The hulls (eight in all) for "one of the world's largest peacetime submarine fleets" cost $80,000 each to build. They were fabricated at Todd Shipyards in San Pedro, California, then transported to the "Disneyland Naval Yard" in Anaheim for outfitting under the direction of retired Admiral Joe Fowler. Technical data and advice regarding the design were provided by General Dynamics' Electric Boat Division, builder of the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered submarines, and also the first company in the world to manufacture submarines. The windows in the submarines, or portholes, were first cut out by hand—this cutout was then used to carve out the other windows on the submarine. The vessels were painted in military gray livery with black lower hulls until 1986, when the attraction was updated. The exterior color of the submarines was changed to yellow with white around the 'periscope towers' along with pastel blue or pastel pink trim on the hatch doors, periscope tower and lower hull. However, the newly painted subs' paint started peeling almost immediately and had to be repainted yet again within a few months. This time they were painted mustard yellow along with orange and black trim; the design would remain the same until the attraction closed in 1998. The yellow color made the submarines look like research submarines instead of the previous militarian gray and black subs. (The reason research subs are typically painted yellow is that yellow is one of the last colors to be visible at great depths.)
