USS Silversides Submarine Museum

USS Silversides Museum

On April 30th, I visited the USS Silversides museum located in Muskegon, Michigan. On the museum grounds it houses a main facility which holds their exhibit, collections, and archiving room and next to it, docked in the Muskegon River is the submarine USS Silversides and the Coast Guard Cutter USCGC McLane. While I was there I was able to speak to the Director of the museum, and afterwards I completed my own tour through the submarine and the cutter, as well as freely walked around their exhibit. In this blog I will write about the accessibility of the museum, and the available programs the museum has to offer. I had a wonderful time at the museum and I hope you enjoy my work.  

The main facility of the museum is ADA approved and is built to standard, so says the director. The grounds to the museum were flat and the entrance had push open doors with no lip on the door frame to prevent someone from coming in. The museum provides large signage and easy to read lettering. It provides an elevator to the second floor, and the ground is all one level so it’s easy to maneuver through. Artifacts housed in the museum are either in glass display cases or are hands on and space between artifacts and barriers are conscious of disabilities. Artifacts that are hands on are placed in easy to reach areas and are placed appropriately off the ground, or are placed directly on the ground such as sonar and communications tech. Accessibility into the vessels is a little trickier though, the cutter has a ramp to access the deck of the vessel but you cannot go below deck without using the flight of stairs. The submarine has only been modified by having holes cut out to have better access to the ladders to get below deck, but does not allow another way in. To give access to the public who cannot necessarily navigate the vessels the museum provides electronic tours that show visitors everything the vessels have to offer by showing a recorded walk through of each vessel and a voice over relaying information.Their restroom facilities were quite nice and provided easy access as well.

The museum not only provides great material, it also provides great educational opportunities. One of their largest most popular program is their over the night stay on both the submarine and the cutter, where they allow large or small groups to participate, often hosting for the boy scouts. They also provide a STEM program and one of their activities is to build a robotic sub that can work and operate on water. They also host lectures covering World War II material and vessel information in their theater on the first floor.

                This museum was pretty cool if I have to say so myself. Being able to learn so much about these two particular vessels and then to actually be able to walk through them and to explore them was quite the unique experience. I highly suggest visiting this museum not only for the material and the great experience but because the staff members were accommodating and pleasant. They do accept interns and what a wonderful opportunity this would be.