USS Silversides Submarine Museum — Attraction in Muskegon

I am a qualified submariner, I therefore earned my dolphins. I enjoyed the museum & my walkthrough of the Silversides. However, I am disturbed by the fact that this museum gift shop sells a ball cap with dolphins on it. . . they should know better.

One might say that many others sell similar caps & items; i.e. – Amazon, etc. Yet, a submarine specific museum should honor “The Silent Service” & is therefore held to a higher standard. I go to physical Army Navy stores near me & they won’t sell it/them. Why, because it’s no less than stealing honor and/or valor. Would you sell a Purple Heart, Medal of Honor, a SEAL’s Trident?

I have written a polite email to the museum stating that I, & most submariners I’ve spoke with, have a problem with the sale of this item. Yet, the museum has chosen to ignore my/our concern. This is the absolute worst thing they could have done, it’s insulting. Selling an item with authentic looking dolphins to the general public, waters down the integrity of an honor a submariner earned. We went through a LOT of blood sweat & tears to receive our dolphins, fish, phins, etc.

I, & other submariners like myself, will not be returning to this facility until this situation is adequately addressed. The museum hurts local businesses by their actions as well. I stayed @ The Pidge Inn during my visit.

PS - I seriously doubt removing this particular item from stock would hurt the museum's bottom line, especially when it's the integrity & honor of submarine history you're suppose to be preserving. . . right, Ms. Egan? BTW, has anyone on the staff or board of directors earned the (SS) designator?

UPDATE: 12/6/23 Bethann Egan (Executive Director) & I have been in contact with each other via email & a phone conversation. She has taken my concerns seriously. . . submarine dolphins should only be worn by those who have earned them. How would a Navy SEAL feel if he saw a person who hadn't earned a Trident, wearing it? Selling honor is dishonorable.

Bethann has seen fit to remove these ball caps from the gift shop & online. She has taken heat for this decision, especially from old timey (smoker/diesel boat) submariners she consults who think differently from myself. Yet, approx. 70%+ of the submariners I've spoken with relative this subject agree with me 100%. Hence, the majority is on my side with respect to this subject.

The majority & I believe these old timey submariners have lost their way, & forgotten what it once took to earn your dolphins. We have a saying on submarines, “Pride Runs Deep.” Yet, I believe, with respect to some submariners that pride, as well as honor, now runs shallow. Selling an item of clothing displaying authentic looking submarine dolphins, for the general public to wear, waters down the integrity, & turns a badge of honor into a cheap carnival prize.

Ms. Egan has informed me that there are 2 upcoming meetings where this concern will be the main topic of discussion. I have offered to be on conference call or even in-person if she’d like. I fully expect to be ridiculed by some, I’m prepared for that. It is not my intent to handcuff or cripple the museum financially . . . far from it. I have offered to purchase the museums remaining supply of this ball cap. I already have a Master Chief COB (Chief of the Boat) submariner friend that wants to buy some off me, if it comes to that. He has been on smokers/diesel as well as nukes.

Thank you for your time & consideration, I/we are...

Recently myself, my son, and my father all went camping at Muskegon State Park for a few days. While we were there we stopped by the Silversides Museam because we thought it would be cool to check it out and maybe take a tour of the submarine. We were planning on being there for about 45 mins or so...

We stayed nearly 4 hours total.

This tiny little museam is PACKED with so many amazing stories and displays. Packed, but not cluttered. There was plenty of room to move around freely as well as a recommended path you could follow around to all of the exhibits. The woman we spoke to was very nice and informative when we came in to buy tickets. There is a 2nd floor with elevator access and a viewing area where they show a full walk through of Silversides for those who cant or do not wish to tour the actual submarine, which is proudly stationed outside the museam between 2 other ships. Sadly, I did not tour the actual submarine due to some mobility concerns I had about climbing ladders and such but my son and my father both did the actual tour and really enjoyed it. Even though I didnt get to go on Silversides myself there was still plenty for me to see. In-fact the whole tour took them less than 30 mins and that included a tour of the Coast Guard ship docked right next to it. We spent hours walking through the small building reading all about Silversides and admiring the historic memorabilia on display. None of us expected to be in there that long and we were all pleasantly surprised at just how interested we became once we started exploring. We didnt even get to FULLY read all the snippets they have painted among the walls and could have easily stayed another hour or two. Tickets are cheap and well worth the price with or without the tour and they have an adorable little gift shop there but unfortunately the store was pretty empty. I would imagine that with the pandemic its been difficult to restock merchandise because it was pretty bare-bones. I really wanted this navy blue zip-front Silversides hoodie they had but there were exactly 2. One was a Small and the other was a 3XL. My dad and my son ran into the same issue with T-shirt sizing (there were only about 5-7 adult shirts left) but I was fotunate enough to find an XL that suits me just fine. I also picked up a couple magnets for my collection and snapped a ton of pics.

If youre gonna be in this area I would definitely recommend stopping by and checking this place out. It was way cooler than we imagined it would be and Silversides has an amazing history that we truly enjoyed...

What a great museum! I was a nuclear fast attack submariner in the 90s, and it was amazing to walk through a real WWII diesel boat.

The museum itself is worth the price of admission. It does a great job of walking you through the events that lead to the attack on Dec 7 at Pearl Harbor. It then guides you through the challenges these heroes had to face.

There is a display on a POW's experience. This was really moving. Powerful.

A huge bonus was the diving station from a 688 class sub. This was authentic and identical to what we had on both boats I served on. It was special being able to sit in that chair. It wasn't a station that I qualified on, but it definitely brought me back to being 20 and underway in the Pacific outside Pearl.

And that leads us to the Silversides. Wow. It reminded me of visiting the Colusseum in Rome. You can feel the fear, the stress, the triumphs and the terror of the hunt leaking out of the bulkheads. If those walls could talk.

I have SO MUCH respect for the men who went to war in those cramped, smelly, tiny boats with unreliable torpedoes against such a dangerous opponent.

It makes it so real, walking by the wardroom, seeing the control room, the bunk room, engine rooms and especially the torpedo rooms. Every valve matters. Every item there is there to keep the ocean from killing the men and letting them go bring the fight to the Japanese.

Take your time here. Expect to spend 2-3+ hours here. Take time to read the displays. Especially watch the video walk through in the theater, and absolutely take your time in the boat. Listen to what these men did, how they lived and reflect on the sacrifices they made.

Read about the casualty rates on boats. Give a prayer for those on eternal patrol, and reflect on the freedoms that these men brought...