SPANISH FORT, Ala.—Restoration efforts on the oldest surviving World War II-era submarine, housed at USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, have received high praise from the U.S. Navy.

Bill Tunnell, the military history museum’s executive director, said both the park’s namesake battleship and the USS Drum, SS-228 are inspected annually. Tunnell said the most recent inspections were both "very good," but the submarine’s restoration progress was singled out.

Specifically, the USS Drum was recognized for having shown "monumental progress in external preservation," and the staff working on the project were cited for performing an "excellent job."

The letter was signed by Capt. C.R. Pietras, program manager for the U.S. Navy’s Inactive Ship Program.

Tunnell praised chief volunteer Tom Bowser and park employee Leslie Waters, who serves as the sub’s chief of the boat, for a "phenomenal job."

"It’s always amazing to walk inside because she just glistens," he said.

Tunnell conceded the project is "nowhere close to being done," but one of the primary goals when the vessel was taken out of the water in 2001, was to repair the hull, and "that’s complete."

Surviving crewmembers of the USS-Drum recently held their annual reunion and honored 41 years of fallen shipmates in a memorial service in the park’s Alabama Pavilion.

Only five of the total 293 crewmembers attended the 2011 reunion, and Tunnell said their dwindling numbers is a testament to the project’s importance and timeliness.