U.S.S. Batfish - The Oklahoma Submarine

One of the most remarkable sights in the South is the U.S.S. Batfish, a famed World War II submarine that sits high and dry in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Commissioned in 1943, the Batfish was named for a ferocious West Indian fish and lived up to its name in combat against the forces of Imperial Japan. Credited with sinking 15 Japanese vessels, the Batfish earned lasting fame late in the war when it destroyed 3 enemy submarines in 76 hours. The record stands to this day as a landmark in naval warfare.

When the war ended, the Batfish became part of the large U.S. "mothball" fleet of vessels no longer needed by the peacetime navy. By the late 1960s, she had deteriorated badly. An effort developed in Oklahoma, however, to save a World War II submarine. The effort originally focused on the U.S.S. Pirahna, but she proved too badly deteriorated. The Navy, instead, recommended the Batfish.

Towed from Texas up the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers in 1972, the submarine was moved into its current position at Muskogee during the extremely high water of 1973. The sub now sits high and dry, 30 feet above the normal stage of the Arkansas River.

The Batfish is the centerpiece of Muskogee's noteworthy War Memorial Park. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/okbatfish.

Submarine Smuggling not a new concept...

If you haven't seen it yet, CNN reported this week that smugglers have turned to submarines in an effort to sneak drugs across the Gulf of Mexico and into the United States.

As novel as it might sound, this is not exactly a new idea. In true Southern tradition, moonshiners on the Mississippi River once used a homemade submarine to slip illegal whiskey to shore from a hidden island distillery. Powered by a Model T Ford engine, the little one man sub carried moonshine from Davis Island to shore during the early days of prohibition.

The Mississippi Moonshine Running Submarine is now a permanent exhibit at one of my favorite historic sites, Grand Gulf Military Monument near Port Gibson, Mississippi. The site of an important battle during the Civil War's Vicksburg Campaign, Grand Gulf was a significant community on the Mississippi River during antebellum times.

Floods and disease drove away most of the inhabitants, however, and most of what remained of the town was destroyed during the war. The park today preserves a fascinating array of historic sites and artifacts, including earthwork forts and entrenchments, historic structures... and the moonshine running submarine!

You can learn more about Grand Gulf Military Monument and its little known submarine by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/grandgulf1.