I’ve written about my fascination with small submarines before. Well, at the Boats Afloat Show here in Seattle, I got to climb around inside a real, working mini sub.

This is the U.S. Submarines S-101, a two-person diesel electric submarine. It’s for sale; just reduced to $480k. There’s a PDF info sheet you can look at. It’s 32 feet long, it weighs 4.2 tons, and can operate as deep as 300 ft for over 8 hours.

That may not seem like a long time, but keep in mind there’s no head aboard. “How long can you hold it?”, asks U.S. Subs Vice President Ellis Adams.

Also, it’s a bit cramped in there. I doubt most sane people would want to spend more than a couple hours inside without taking a break to stand up and stretch. Here are some more of my photos…I think you’ll see what I mean.

First, you’ve got to climb down through here:

The view forward:

The view aft:

And even further aft:

Miscellaneous images of controls and instruments: 

This submarine was originally built by U.S. Submarines’ Principal Engineer for the Swedish Navy, to train against Soviet mini-submarine incursions into Sweden’s territorial waters. I’m not sure how credible THAT particular threat was, but hey the Cold War was a confusing time. The sub was later sold to Sea Shephard Conservation Society, and who knows what mischief they envisioned using it for!

Anyway, it was purchased by U.S. Submarines in 1999, and completely refit. It’s fully operational and ready to go.

U.S. Submarines has ambitious plans for civilian-owned submersibles, by the way, including tourism-oriented subs, luxury subs aboard megayachts, and commercial and scientific manned submersibles.

Oh, and if unique and distinctive transportation topics like this pique your interest, you should definitely visit Telstar Logistics frequently! Todd Lappin seems to find a way to cover some of the coolest transportation-oriented stories around.