The USS Silversides Museum — a Muskegon mainstay known to Michigan youth as the place where they once spent the night on a World War II submarine — parted this week with one of its prized exhibits, an old, former Coast Guard cutter.
The USCGC McLane figuratively sailed off into the sunset.
“The McLane had been a symbol of service and strength for decades,” museum Executive Director Veronica Campbell said in prepared remarks released on social media, adding that it “was difficult to say goodbye.”
Bob Lukens, the director of the Muskegon Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Free Press that it was unfortunate the vessel “left us,” but after years at sea, it was well “beyond restoration.”
Lukens pointed out the sub museum is one of two veteran museums in the Muskegon. The other is the USS LST 393 Veterans Museum, which maintains another vessel.
The West Michigan submarine museum tried to preserve the McLane — which was commissioned nearly a century ago and named after Louis McLane, a veteran of the War of 1812 — for as long as it could.
McLane also was a U.S. representative, and later, a senator from Delaware, the tenth U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, the twelfth U.S. Secretary of State, ambassador to Great Britain and president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
But in recent months, the ship had been closed because it posed a safety concern to visitors, and, the museum said, it was no longer financially feasible to keep repairing and maintaining it.
The vessel was towed across Muskegon Lake and sold for scrap.
Grand Rapids TV stations, such as WZZM, covered its departure; and on Thursday, when museum staffer Tom Johnson came to work, he said, it felt strange not to see the ship there anymore.
The cutter had been part of the museum since 1993, and the museum pointed out, it had a proud history that was even connected to submarines. The ship was commissioned into the Coast Guard in 1927, and for a few years — from 1941 to 1946 — the U.S. Navy used it for anti-submarine warfare.
One account credits the cutter with sinking a Japanese submarine in 1942.
After the war, the McLane, went back to the Coast Guard.
It was decommissioned in 1968, and for many years, the Sea Scouts, a Boy Scouts of America program for teens and young adults that focuses on seamanship and boating, used it as a training vessel.
The museum, in a Sept. 10 announcement posted to social media, said that it had made the difficult decision to finally let the ship go after “thoughtful deliberation” by the staff and board.
With winter coming, the museum said, it realized that “time, weather and structural decline” had taken their toll. Artifacts aboard the ship, the museum said, were removed and will remain part of the museum’s collection.
The institution also noted that with the cutter gone, it can focus on new opportunities to expand and enhance the museum’s other exhibits and educational programs.
In the past, visits by book authors have drawn crowds and national attention to the museum.
The tourist destination added that it has plans for fundraising efforts to support and restore the World War II Gato-class submarine, the Silversides, which, a local official said, has been featured in Hollywood movies. In addition to tours, the submarine allows youth groups — from 20 to 72 youngsters — to sleep overnight.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article has been updated with new information.
If you go
The USS Silversides Museum, west of downtown Muskegon, just south of the Muskegon Lake channel, is housed in a two-story museum that bills itself as a place where “local heroes tell the story of World War II.”
Seasonal hours: September through December and April and May are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. In the winter, January through March hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The museum is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. And in the summer, June through August, hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. all week.
Tickets: $8.50 for children 5 and older and adults. Younger children and active duty military are free. Tickets to stay overnight on the submarine range from $35-$40 per person, per night and do not include meals.
Address: 1346 Bluff St., Muskegon
Phone number: 231-755-1230
Website: silversidesmuseum.org
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ship that hunted submarines in World War II departs Muskegon museum
Reporting by Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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