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Bill Lister had not entered the USS Drum in years.
The 97-year-old resident of Edinburg, Ind., is believed to be the last surviving crew member of the World War II submarine — on display at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Ala. — and it’s been years since he was able to make the trip to bay and see the ship he spent time aboard during World War II. Lister, a first-class radio operator during the war, participated in eight Drum missions. He thinks the last time he went to Mobile to see it as part of the annual reunions was around 2015.
But earlier this year, through the wonders of technology, Lister was able to take a journey through the 311-foot, 9-inch submarine that inhabited dozens of others during one of the most transformative periods in American history. Thanks to a cross-university project led by Junshan Liu of Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction and Daniel Wilkens of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Design, Lister was able to use virtual reality equipment to take a virtual tour of his former court.
Liu, Wilkens and their team used 360-degree cameras and Lidar scanners to capture images of the interior of the eight-compartment submarine and put together a highly interactive virtual tour available to anyone through the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park website. The tour, which went live on Friday, Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day, is a one-of-a-kind way to see the Gato-class submarine that features commentary from Lister and video segments featuring Tom Bowser, a retired nuclear submariner who wrote a book about the USS Drum.
Lister, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1942-45 and from 1949-66, was fascinated by the interactive tour after being given a glimpse of it during a nearly day-long visit with the research team and restoration earlier this year. Liu and USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park curator Shea McLean took a trip to Indiana to show Lister the technology and let him tour the boat.
“It’s been very interesting and I think it’s a good deal,” said Lister, who also crewed the USS Nautilus during his service. “I went through the boat and you get a good idea of what’s going on. They said, “Point to point” and then they zoomed in, I was in the conning tower. I haven’t been in the battle tower since the war.
Lister was able to spend a lot of time touring the boat and also watching his great-granddaughter operate the interactive expedition.
“I went all the way through the boat,” said Lister, who told researchers he now tours the submarine almost every day from Indiana. “They can take someone like me or someone who is claustrophobic who would rather do it [virtually]. You get the idea when you do that that you’re actually there pointing at that [pointer] of something. It’s very realistic, really.
“You work your way through these little dots, push the button and beat, you’re in the front battery. You point it at a forward point on the deck, press a button and zip, you’re there.’
Lister said touring the Drum, which was in service from 1941-46, in such detail brought back memories of his days aboard the submarine from 1943 to October 1945.
“The submarine force never got much publicity,” said Lister, who enlisted at age 17. “We had 80 men on a 311-foot mechanized sewer pipe. I fought a different war than my brother in the Marine Corps. Only 15,200 men actually patrolled and rode boats during the war, and they killed 28 percent of us.
“We just weren’t around anyone [out at sea], and there were times when you were scared. I knew the war was going on and what we were doing. Each submarine had its own area and you stayed in your area.
A one-of-a-kind research opportunity
The USS Drum project gave researchers a chance to provide access to a treasured World War II relic to those who had not previously been able to experience it, either in person or by descending into its cramped layout.
“The main goal of this project is to allow aging veterans and people with reduced mobility to virtually visit the USS Drum,” said Liu, who has been working on the project since June 2021. “Daniel and I are using the same technology in documenting construction sites and historic buildings for years, but this was the first time we tested it on a warship. The whole experience was challenging but also very rewarding.
“One of the things we found most exciting about this project was that the virtual tour could serve as a repository for archiving and sharing Bill’s incredible wartime stories aboard the Drum and Tom’s amazing work restoring the submarine, which is accessible by stairs only for personal visits to the boat.
The USS Drum project was a unique endeavor for Liu and his team.
“As a researcher, you don’t get to be involved in this type of project every day,” Liu said. “I feel so fortunate to be involved in this very meaningful work with the support of my school, CADC and RBD’s Innovation & Research Commons colleague. We started the discussion with the USS Alabama [Battleship Park] about our next projects including bringing the battleship online and presenting their warplanes virtually etc.
For Wilkens, the project is as much about providing accessibility as it is about preserving history.
“The virtual tour provides visitors with a unique experience to interact with the submarine and its history at their own pace,” said Wilkens, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture. “They can dive deep into the technical aspects or explore the stories of those who worked on board. I hope this is the first of many projects for us there at Battleship Park.”
Next step in restoration, conservation
This research project on the USS Drum was the latest in a series of commitments by the park administration to restore and preserve historic vessels such as the submarine. It reflects the concerted efforts of the park’s team of restoration experts dating back to 2007 to continue building a living history in Mobile Bay.
“The video collaboration between USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park and Auburn University’s McWhorter School of Building Science is all about accessing history,” said Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Janet Cobb, the park’s executive director. “It was created for those who do not physically have access to the submarine USS Drum (SS-228), or for a curious child on the other side of the world. When you are greeted by the last surviving crew member of the WWII USS Drum? Phenomenal experience.”
McLean said the virtual tour provides a fun and interactive way to explore the USS Drum — the world’s oldest U.S. submarine on display — without having to physically navigate the cramped spaces inside the ship.
“First, the USS Drum was never designed to be a vessel with a lot of room inside, and the spaces inside are tight and often difficult to navigate,” McLean said. “It is full of small compartments and narrow passages, each compartment separated by a small oval watertight door, which is also difficult to pass through. So with that being said, it can be quite difficult for anyone to get around the submarine at times and can be especially challenging for anyone with any type of physical disability.
“These virtual tours will, for the first time, make Drumana accessible to anyone who wishes to tour the vessel from stem to stern. Additionally, these tours will make the ship accessible to people around the world who might not otherwise be able to make the trip to Mobile to see her in person. The addition of interactive personal interviews combined with archival footage gives the visitor a better understanding of the boat’s history, as well as what it was like to crew the warship during the world’s greatest historical conflict, World War II.
Lister was highly praised for the park’s restoration and conservation efforts.
“It’s probably one of the best military parks in the country because they have so much there,” said Lister, who has done runs aboard O-boats, R-boats and S-boats during his time in the Navy. . “It was necessary to get the drum out of the water. It got so damaged on the eighth time that they had to replace the conning tower and when it was pulled out of the water it was in pretty bad shape.
“This thing is in better shape right now than it was when I got off it. They did a great job over there in Alabama at the military park.”
History preserved through technology
Lister is pleased that the Auburn-led research team is partnering with Mobile park to ensure that future generations of visitors and history buffs will have the chance to see the USS Drum in such a fun and interactive way.
“I have high hopes of going down to see the Drum again [at a reunion], but I don’t have high hopes of getting on it,” said Lister, who has attended 30-40 USS Drum reunions at the park. “Going across the boat, they’ve done a good job of stopping at the right spots and pointing out this and that. I think what they are doing down there is good and will preserve a lot of history.
“It’s good that there are people like that who are interested in preserving history. I wonder what they are doing with the story now. I’m really glad they’re doing this.”
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