War Memorial Park Authority releases renderings, plans to move USS Batfish

The War Memorial Park Authority in Muskogee is releasing how it plans to relocate the USS Batfish, and what a new museum could look like.

The WWII submarine has been closed to the public since being damaged in the flood of 2019.

Aside from movement caused by the historic May floods in 2019, the USS Batfish has sat still since the 70s.

Where It’s Going and How it Will Get There

Now there is hope for a new home, just a couple miles away at Port Muskogee Three Forks Harbor.

"We've got a plan to raise it up, put it on a trailer, float it down the Arkansas River,” War Memorial Park Authority Chair James Gulley said.

Moving the nearly three-million-pound sub will be quite a feat, and War Memorial Park Authority Chair James Gulley said the payoff will be a brand new museum, ready to welcome visitors, and people will be able to go inside the sub once again.

The move will cost millions.

"We've already got one grant from the City of Muskogee Foundation to help us hire all these professionals to help us build the museum, how to move the boat,” Gulley said.

USS Batfish Renderings

USS Batfish relocation

USS Batfish relocation

USS Batfish relocation

USS Batfish relocation

❮ ❯

×

Tours Inside the Sub Would Begin Again

News On 6 got a look inside the sub, led by Curator Jim Erb.

He is eager for the day that tours, and overnight visits can begin again.

"It's gonna be a beautiful day,” Erb said. “It's gonna be all my dreams and aspirations coming true."

Since 2019, Erb said the only people who have been inside the sub are congressmen, distinguished veterans, and a film crew working on a documentary about WWII. Erb said he has to get special permission from FEMA to make tours happen right now.

Before the flood, Gulley said the sub and museum averaged 50,000 visitors a year. With the sub closed to the public, it's about 500 a year.

"A lot of people come in go, 'Oh we can't go in the Batfish?' 'Well, no but you can take pictures around it and that.’ A lot of them will just turn around and say, 'Well thank you very much and we're gonna go on down the road,’” Gulley said.

What Happens Next

Now the plan is to get the sub down the road. The question is: Where will the money come from?

"And that's the thing that we need to remember, is it's not about the money,” Gulley said. “It's about protecting that heritage, going on down the road. Or else it's gone."

Right now Gulley said there is not a timeline for when the sub will be moved, but the War Memorial Park Authority said the lease is up at the current location, so it hopes to move it as soon as possible.

We're told that Port Muskogee approved the plans. The project still needs approval by the Army Corps of Engineers, which is studying the area and determining if there are any Indian artifacts there.