Przyborski Productions

Very few cities have their own submarine. Pittsburgh is the final resting place of the USS Requin, a diesel-electric sub that was built in 1945. WWII ended 3 days before the Requin’s first wartime patrol. She never fired a torpedo in battle.

2015 was the 25th anniversary of the USS Requin’s arrival at the Carnegie Science Center. It also marks 70 years since the sub was christened at Maine’s Portsmouth Navy Yards. The interior of the Requin looks and feels like she just returned from one of her many sea patrols.

I was testing a prototype camera filter for an optical manufacturer and thought the detailed interior of a submarine would be visually interesting. After shooting for an hour inside the sub’s cramped quarters, I developed tremendous respect for anyone who could spend months at a time inside these machines. Not to mention the constant smell of diesel fuel combined with the danger of being a few hundred feet below the surface. The only submariner I’ve known is Chuck Aikman, a talented editor at PMI, who served on a nuclear attack sub.

The USS Requin is well worth a visit at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Science Center.