02 Jun 2025 Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum celebrates 20th anniversary

North Little Rock — Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum (AIMM) announced today the celebration of its 20th anniversary of bringing home the USS Razorback SS 394. AIMM will celebrate the anniversary June 4 – 8, 2025. Take a trip down memory lane to share stories you have about the homecoming from 2004, hear sea stories from submarine veterans and take a tour for the thousandth time. The museum is open Wednesday – Saturday, June 4-7, 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, June 8, 1 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. 

North Little Rock would not have docked the submarine without the help of veterans, volunteers, the late Mayor Patrick Henry Hays, and those who donated. The USS Razorback is a piece of history that schools across the state visit as a field trip to learn about history and much more. Mayor Patrick Hays once said during a press conference after he returned from a 12-day trip to Turkey, “North Little Rock now has a Navy.” Mayor Hays and many of the USS Razorback crew members were excited about bringing this World War II submarine to Arkansas, and this piece of history to our city for all of us to experience

Twenty years later, the USS Razorback is still docked on the banks of the Arkansas River, the same river that dealt with the 2019 flooding, which the USS Razorback withstood and survived. The boat has been an asset to the city and continues to bring customers worldwide each year. This retired sub isn’t going anywhere, especially now that the USS Hoga has been added. Bring the family, friends, and co-workers and take the tour you’ve always wanted. You never know its history until you take a tour and learn about it. 

The USS Razorback set sail across the Atlantic Ocean from Istanbul, Turkey, on May 5, 2004. It then went to the United States and stopped at New Orleans, LA, 45 days into the sail for maintenance — approximately 6,500 miles from Istanbul, Turkey, to North Little Rock. The USS Razorback had approximately 60 veterans topside her as she was cradled between two barges, moving up the Arkansas River to her final destination in North Little Rock on Aug. 7, 2004.

Later that month, the USS Razorback was moved to her current location once the final work on the barges, sidewalk ramps and mooring was complete. After taking several months to clean the inside and work on the submarine, AIMM officially opened to the public on Memorial Day weekend in May 2005. That weekend, the museum sold out quickly and people were turned away the rest of the day. It was on a first-come, first-served basis, and our submarine veterans and tour guides were in and out of the boat all day long, giving tours. That weekend was a record-breaking weekend in the books.