USS Cod Submarine Memorial

USS Cod Submarine Memorial USS Cod Submarine Memorial is a restored WW II sub. Call 440-832-9722 for tour availability.
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The USS Cod Submarine Memorial is a WWII submarine and National Historic Landmark located in Cleveland’s North Coast Harbor. She is maintained and operated as a memorial to the more than 3900 submariners who lost their lives during the history of the United States Navy Submarine Force. The public is invited to visit the boat from 10am-5pm daily between April 20 and November 30, Saturdays from Dec

ember to April weather permitting. School field trips and group tours are encouraged and can be arranged via e-mail at [email protected].

Remember back a few weeks when crewman Evan Koren was stripping our 5-inch/25-caliber submarine deck gun barrel in prepa...
09/01/2026

Remember back a few weeks when crewman Evan Koren was stripping our 5-inch/25-caliber submarine deck gun barrel in preparation for a new paint job? Remember how he uncovered a highly unusual saw tooth camouflage pattern etched into the barrel? And remember how we said if we ever find a picture of a boat with this unique pattern that it might reveal what submarine originally carried our gun? Well Evan is "the man" today. From his college dorm he sent me this image of that exact pattern on a gun that was carried aboard USS Sennet!!! Now I can't be 100% certain but I will easily say that we can be 97% certain he solved the mystery! Way to go Evan!

The ironic thing is that my predecessor in operating USS Cod Submarine Memorial, Captain Donald Gairing, was a Sennet officer in the 1950s! He long wanted to get a wet mount for Cod under his tenure but atbthat time none were available from Navy curators. Only later did I convince the Navy we were worthy of one when our gun became available. Its a small and very interesting world!

Look at the pictures and comment... what do you think? Now that you've solved they gun mystery Evan, crack those college textbooks!

Okay, where are we aboard USS Cod Submarine Memorial? Pictures from crewmen Lou Vertosnik and Marschall Beers.
08/26/2026

Okay, where are we aboard USS Cod Submarine Memorial?

Pictures from crewmen Lou Vertosnik and Marschall Beers.

There's a lot going inside Cod's superstructure ... that mysterious area below the steel and wood deck and above the pre...
08/20/2026

There's a lot going inside Cod's superstructure ... that mysterious area below the steel and wood deck and above the pressure hull. This area contains vents and vent riser pipes, line lockers, mufflers and air induction piping. Those vent riser pipes allow air trapped in the ballast tanks (when surfaced) to escape and allow water to enter the ballast tanks to dive. The risers exit the tanks in a V-shaped channel running most of the sub's length. But the channels, called waterways, hold rain water. The bottom of the risers sitting in the waterways can rust out over time and allow water to enter ballast tanks. We've been working on repairing those rotted pipes and are in the words of former Navy hull tech and project supervisor Lou Vertosnik, "about halfway through."

We started at the bow and worked aft. Since the deck tapers down towards the stern, we are now working in an area that is getting more and more cramped. And to further complicate things, some vent risers are located under Cod's four massive engine mufflers. Thank God for our younger crewmen who have been crawling into the dirty cramped spaces to remove and later install the repaired risers. You will never notice this vital work directly, but keeping Cod upright on a zero bubble is very important! My thanks to Andrew Watkins for most of the images here.

HOW HIGH & HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?An update on the refurbishing of our 5-inch 25-caliber submarine deck gun: in an effort to...
08/12/2026

HOW HIGH & HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

An update on the refurbishing of our 5-inch 25-caliber submarine deck gun: in an effort to access hard-to-reach areas of this 7-ton gun, we removed our elevation and depression limiters so Evan Koren can prepare the gun for paint. What that illustrates is the unusual range of elevation and depression the gun barrel can achieve. I would not want try to load a 76-lb shell into a breech that is only inches off the deck. And in fact there would be little need for high elevation for this gun mount since firing at aircraft was forbidden. And as for the the depression of the barrel, well I'd not want to be on deck when shooting at a target so close as to require that amount of barrel depression. The target would have to be only a few yards away! Thanks to Evan for the pictures. Other Cod crew involved in the gun project include Marschall Beers and Lou Vertosnik.

They're never too young to appreciate history! USS Cod Submarine Memorial represents fascinating industrial, cultural an...
08/09/2026

They're never too young to appreciate history!

USS Cod Submarine Memorial represents fascinating industrial, cultural and international history that is appreciated by this father and son duo who recently toured this Gato class sub. Junior was captivated by the scintillating text of our tour brochure. The graphics had him absolutely drooling as well!

Lest you think all we do is scrape deck gun barrels aboard Cod let me give you a sampling of SOME of the other projects ...
08/05/2026

Lest you think all we do is scrape deck gun barrels aboard Cod let me give you a sampling of SOME of the other projects our crew is working on currently. Marschall Beers has been tackling Cod's signal/searchlight mounted in the shears. Marschall made new handles for the shutter mechanism and refurbished the barrel and mounting studs. He and the rest of us are trying to figure out how it came to be mounted upside down in its mounting cradle. Sadly when our absolutely newest crewman hauled the heavy light up into the shears to remount it, a bolt broke in half, requiring him to bring it and the light back to the workshop to fix it. Such are the tribulations of working on an 83-year-old submarine.

The deck cove molding in the forward battery will be completely reinstalled by the time you read this. We've been busy with higher priority jobs onboard Cod of late so its taken longer to finish this multi- compartment job than we hoped. Dave Krejci's efforts will return Cod's interior decks to original appearance. Now we have to finish it entirely by laying the custom-colored flooring on the afterbattery decks. Once complete we'll simulate the deck trim where the deck segments could be taken up during battery replacement operations. Crewman Jon Bradrick polished the metal cove moldings several years ago and more importantly marked them for proper reinstallation!

The ballast tank vent riser repair project continues towards the finish line thanks to the dedication of many of the crew who have been crawling into the dirty cramped spaces in the superstructure to remove, repair and reinstall large steel pipes that allow Cod to dive. Frequent rain and active wasp nesting is an additional joy. Corrosion holes in these pipes are the main culprit for many fleet subs taking rain water into their ballast tanks from above! We thank Steve Hogrefe for his expert welding work to repair the risers and Marschall and Jim Newton for diving the superstructure to install them, all under the watchful eye of hull tech Lou Vertosnik.

Sometimes the new guy makes a discovery aboard Cod that sheds new light on WWII history.Like Evan Koren, shown here prep...
07/30/2026

Sometimes the new guy makes a discovery aboard Cod that sheds new light on WWII history.

Like Evan Koren, shown here preparing our Mark 40 5-inch wet mount for new paint. Wanting to get good results, Evan began the project by scraping off 80 years of paint from the 25-caliber barrel. Once bare metal was exposed it revealed not only the peen marks that suggested where the top black shading should transition to haze gray, but also a very distinctive sawtooth pattern that somehow was etched into the sides of the barrel. I've seen dozens of camouflage patterns on 5-inch wet mounts and our gun -- obtained in 1992 from the Navy History and Heritage Command -- has carried both a gentle sine-wave pattern, used aboard Cod in WWII, as well as the straight fog line used in the 1950s. But I have never seen this saw tooth pattern. It's no secret that this isn't the same gun Cod carried in battle and only a super sleuth could identify what sub this gun served aboard, but we hope that possibly we can find a picture of a sub carrying this rare pattern.

Another step towards the goal! After Cod crew restored the galley ovens to working order over the winter/spring we baked...
07/24/2026

Another step towards the goal! After Cod crew restored the galley ovens to working order over the winter/spring we baked pizzas, cookies and sticky buns. That got me thinking about Cod's other oven, the warming oven in the officer's pantry. I knew there was something stowed inside the small appliance built into the forward bulkead of this workspace for the stewards, but a sticky oven door made easy opening very difficult. But open it did and it revealed a lower heating element and a spare on top of it. We also realized there was no oven wire rack inside!

Talented restoration crewman Lou Vertosnik to the rescue. Lou had made three similar custom racks for the galley ovens and this one was very similar. Before I knew it Lou made a replacement rack and installed it in the oven. We've no plans to fire it up at present but if we decide on it then it will happen. Frankly in summer heat we'd rather have the pantry refrigerator below the oven restored to keep our tour guide beverages nice and cold.

ATTENTION EVERYONE -- NOW HEAR THIS!We generally don't recommend local businesses but one very patriotic custom cookie ...
07/21/2026

ATTENTION EVERYONE -- NOW HEAR THIS!
We generally don't recommend local businesses but one very patriotic custom cookie confectionery deserves our special attention.

KRIS'S COOKIES! (330) 931-1761
They have faithfully donated custom designed cookies for our USS Cod Submarine Memorial special events for years. Take a look at their artistry below... and know they taste as good as they look!

These cookies were for our annual Dutch Friendship Day that honors Cod's WWII rescue of the crew of the Dutch Submarine O-19. Cookies represent the US flag, the Netherlands flag, Cod's battle emblem and the O-19 rescue martini glass. Despite a full sheet cake served as well, the cookies were the absolute star of the event. And some were even wrapped to go back to the Netherlands embassy! Your next event will really stand out with a tray or two of Kris' Cookies.

Address

1201 N Marginal Road
Cleveland, OH
44114

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+14408329722

Website

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