USS ALBACORE (AGSS 569)

NEWSLETTER #89

July 2020

Shipmate,

Remember how much everyone enjoyed Field Days? Getting into those hard to reach places that you just knew the inspecting officer would probe to see if it was really clean? Well, something like a field day is going to occur with Albacore Park’s reopening. But, instead of hidden dirt, the concern is a lingering live virus. With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, opening the museum building and the boat to visitors is going to require some special procedures and extra precautions to keep everyone safe.

When you go to the Park these days, here are some of the precautions you will encounter:

A staff member will greet all visitors in their cars, taking forehead temperatures and ensuring all are wearing facemasks. They will be asked:

Have you been in close contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19?

Are you experiencing a cough, shortness of breath or sore throat?

Have you had a fever in the last 48 hours?

Have you had changes in your sense of taste or smell?

If there is a yes answer to any of these questions, the staff member has been instructed to reply” “Please do not put our employees or other visitors at risk and join us on another day when you feel better.”

In the case of belligerent visitors who refuse to wear masks or give the staff a hard time about the Park’s Covid rules, the staff member will first try to downplay the situation politely with something like “I appreciate how you feel but we also feel that we need to protect our staff and visitors. Staff members will not engage in arguments, but a 911 call is in order if the visitor does not leave of their own accord. The Portsmouth Police Department is on board with this approach.

Six-foot social distancing will be observed to the greatest extent possible. There will be one-way traffic flow with 6-ft markings on pathways throughout the Park. A one-way path through the museum building has been established.

Hand sanitizer stations have been set up at forward and after brows, at each entry door to the museum and at the Point Of Sale (POS) station.

Before entering the museum, every staff member and visitor will have their temperature taken by a touchless forehead thermometer. No one with a temperature over 100 degrees F will be admitted.

Touchless soap and hand towel dispensers have been installed in the washrooms.

A sneeze shield is in place at the Point Of Sale station.

Picnic tables are sanitized daily.

The main challenge on the boat is to keep it as clean as possible, especially the high touch areas where the virus can live. The staff is using black lights to highlight heavily touched surfaces for cleaning. High touch areas are sanitized every 2-3 hours using Simple Green, a cleaner that is in use over at the shipyard.

A staff member is stationed at the forward brow to regulate traffic flow. Visitors are limited to 2 at a time in each compartment (with a max of four for a family). Visitors are asked to wait until the group ahead of them has left a compartment before entering. No more than 12 to 15 visitors are allowed on board at any one time.

As you can see from the above, extra staff is needed to man the added stations. All staff members have been trained in the new ways of safely hosting visitors. If you live in the Portsmouth area and would like to volunteer your time and knowledge of the boat/submarine service, please contact Executive Director Patti Violette at (603) 436-3680.

Since the Governor has given the OK to open museums, the Park initially has been open just three days a week over weekends to allow the staff to get some experience working under the new rules and procedures. Once a level of comfort with the new routine has been reached, the Park will open additional days until a full week schedule is reached.

Thanks to Patti Violette and a lot of hard work by a very smart intern named Catherine Devlin, the Park has a new website. So what’s so new about it? The site has a fresh look and is based on an application wherein we no longer are dependent on a web master to insert new items or make changes on existing pages. We thank our faithful web master John Stephenson of Portsmouth-based Editec for his many years of excellent service. John has done yeoman service keeping the site up to snuff.

John, the above Navy flag hoist is BRAVO ZULU which translated to English means “Well Done”.

I regret to inform you that shipmate George Wehrenberg departed on Eternal Patrol of April 3, 2020. George was a FN while serving on Albacore from 1956 to 1960.

Until next time, shipmate, stay safe and stay healthy.

Jack Hunter

11 Admiralty Drive, Apt 3

Middletown, RI 02842-6254

(401) 849-7282

“jhunter2007@cox.net

NEWSLETTER #89 JULY 2020