MUSKEGON, MI — After months in a Wisconsin shipyard, the USS Silversides came home on Halloween to a welcome that vessel curator Scott Hardin said he won’t soon forget.
Hardin accompanied the historic World War II submarine through her preservation work in Sturgeon Bay and on the 15-hour tow back across Lake Michigan, helping oversee a project designed to keep one of Muskegon’s most recognizable landmarks afloat for decades to come.
“I went over with the boat in July,” Hardin said. “I have come home a bit, but a good portion of my time has been in the shipyard, helping get the Silversides back here.”
The restoration was focused on the submarine’s lower hull and other structural areas that hadn’t been fully accessible in years. Once workers were able to inspect the vessel more closely, they found it was in better condition than expected, though still in need of major repairs.
“Surprisingly, it was in better shape than we had thought it would be,” Hardin said. “But there was still a lot of work to do, so we welded a lot of steel onto the bottom, did a lot of repairs to make her safe again, to make her last another 70 years plus. Literally, from top to bottom, she got refurbished.”…