Girl Scouts from Peninsula Waters Troop 104 sit along the shell of a torpedo Friday, April 13, at Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum in Muskegon. Pictured (from front) are Michaela North, Jenny Campbell, Sierra Metz, Isabelle Singleton, Haley Dodds, Lydia LaLonde, Angela Nowak, and Kirsten Twork. The scouts spent the night, with parents and siblings, on the USS Silversides, a decommissioned naval submarine. (Photograph by Kathy Campbell) The reality of submarine life during World War II was as close as the empty shell of a torpedo, which was near enough to touch for the Girl Scouts of Peninsula Waters Troop 104. They spent the night on the USS Silversides, with parents, siblings, and Troop Leader Kathy Campbell of St. Ignace Friday, April 13.

The U.S. naval submarine is at Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum in Muskegon, which offers an overnight encampment program and group tours. The Scout project was designed as a hands-on history lesson.

"When we found out we could do this, we jumped on it," Mrs. Campbell told The St. Ignace News.

All participating Scouts are in second or third grade at St. Ignace Area Schools or Gros Cap School, she added. To keep them company for the overnight history lesson, most Scouts had one or two parents with them.

The students took turns keeping watch "just like they would have during World War II," Mrs. Campbell added. "They were fascinated."

The girls were also allowed to spend time in the control room, where they acted out war scenarios. The project was particularly interesting to the fathers who attended, she said.

The troop includes Michaela North, Lydia LaLonde, Kirsten Twork, Taylor Thomas, Angela Nowak, Haley Dodds, Isabelle Singleton, Jenny Campbell, and Sierra Metz.