is a Gato-class submarine, the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the silversides.
The USS Arizona Memorial, at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and commemorates the events of that day. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the United States' involvement in World War II.
USS Razorback (SS-394), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named after the razorback, a species of whale found in the far southern reaches of the Pacific Ocean. She is arguably the longest-serving combat front-line submarine still existing in the world, having been commissioned by two different countries for 56 years of active duty. She was in Tokyo Bay during the surrender of Japan. In 2004, the state of Arkansas adopted the submarine and she is now a museum ship at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum.
USS Cutlass (SS-478), is a Tench-class submarine now in the service of the Republic of China Navy. She was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the cutlassfish, a long, thin fish found widely along the coasts of the United States and in the West Indies. Her keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard on 10 July 1944. She was launched on 5 November 1944 sponsored by Mrs. R. E. Kintner, and commissioned on 17 March 1945 with Commander Herbert L. Jukes in command.
The first USS Batfish (SS/AGSS-310) is a Balao-class submarine, known primarily for sinking three Imperial Japanese Navy submarines in a 76-hour period, in February 1945. USS Batfish is the first vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the batfish, a type of anglerfish that crawls about on the sea floor.
USS Caiman (SS-323), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy that was later transferred to the Turkish Naval Forces in 1972 under the Security Assistance Program, where she was recommissioned as the third TCG Dumlupınar. She was retired in 1986.
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Hoga (YT-146/YTB-146/YTM-146) is a United States Navy Woban-class district harbor tug named after the Sioux Indian word for "fish." After World War II, the tug was known as Port of Oakland and then City of Oakland when she was a fireboat in Oakland, California.
The National Museum of the United States Navy, or U.S. Navy Museum for short, is the flagship museum of the United States Navy and is located in the former Breech Mechanism Shop of the old Naval Gun Factory on the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., United States.
Naval Station Pearl Harbor is a United States naval base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. In 2010, as part of the recommendations of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission, the naval station was consolidated with the United States Air Force's Hickam Air Force Base to form Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam. Since 1940, Pearl Harbor has been the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet.
The Japanese submarine I-203 was an I-201-class high-speed submarine built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She was commissioned in May 1945, and the war ended before she could carry out an operational patrol. She surrendered to the United States Navy in 1945 and was sunk as a target in 1946.