USS Trigger (SS 237) Bell Up For Auction

I'm wondering if there's anything we can do about this. This post at the BottomGun BBS led me to this auction listing from Christie's: A lot titled "The bell from the submarine U.S.S. Triggerfish".

The people selling it can't even get the boat's name right. For those who were wondering, USS Trigger (SS 237) and her 89 officers and crew have been on eternal patrol since going deep for the last time in March 1945. (I've posted about the Trigger before, in passing on one of my favorite WWII submarine poems.)

While the listing doesn't say who the seller is, I'm assuming it originally got into private hands sometime after the ship was lost; the boat probably left the ceremonial bell behind at home when she went on patrol. The last patrol originated in Guam, but the bell might have been left behind in Pearl before an earlier patrol.

It seems to me, as it does to the crew over at Martini's BBS, that this bell should be in a submarine museum somewhere, rather than in private hands. While I don't think it'd be feasible to get a group together over the Internet to bid on it, I'm wondering if anyone knows the OIC at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton; (I knew the two previous OICs pretty well, but not the new guy). It seems that he should have a pot of money sitting around for use in acquiring important submarine artifacts. So, if anyone knows LCDR Christopher Slawson, you should drop him an E-mail and find out if he plans on bidding. If not, maybe an E-mail campaign to someone (Congressmen? Newspapers? Famous Bloggers?) would be in order...

If anyone else has any good ideas, let me know. The bell goes up for auction on February 1st.

Staying at PD...

Update 2235 15 Jan: I should point out that the link to the auction is also posted over at the daily news round-up at Ultraquiet No More, where we've taken the desk and the chair from The Sub Report for this week for the submarine news roundup watch...