STURGEON BAY, WI – Restorers working on the World War II submarine USS Silversides have made an unexpected discovery: a flood valve that may be the only surviving component of the USS Trigger, another submarine that sank during the war. The Silversides is undergoing renovations in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, as part of a $3.5 million preservation project that will restore its steel hull, remove invasive zebra mussels, add protective coatings and apply a fresh coat of paint. During World War II, the 312-foot-long submarine patrolled the Pacific Ocean, sinking at least 23 enemy vessels. Since 1987, the decommissioned vessel has operated as a floating museum in Muskegon, Michigan.

While working on the Silversides, experts with Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding discovered a piece of metal stamped “TRIGGER L-792-228, F [R or B] -47-STBD.” This component was once a flood valve, a hinged cover on one of the submarine’s ballast tanks that was used to take in or release seawater, reports Dan Basso for the Lansing State Journal. This particular flood valve appears to have been destined for a different submarine altogether: the Trigger. For reasons still unknown, it ended up on the Silversides. Adding to the mystery, crews found it on the submarine’s port side, though it’s labeled as a starboard side component.

Museum leaders plan to remove and preserve the Trigger flood valve. “Coolest find yet,” Scott Hardin, the museum’s vessel curator, says in a Facebook post. “This could be the only surviving Trigger submarine part.”

Rick Connole, whose father, David Connole, served as the Trigger’s final commanding officer, thinks he knows how the Trigger’s flood valve ended up on the Silversides. The two ships were built at the Mare Island Navy Yard in California, and workers “swapped parts all the time in construction,” Connole tells Popular Science’s Andrew Paul.

According to Hardin, the Trigger was the Silversides’ sister ship. Commissioned on January 30, 1942, less than two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Trigger was named after the triggerfish, a group of fish known for the locking mechanism of their dorsal spines, which they can raise and lower like a trigger.

The Trigger sank in the East China Sea while making her 12th war patrol, the suspected victim of a two-hour combined aerial and surface attack by Japanese forces on March 28, 1945. The Silversides was one of the four nearby American submarines that heard the two-hour assault by Japanese planes and ships, according to the Submarine Force Library and Museum Association. The vessel went down with 89 men aboard. The Trigger, which sank 27 enemy ships and damaged another 13, had a “long and illustrious” career, per the Naval History and Heritage Command. The ship received 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for its contributions during the war.

The submarine’s many accomplishments were immortalized in a poem by Constantine Guinness, a motor machinist’s mate first class. It began: “I’m the galloping ghost of the Japanese coast / You don’t hear of me and my crew / But just ask any man off the coast of Japan / If he knows of the Trigger Maru.”

Smithsonian Magazine

ALPENA, MI – There will be eight opportunities to board a tall ship and sail Thunder Bay during an upcoming maritime history festival in the heart of Michigan’s shipwreck alley. The Thunder Bay Maritime Festival is scheduled for Friday-Sunday, Aug. 21-23, in Alpena. This year’s lineup of events includes tall ship excursions, deck tours, hands-on family activities, Great Lakes exhibitors, the Battle of the Paddles River Race and rooftop spectating party, and a new community boat parade along the Thunder Bay River.

“Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary works to ensure future generations can enjoy the Great Lakes and appreciate their role in maritime history,” said Erin Pilarski, events manager for the sactuary. “Festivals like this enhance our ongoing efforts to foster connections and bring history to life.”

Festivities will kick off at 5:30 p.m. Friday with the Battle of the Paddles. The race allows participants to choose their vessel: kayak, single canoe or standup paddle board; register online here for $15. Those who would rather watch can gather at the rooftop deck of the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center.

From noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, exhibitors will be set up along the river near the heritage center. Activities will include deck tours of the “Inland Seas” tall ship, robot and scuba diving demonstrations, and the Imagination Playground from United Way. Further down the river, the Water Street Commons will have live music from 4-8 p.m.

Brand new to this year’s festival is the Alpena Chamber’s Thunder Bay Maritime Festival Lighted Boat Parade, scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday. Spectators can find a spot along the riverfront in downtown Alpena to watch creatively decorated and lit up boats go by.

Excursions aboard the “Inland Seas” are available all three days of the festival. Cruises are scheduled for 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday and Sunday. There are two cruises scheduled for Saturday: 10 a.m. and 7:15 p.m.; the later excursion will take part in the boat parade. The two-hour cruises are priced at $55 for adults and $35 for children.

Read more here.

https://www.mlive.com/life/2026/08/tall-ship-excursions-paddle-race-to-highlight-maritime-festival-in-the-heart-of-michigans-shipwreck-alley.html

John U. Bacon has been named the 2026 winner of the Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature for his book The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The award is named for the late Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, a Harvard University history professor and one of the country’s most distinguished naval historians. It is administered and presented by the New York Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States. Cdr. John Cupschalk, USNR (Ret.), the commander of the New York Commandery, will present Bacon with his award during a ceremony in New York, N.Y. on Oct. 19, 2026.

LUDINGTON, MI – The S.S. Badger Lake Michigan Carferry Service has expanded its immersive 2026 Dockside Events calendar, introducing an exclusive series of interactive Murder Mystery Nights alongside its highly sought-after Pilot House & Engine Room Tours and popular Open Boat Nights.  Due to logistical scheduling, these after-hours experiences are held exclusively at the Ludington port (701 Maritime Drive – Ludington, MI) after the historic ship docks at 7 PM.

Badger. [Jim Hoffman]

In addition to the theatrical mysteries, maritime enthusiasts can buy advance tickets beginning August 20, for the rare Pilot House and Engine Room Tours taking place on September 16 and September 19,  from 8 – 10 PM. The cost is $50 per person.

The historic S.S. Badger car ferry also invites the public aboard for a series of Open Boat Nights on September 16, 19, 23, 30, and October 3 and 7. For $10 per person, visitors can take a self-guided tour of the passenger decks, enjoy live music in the Cabana Room, and visit the onboard bar and gift shop without taking a lake voyage. Tickets are available at the link below or by calling 1-800-841-4243.

For those seeking an exclusive S.S. Badger gift or souvenir, a clearance sale will be held on September 4 and 5, from 10 AM – 5 PM, and September 6, from noon – 5 PM, in the Maritime Drive corporate office lobby located in the warehouse building, behind the S.S. Spartan. On Friday September 11, a community shopping event will be held aboard the S.S. Badger’s Boatique, from 8 -10 PM. There will be light refreshments, discounted items, and a drawing for a round-trip ticket.

The 410-foot S.S. Badger is a National Historic Landmark and the last operating coal-fired steamship passenger ferry in the United States. Operating between Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, Wisconsin, the ship wraps up its regular 2026 sailing season on October 11, making these autumn dockside events a final chance to step aboard for the year.

More information here.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. –  A NOAA-operated ship that has been visible across Lake Ontario this summer is working to create the most detailed map of the lake floor in decades. The 208-foot Thomas Jefferson, operated by NOAA Corps officers, has been surveying and mapping the Lake Ontario lakebed since late June. Officials said the area has not been comprehensively surveyed in more than 80 years.

Since the previous survey in the 1940s, the lake floor has shifted and technology has advanced considerably, allowing crews to gather a clearer and more detailed picture of what lies beneath the water. The updated mapping is intended primarily to improve navigation safety, but NOAA officials said the information can also serve several other purposes “In addition to our work charting the lake for safe navigation, we’re also identifying shipwrecks,” NOAA Corps Lt. Cmdr. Chris Duffy said.

The data collected by the Thomas Jefferson can also help researchers better understand habitats along the lake floor. “Something that NOAA says quite frequently is ‘map once, use many times,’” NOAA Corps Lt. Mark Meadows said. “Our data is used to update nautical charts, but also it’s used to create habitat maps.”

Meadows said information showing how sound reflects off different parts of the lake floor can help institutions develop habitat maps and could provide useful information for work involving the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary.

The public will have an opportunity to tour the Thomas Jefferson on Wednesday, Sept. 2, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Port of Oswego East Pier, 1 W. First St. in Oswego.

Read the original story here.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) survey vessel Thomas Jefferson docked at the Port of Cleveland on April 17th. [S. Dunn Aerial Photography]