USS Cavalla
The USS Cavalla, nicknamed “Lucky Lady”, originally served from 1943-1946. In 1944 she sunk the Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku with three torpedo hits. The Shokaku was one of the carriers responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Cavalla was brought back into service in 1951, was refitted twice, and continued to serve through 1969. She was transferred to Texas in 1971 and is now at Seawolf Park in Galveston.
The Cavalla is as long as a football field and one of it’s end zones.
We are starting out in the forward torpedo room.
There is also an aft torpedo room. This sub was built with a total of 10 torpedo tubes.
We are moving into the forward battery compartment and the officer’s quarters.
A total of six officers lived on this sub.
These are the Captain’s quarters.
Very tight spaces in here.
We are moving into the control room. The tower should be right above us.
It doesn’t look like we’re going to be going up to the bridge and attack center.
Next we are moving to the crew mess which is where the crew members would eat. I believe the officers would eat back in the officer’s quarters and the enlisted would eat here.
This is the crew mess. It has seating for 24. It looks like they could play checkers, chess, backgammon, watch TV or eat in this space.
It’s almost as if they knew who was on board.
These are the crew quarters. We already saw the officer’s quarters. This is where the enlisted would sleep. There are bunks for 36 men in here. Now we know where the phrase “close quarters” comes from.
Next we are moving into the forward engine room.
Next is the main engine room.
The aft engine room contains the #3 and #4 main engines (1600 horsepower each) and the #3 and #4 main generators (1100 kilowatts each).
This is the propulsion cubicle. When surfaced it receives power from the main generators and distributes power to the main motors and batteries. When submerged it receives power from the batteries and distributes power just to the main motors.
We are moving into the aft torpedo room.
And that concludes our tour of the Cavalla.
