A Partially Accomplished Mission

In keeping with my current obsession with submarines, I drove 60 miles from Reading to Philadelphia today, intending to tour the sub USS Becuna (SS-319), parked at Penn's Landing at the foot of Lombard Street. This, as it turned out, was not a very smart idea, because icy conditions had closed the entire seaport complex. So, instead of descending into the cozy, claustrophobic innards of Becuna, I skidded around on the ice and got a sense of how a Russian sailor must feel in Murmansk or Kamchatka in the winter. I can understand why they didn't want civilian tourists cracking their skulls on a January-glazed submarine deck, but still...

...it would have been fun to get aboard. Becuna is a pre-nuclear diesel-electric boat, upgraded after World War II as a GUPPY-class (Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program) sub. Her WWII operations extended from 23 August 1944 to 27 July 1945. During this period she completed five war patrols in the Western Pacific and is credited with having sunk two Japanese tankers totaling 3,888 tons...

[Thanks, Wikipedia].

Anyway -- slightly crestfallen at not being able to accomplish my mission. I went to Chinatown and satisfied a sudden craving for Kung Pao chicken. This replaced the sting of frustration with the burning sensation of chomping down on whole red chili peppers. I'll get inside that sub some other day, and then I'll REALLY bore you with more than you want to know about submarines.