Published On: 11.18.22 | 

By: 34229

Auburn University research project allows world to see inside USS Drum submarine

More than 70 crew members slept in tight quarters on the USS Drum, a Gato-class submarine that sank 15 ships during World War II. A new virtual tour allows visitors to explore the entire sub at their own pace. (contributed)

Bill Lister had not been inside the USS Drum in years.

The 97-year-old Edinburg, Indiana, resident is believed to be the last living crew member of the World War II submarine, on display at the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile. Lister, a first class radioman during the war, was part of eight missions on the Drum. He figures the last time he went to Mobile to see it as part of the annual reunions was about 2015.

But, this year, through the wonders of technology, Lister has been able to take a journey through the 311-foot, 9-inch submarine he occupied with dozens of others during one of the most transformational times in American history. Thanks to an inter-university project headed by Auburn University’s Junshan Liu from the College of Architecture, Design and Construction (CADC) and Danielle Willkens 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 vessel.

Liu, Willkens 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 accessible to everyone through the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park’s website. The tour, which went live on Veterans Day, is a one-of-a-kind way to view the Gato-class sub that includes commentary from Lister and video segments featuring Tom Bowser, a retired nuclear submariner who has written a book about the USS Drum.

Auburn researcher Junshan Liu, left, and USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park Curator Shea McLean, right, took a trip to Indiana to see Bill Lister, the last living crew member of the USS Drum, to show him a sneak peek of the virtual tour. (contributed)

Lister — who served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1945 and from 1949 to 1966 — was fascinated by the interactive tour after being presented a sneak peek during a nearly daylong visit with the research and restoration team earlier this year. Liu and Shea McLean, curator of USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, took a trip to Indiana to show Lister the technology and let him tour the boat.

“It was very interesting, and I think it’s a good deal,” said Lister, who also was part of the crew of the USS Nautilus during his service time. “I went through the boat, and you get a good idea of what’s going on. They said, ‘Point to a dot,’ and then, zoom, I was in the conning tower. I hadn’t been in the conning tower since the war.”

Lister was able to spend a great deal of time touring the boat and watching his great-granddaughter navigate the interactive expedition.

Bill Lister uses virtual reality technology in his home in Indiana to go inside the USS Drum, a submarine he helped crew for eight missions during World War II while a member of the U.S. Navy. (contributed)

“I went completely through the boat,” said Lister, who told researchers he now tours the sub almost daily from Indiana. “They can take someone like me, or someone who’s claustrophobic who would rather do it (virtually). You get the idea when you’re doing this that you’re actually on there pointing this [pointer] at something. It’s very realistic, really.

“You work your way through with these little dots, and you push the button and, bing, you’re in the forward battery. You point it at a dot forward on deck, push a button and, zip, you’re there.”

Lister said touring the Drum — which was in service from 1941 until 1946 — in such detail brought back memories from his days aboard the sub from 1943 until October 1945.

“The submarine force never got much publicity,” said Lister, who enlisted at 17. “We had 80 men on a 311-foot-long mechanized sewer pipe. I fought a different war than my brother did in the Marine Corps. Only 15,200 men actually made patrols and rode the boats during the war, and they killed 28 percent of us.

“We were just not around anybody (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 area, and you stayed in your area.”

One-of-a-kind research opportunity

The USS Drum project gave researchers a chance to provide accessibility to a prized World War II relic to those who previously were unable to experience it.

“The main purpose of this project is to allow aging veterans and people with reduced mobility to visit the USS Drum virtually,” said Liu, who has been working on the project since June 2021. “Danielle and I have been using the same technology in documenting construction project sites and historic buildings for years, but it was the first time we tested it out on a naval ship. The whole experience was challenging, but also very rewarding.

“One thing we found most exciting about this project was that the virtual tour can serve as a repository to archive and share Bill’s incredible wartime stories on board the Drum and Tom’s amazing work to restore the submarine, which is only accessible by stairs for in-person visits to the boat.”

The USS Drum project was an unusual endeavor for Liu and his team.

“As a researcher, you don’t get to participate in this type of project every day,” Liu said. “I feel so fortunate to be involved in this very meaningful work, with the support from my school, the CADC and a colleague from RBD’s (Ralph Brown Draughon Library) Innovation & Research Commons. We have started the discussion with USS Alabama about our next projects, including bringing the battleship online and presenting their warplanes virtually, et cetera.”

For Willkens, the project was about providing accessibility and preserving history.

“The virtual tour provides visitors with a unique experience to interact with the submarine and its history at their own pace,” Willkens said. “They can take a deep dive into technical aspects or explore 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, preservation

This USS Drum research project was the latest in a series of commitments by the park’s administration to restore and preserve historic vessels like the submarine. It reflects a concerted effort by the park’s team of restoration experts dating back to 2007 to continue to build 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 access to history,” said Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Janet Cobb, the park’s executive director. “It was created for those physically unable to access submarine USS Drum, or for a curious schoolchild on the other side of the world. When you’re greeted by the last living member of USS Drum’s World War II crew? A phenomenal experience.”

McLean said the virtual tour provides a fun, interactive way to explore the world’s oldest American submarine on display without having to physically navigate the tight quarters.

“Firstly, the USS Drum was never designed to be a vessel with abundant room inside, and the spaces within are cramped and often difficult to navigate,” McLean said. “It is filled with small compartments and narrow passageways, and each compartment is separated by a small oval water-tight door that are somewhat difficult to pass through as well.

“These virtual tours, for the first time, will make the Drum accessible to all who wish to tour the vessel from stem to stern. Moreover, these tours will make the vessel available to people worldwide who might not otherwise be able to make the trip to Mobile to see her in person,” he said. “The addition of interactive personal interviews, combined with archival footage, provides the visitor with a better sense 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.”

The USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile has added a virtual tour to its website thanks to a project co-led by Auburn Associate Professor Junshan Liu. (contributed)

Lister was highly complimentary of the park’s restoration and preservation efforts.

“It’s probably one of the better military parks in the country, because they’ve got so much there,” said Lister, who made runs aboard O-boats, R-boats and S-boats during his time in the Navy. “It was necessary that they got the Drum out of the water. It got so beat up on the eighth run that they had to replace the conning tower, and when they pulled it out of the water, it was in pretty bad shape.

“That thing’s in better shape right now than it was when I got off it. They’ve done a great job there in Alabama at the military park.”

History preserved through technology

Lister is pleased the Auburn-led research team has partnered with the Mobile park to ensure that future generations of history enthusiasts have the chance to see the USS Drum in such a fun, interactive way.

“I have high hopes of going down to see the Drum again, 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 through the boat, they’ve done a good job of stopping at the right places and pointing out this and that. I think what they’re doing down there is good and is going to preserve a lot of history.”

This story originally appeared on Auburn University’s website.