USS Silversides return to Muskegon: the WWII submarine could be towed home from Wisconsin dry dock between Oct. 29 and Nov. 4

MUSKEGON, Mich. — Muskegon’s World War II submarine could be back at its pier within a week. The USS Silversides Submarine Museum says the boat’s tentative return window from a Wisconsin shipyard now runs from Thursday, Oct. 29, through Wednesday, Nov. 4, depending on the weather, WZZM reported Tuesday.

Before the tow across Lake Michigan, the 312-foot Gato-class sub still has to pass a float test and an incline, or stability, test, then be ballasted, get final touch-ups and be rigged for towing, the museum said. It has not announced an arrival time; check the museum’s website and social media before heading to the channel.

The trip out. Silversides left Muskegon just after 5:30 p.m. July 13, the first time it had pulled away from its port since 2001, while a crowd packed the pier and a flotilla lined the channel. Tugs Nickelena and Erika Kobasic, a 1939 Coast Guard cutter that served in World War II, towed it about 16 hours to Sturgeon Bay, Wis., according to the museum. On July 22 it was floated into dry dock at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, the nearest yard able to handle it, and the water was drained so it rested on blocks. It was the sub’s first dry docking since July 1954.

What crews found. The museum’s updates describe fewer zebra mussels than expected, but plenty of steel to replace in flooded spaces behind the torpedo doors that no one had seen since 1954. Crews also repaired steel near the stern torpedo shutter doors, sea chests and scuppers, worked on both radar antenna mounts, where they found decades of corrosion and even animal nests, and cleaned out decades of silt from the ballast tanks.

The best find, curator Scott said in an August update, was a flood valve stamped for USS Trigger, Silversides’ sister ship, built next to it. Trigger was sunk with all hands on March 28, 1945. “This could be the only surviving ‘Trigger’ submarine part,” he said. The valve and a pair of Silversides propeller nuts, which came off “with no fight,” were saved for a future museum exhibit.

The cost. The museum’s dry dock page puts the estimated cost at about $2 million, while WZZM reported a $3.5 million restoration. The museum is still raising money for the project. The work includes a new underwater hull coating meant to protect the sub for the next 15 to 20 years, about as long as subs like Silversides can go between dry dockings.

Visiting. The museum at 1346 Bluff St. stayed open while the sub was away. Summer hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, run through Saturday, Oct. 31. Winter hours begin Sunday, Nov. 1: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Monday, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Silversides sank more than 20 Japanese ships while patrolling the Pacific in World War II, WZZM noted, and has been a museum and landmark in Muskegon for decades.

Sources:
USS Silversides Submarine Museum, “Dry Dock Updates: USS Silversides” (July 13-14 tow, July 22 docking, 1954 and 2001, repairs, Trigger valve, propeller nuts, $2 million estimate, 15-20 years, hours, address), https://silversidesmuseum.org/dry-dock-updates-uss-silversides/
WZZM, “USS Silversides could return to Muskegon this week after repairs,” Oct. 27, 2026 (Oct. 29-Nov. 4 window, five milestones, $3.5 million, 20-plus ships sunk), https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/uss-silversides-could-return-to-muskegon-this-week/69-4b7d9ac4-0437-46bf-8bbe-a42ca084c7a3
Photo: JJonahJackalope, “USS Silversides, Muskegon, MI.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Silversides,_Muskegon,_MI.jpg

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