During the week of February 4th, CBS4 Denver ran a series of stories about USS Colorado (SSN 788). Reporter Dominic Garcia and Photojournalist Rob McClure visited the boat in in December in Groton and interviewed several of the crew. The first episode focused on two sailors from Colorado who currently serve onboard, Petty Officer Paul Niswonger, who attended Heritage High School, and Lt. Quinlan Melvin, a graduate of Arapahoe High School and the Colorado School of Mines. Also interviewed was ETN1 Joseph Gaines, who participated in the first crew visit to Colorado in April 2015.
The second episode featured a WWII veteran of service on the third USS Colorado, BB45, Ernest Lowery who lives in Colorado. Ernest was wounded twice on the battleship during the campaigns in the Pacific. The story took him to the University Memorial Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, which holds several artifacts from the battleship. The episode also showed a platform in the Control Room made from the teak decking of Battleship Colorado. This platform is where the Officer of the Deck stands his watch while underway submerged.
The third episode showed interior shots of the submarine, including the Colorado nature photography of John Fielder which decorates the crew’s mess, bringing a bit of Colorado to the otherwise stark interior. They interviewed the Commanding Officer and showed the papers with the signatures and good wishes from the people of Colorado that the Commissioning Committee gathered at the Capitol on Colorado Day last year, as well as talking about the heritage of previous USS Colorado’s.
CBS4 is planning a half-hour story about USS Colorado in April
