There's a Deadly Submarine Docked in Lake Michigan

Muskegon — There's no shortage of museums in Michigan you just gotta see. The Henry Ford in Dearborn is home to some of the most iconic artifacts in American history, from the actual bus Rosa Parks rode in to the car in which President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise has some of the coolest shipwreck relics in the country. But one museum almost nobody knows about, just past Pere Marquette Beach in Muskegon, offers one of the coolest historical experiences you'll find anywhere in the country.

At the USS Silversides Submarine Museum in Muskegon, you can actually climb aboard one of the most decorated submarines of World War II. The USS Silversides, or SS-236, was in commission for four years during World War II and has been docked here in Michigan since 1987.

The submarine was first commissioned just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was built as a Gato-class submarine, which basically just means it was one of the subs the Navy used the most to fight in the Pacific.

Over the next four years, Silversides completed 14 war patrols, sinking 23 confirmed Japanese ships totaling more than 90,000 tons of enemy shipping. It earned 12 battle stars along the way and received the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions in combat.

And the SS-236 went through a lot during those four years to earn such high regard. It survived repeated depth charge attacks, helped rescue American pilots, and escorted a badly damaged sister submarine to safety after a firefight with Japanese ships.

At one point, an armed torpedo got stuck inside one of its own launch tubes. The crew couldn't disarm it, so they reversed the sub at full speed and fired it away, which miraculously worked.

After the war, the submarine spent years as a training vessel for naval reservists in Chicago before making its way across Lake Michigan to Muskegon in 1987. And that's how it ended up in Michigan, where it's stayed ever since, docked as the main attraction at what's now the USS Silversides Submarine Museum.

As part of the museum, visitors can step aboard the submarine and walk through the same tight passageways where sailors lived, slept, worked, and fought during the war. The old torpedo rooms, control room, engine spaces, and crew quarters are all open to explore, and guided tours are available, too.

In addition to the submarine, there's a two-story museum filled with WWII history. Inside, you'll find model versions of the SS-236 and other ships used by the United States during the war, a working periscope you can look through, and cases of memorabilia from the men who served.

If you've been planning a trip to Muskegon anytime soon, you're in luck, because this weekend is actually your last chance to see the Silversides before it leaves for the rest of the summer!

On July 13, the museum is hosting a community send-off event as the submarine will be departing from Muskegon for its first full dry dock preservation in more than 50 years. It'll cross Lake Michigan to a shipyard in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, where crews will clean the hull, make repairs, and apply new coatings to keep the submarine in good shape for another 25 to 30 years.

But if you missed the chance to see it this summer, no worries, the museum itself will stay open the whole time the Silversides is gone, and the submarine is expected to be back home in Muskegon by October.

It's not every day you get to walk through a piece of history like this before it disappears for a few months, so if you can make it to Muskegon this weekend, it's definitely worth the trip.