Hi everybody! It’s me Stanley. I know it’s hard to see me today. Can you guess where I am?
I am in a re-creation of a World War II submarine Attack Center. The attack center would be located in the conning tower compartment, which is below the bridge and above the control room of the submarine. It contains lots of cool things. It has equipment such as a steering stand, a torpedo data computer, firing panel, radar screen, sonar, fathometers, navigation plot charts, and as you can see – periscopes. All of these things were used for target location and weapon firing.
I am looking into one of three periscopes that they have here in this attack room. And you know what? …These periscopes actually work! Even though I am inside the museum, I can see the USS NAUTILUS, which is outside at a pier, in the water. (I can’t wait to go see it, but there are still other cool things to see inside the museum first!) The other two periscopes let me see down the Thames River (towards the big bridge) and way across the river at the United States Coast Guard Academy. It is so neat that I can look at things outside while standing inside a dark room with no windows.
It’s kind of hard to look through this and figure out which way I’m looking compared to which way the ship is headed (yep, I’m pretending that I’m on a Submarine). I guess that’s why they have all of that other equipment. I wonder how a periscope works?
Here’s a website that shows you how to make a periscope of your own. I’m going to try it when I get home! http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/periscope.html
See you guys later!
Stanley
