I've never heard of patrolling the Great Lakes in submarines. There is a Great Lakes submarine veteran's association (http://subveteran.org/), and submarines were both built at bases located on the Great Lakes (http://www.uscgd9safetyzones.com/go/doc/1295/136141/) and tested there (http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~vschmidt/scicex/ss-3661.htm) during WWII, but I haven't found anything more recent.
no subject