Go Inside the Sub with CASPR on KTHV, Channel 11, April 5, 2007
Read report HERE or View the complete video HERE.
Report also available HERE.
CASPR was granted exclusive access to investigate the USS Razorback submarine! While we were honored to be the first paranormal research group to investigate, we do hope that others will have the same opportunity in the future to experience this historically interesting, yet spooky place for themselves.
Visit the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum HERE.
Submarine History:
Razorback, Balao-class submarine of the Sandlance variant, was built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Her keel was laid on 09 September, 1943.
Razorback was constructed in Drydock #1 at the shipyard, and she was launched, along with two sister ships (USS Redfish (SS 395) and USS Ronquil (SS 396)) on 27 January, 1944. USS Scabbardfish (SS 397) was also launched at the shipyard that day. This was the largest single-day launch of US submarines ever.
She was commissioned on 03 April, 1944. Her first Commanding Officer was LCDR Albert W. Bontier, USN.
During her training period, Razorback ran aground in the late evening of 23 May, 1944 at Race Rock Light outside New London submarine base. Initial attempts to free her failed, and ultimately Razorback would be forced to unload gun, ammunition, and torpedoes from the forward torpedo room. Following a short drydocking period (27 May - 04 June), Razorback resumed her training regimen. CDR Roy S. Benson relieved LCDR Bontier as Commanding Officer on 05 June, 1944. (LCDR Bontier would go on to command USS Seawolf (SS 197), which was probably sunk on 03 October 1944.)
Razorback conducted five combat patrols during World War II, sinking Japanese vessels, capturing Japanese POWs and rescuing American pilots who had been shot down. At the end of WWII, she was one of only 12 submarines selected to be present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrender was signed.
After WWII, Razorback was active in the Cold War, conducting surveillance patrols around Russian Ports, photographing Russian vessels, and conducting training missions with US ships and aircraft, as well as with US Coast Guard vessels and the vessels of the Canadian, British, and other allied nations. She received the coveted Navy "E" for overall excellence in 1949.
Razorback was decommissioned on 05 August 1952 in order to undergo conversion and modernization under the "GUPPY" program (Greater Underwater Propulsive Power). The GUPPY program was developed by the US Navy after World War II to improve the submerged speed, maneuverability and endurance of their submarines. The modifications were done at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine where she had been built just eight years before. Yet in those eight short years, many different technologies had advanced. The world had also changed and both the technological changes and the geopolitical changes were having a direct impact on submarine operations and submarine design.
Recommissioned on 08 January 1954, Razorback resumed her Cold War duties. During 1955 alone, she made over 390 dives during exercises and ASW training. In 1957 she made a surveillance patrol around the Russian port of Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia's primary submarine port in the Pacific.
She also participated in testing of the ASROC (Anti-Submarine Rocket) in 1957. ASROC was designed to give surface ships a long-range ASW capability.
Razorback was awarded a second Battle "E" on 11 August 1959.
In 1960, Razorback continued her R&D work with both the Naval Electronics Library and the Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory.
From November 1961 to February 1962, Razorback was dry docked in San Francisco for additional modifications, including the replacement of her "step-sail" (installed as part of the GUPPY program) with a larger "North Atlantic" sail (the same sail she still has today).
On May 11, 1962, Razorback participated in the "SWORDFISH" nuclear weapons test. An ASROC with a nuclear depth charge warhead was fired by the destroyer Agerholmn (DD 826) at a target raft from a range of 2 nautical miles. Razorback was submerged at periscope depth 2 nautical miles from the target raft. The ASROC weapon produced a powerful underwater shock wave which visibly shook Razorback and her crew. The resulting data was used to formulate tactical doctrine for ASROC, a weapon that remained in front-line service for nearly 30 years.
Following the "SWORDFISH" test, Razorback resumed her normal duties. She conducted ASW training with many different vessels and aircraft. In 1962, Razorback traveled to Seattle, Washington where she participated in the annual "Sea Fair". She hosted an estimated 5,000 visitors during her stay.
In 1963, she rescued VADM Gerald F. Bogan, USN (ret) and six other men after Admiral Bogan's yacht, Freedom II, sank in the Pacific Ocean midway between Hawaii and San Diego. In 1967, Razorback rescued two US Navy crew members from a downed S-2E aircraft. Two Razorback crewmen received citations from the Secretary of the Navy for aiding in the rescue and treatment of the airmen.
On 29 June 1965, Razorback deployed to the western Pacific for seven months, receiving the Vietnam Service Medal and visiting many ports of call before returning to the United States in early 1966.
In May 1967, Razorback recorded her 6,000th dive.
On 02 July, 1969, Razorback won the Navy "E" for a third time.
During this period Razorback was also participating in the Vietnam War. She received the Vietnam Service medal four times and the Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation twice. She received five battle stars for her Vietnam-era patrols.
On 30 November, 1970, USS Razorback was decommissioned and transferred to the Turkish Navy. She was recommissioned as TCG Muratreis (S 336).
Muratreis served the Turkish Navy as a front-line submarine until she was decommissioned on August 9,2001.
Ex-Muratreis was purchased from Turkey by the city of North Little Rock, Arkansas, on 25 March 2004 for $37,500. The purchase price and all towing costs were paid for by private donations. It was towed from Turkey on 5 May, across the Mediterranean Sea to Gibraltar and then across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving at Key West, Florida, on the evening of Sunday, 13 June 2004.
On 14 June 2004, the submarine was again taken under tow, and arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 19 June. Thence it was towed up the Mississippi River and the Arkansas River to her permanent berth in North Little Rock. After a stopover for the dedication of the Montgomery Point Lock and Dam on 16 July, its transit was delayed by the Army Corps of Engineers over safety concerns.
On 29 August, Razorback reached her berth in North Little Rock, at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum.