I spent the night on a World War II submarine Airbnb that can sleep 65 people in sailors' bunks. Take a look inside.

• Guests can sleep on the USS Cobia, a World War II submarine, at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.

• The submarine is listed on Airbnb and can sleep up to 65 people in sailors' bunks.

• My stay was a memorable experience that gave me a newfound respect for US Navy submariners.

At the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, you can descend a steep staircase into the USS Cobia, a US Navy submarine that sank 13 ships and earned four battle stars in World War II. You can walk through the rooms and learn about its history in combat from a US Navy veteran or self-guided audio tour.

Unlike other museums, you can also sleep there.

Through the museum's "Sub Bnb" experience, guests can book a stay on the USS Cobia via Airbnb and spend the night in the same bunks where submariners once slept during their wartime service.

For years, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum hosted Boy Scout troops and other large groups on the submarine, which can sleep up to 65 people. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and large groups could no longer visit, the museum pivoted to hosting individual families. The experiences proved so popular that the museum has continued to offer overnight stays for large and small groups alike.

"The Sub Bnb was a business move in many ways for the sustainability of the museum," Wisconsin Maritime Museum director Kevin Cullen told Business Insider.

The cost of the Sub BnB starts at $500 per night, plus a $100 cleaning fee and an $85 Airbnb service fee for a total of $685. Business Insider paid a discounted media rate of $200 to report this story.

The funds earned from Sub Bnb stays help support the museum.

"Just by staying there, you get that authentic experience, but you're also supporting preservation for generations to come," Cullen said.

In December, I visited the Wisconsin Maritime Museum for an overnight stay on the USS Cobia accompanied by my dad, a maritime enthusiast.

Here's what it's like to spend a night on a World War II submarine.

The USS Cobia was visible from the parking lot when we arrived at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum for our submarine stay.

The USS Cobia was docked outside the museum in the Manitowoc River. The freshwater river has helped preserve the submarine over the years since it's less corrosive than saltwater.

Inside the museum, we were greeted by Mark Becker, a US Navy submarine veteran and museum volunteer who served as our tour guide.

Becker served on the USS Silversides during the Cold War.

Becker took us outside for our first proper look at the USS Cobia.

The USS Cobia sank 13 ships during its six patrols in World War II, earning four battle stars. The submarine also rescued seven downed American pilots.

After the war, the USS Cobia was brought to Manitowoc to serve as a memorial for submariners. The Wisconsin Maritime Museum acquired it in 1986. That same year, the USS Cobia became a National Historic Landmark and was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

It's not the first submarine to grace the shores of Manitowoc. The Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, which was located just miles from the museum, built 28 submarines during World War II.

Standing on the deck, I was amazed by the size of the submarine.

Becker told us that the USS Cobia actually spent most of her patrols on the surface of the water, not underwater.

"Cobia is basically a gunboat that can submerge if she has to, not like a true submarine like I was on," he said. "Cobia was better on the surface. Faster, more maneuverable, and way more firepower."

The smell of diesel fuel became stronger as I walked down a set of stairs into the submarine.

The stairs didn't exist during the USS Cobia's wartime service. Sailors used ladders to enter and exit the sub through narrow hatches.

Becker said we were free to sleep in any of the bunks on the USS Cobia that we saw along the tour.

The first stop on the tour, the forward torpedo room, featured pull-out bunks where torpedomen slept.

The only exception was the captain's stateroom, which remained off-limits.

The captain's stateroom was not available to overnight guests out of respect for the rank.

Walking through the USS Cobia, the hallways were so narrow that I could barely lift my arms to my sides.

I couldn't believe that a crew of 80 men once navigated the submarine's narrow spaces for months at a time.

The hatches required some clambering to navigate from room to room and could have painful consequences if one forgot to duck.

Instead of doorways that could be walked through, the hatches required me to duck and climb through the small openings.

Becker said that during his submarine service in the Navy, he once hit his head while running through the ship after a call rang out for crew members to report to their battle stations.

"I didn't duck far enough, and, pow, I hit my head at the top of that thing," he said. "I damn near knocked myself out."

A perk of staying on the submarine overnight was the personalized tour, which included spaces not usually open to the public like the pump room.

In the control room, which contained the ship's navigational equipment and controls, Becker opened a hatch in the floor that led to the pump room. I climbed down the ladder to take a look.

The pump room featured air compressors, cooling systems, and pumps that removed accumulated water.

A laminated set of directions included 54 steps to operate the machinery. Becker said that crew members would have been working here all day and all night.

Becker also let us tinker around with some of the switches in the control room.

The USS Cobia has been so well maintained that many of its controls still work. The museum staff instructed us not to touch any of the buttons or switches while staying on the submarine to prevent any technical mishaps.

In the control room, Becker showed my dad how to pull the lever that sounded the "battle stations" alarm. I was surprised by how loud it was, but it needed to be heard over the roar of the submarine's four diesel engines.

After we finished our tour, we picked up our seabags containing all of our linens for the evening.

Each seabag provided by the museum included a pillow, a pillowcase, a fitted sheet, a top sheet, and a microplush blanket.

Sailors received similar seabags during their submarine service.

My dad chose a bunk in the forward torpedo room at the front of the submarine.

The night we visited the USS Cobia, temperatures in Manitowoc reached a low of 16 degrees Fahrenheit. Thankfully, the submarine was heated, and the forward torpedo room was the warmest on the ship.

I set up my bed down the hall in the "goat locker," where chief petty officers slept.

When the rank of chief petty officer was established in 1893, the officers' duties included managing the goats that were kept on ships to produce fresh milk. The goats were kept in the chief petty officer's quarters, which then became known as the "goat locker," according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Becker said that the nickname also poked fun at the senior officers, who were referred to as "old goats" since they had been in the Navy for a long time.

The goat locker contained five beds, and the mattress was surprisingly comfortable. The confined quarters reminded me of the night I once spent in a Dolly Parton-themed RV in Tennessee. Journalism is fun, kids.

My bunk featured its own light and a few drawers for storage — benefits that high-ranking officers enjoyed.

Most crew members only received one cubic foot of space for their personal belongings, but higher-ranking officers had access to more storage in their bunks.

We ate dinner in the ward room, where officers took their meals, held meetings, and spent their downtime.

We brought our own food and ate on the submarine, but there are several restaurants located near the museum for visitors who want to dine out.

It was surreal to step inside an active museum exhibit and eat dinner alongside the fake food displayed on real US Navy tableware.

Since the USS Cobia does not have working bathrooms, I went back into the museum to get ready for bed.

When guests sleep on the USS Cobia, the museum stays open for them all night. A staff member also sleeps at the museum to be available if guests need anything.

Staying on the submarine required going up and down its stairs and outside for every bathroom trip, which could prove difficult for those with mobility challenges or inconvenient for those who make frequent nighttime trips. The museum can also accommodate overnight guests inside the building if needed.

While brushing my teeth, I charged my phone since there were no easily accessible outlets on board.

There was no phone service on the submarine, either.

"You are in an entirely metal encapsulated vessel, therefore cell phone service and internet is not available on board," the email with our check-in instructions read.

Walking through the dark, empty museum at night was just as cool as I imagined it would be.

Ever since I watched "Night at the Museum," a 2006 film in which exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History come alive at night, I've wondered what it would be like to visit a museum after hours.

All of my "Night at the Museum" dreams came true at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. We were given free rein to wander as we pleased.

Walking around the museum at night did feel different, similar to the way that watching a scary movie in the dark adds a certain gravitas.

We had the entire museum to ourselves, which allowed us to take our time looking through the exhibits.

I particularly enjoyed the exhibits about shipwreck artifacts discovered off the coasts of Wisconsin and the history of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. Even though I grew up in Wisconsin, I had no idea of the extent of its maritime history.

In my bunk that night, I thought about all of the soldiers who left their families and homes to spend months on board the USS Cobia.

It's one thing to walk through a World War II submarine on a guided tour and imagine what life was like on board. It's another to fully immerse yourself in the experience by eating where they ate and sleeping where they slept.

I thought about what Becker told us during our tour as we walked through the crew's quarters — no matter how tough sailors seemed, the sound of tearful sniffles would always be audible at night.

"I don't care what ship it is — aircraft carrier, submarine — you're going to hear it," he said.

The next morning, I watched the sunrise from the deck.

I'd been a little bit worried about getting seasick on the sub, but I didn't notice much movement and felt fine the whole time. I slept from around 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. then found it difficult to fall back asleep due to the chilly temperature on board.

I took advantage of the early hour and watched the sun's pink glow start to peek through the clouds.

As the sun came up, I got a better look at the guns atop the deck.

The USS Cobia was equipped with three guns: a 50-caliber deck gun, a Bofors 40 mm gun, and an Oerlikon 20 mm cannon.

I noticed other details that I'd missed in the dark, like the name "Cobia" inscribed on the side of the submarine.

Cobia, pronounced KOH-bee-uh, is a species of fish.

I stepped back onto the walkway connecting the submarine to the museum to take in the full view, once again marveling at its enormity and history.

At 312 feet, the USS Cobia was almost as long as the Green Bay Packers' Lambeau Field.

The Wisconsin Maritime Museum provided us with breakfast in one of its meeting rooms.

Breakfast included instant oatmeal packets, granola bars, muffins, bagels, orange juice, and coffee.

After breakfast, we took a bit more time to walk through the museum, including an in-depth look at the USS Cobia.

The USS Cobia exhibit inside the museum featured an immersive audiovisual presentation set in a model of the submarine's control room. Voice actors and animated crew members reenacted the USS Cobia's sinking of a Japanese ship loaded with 28 tanks headed to Iwo Jima in 1945.

I commemorated my stay with a magnet from the museum gift shop that read "I stayed the night on the USS Cobia."

The magnet cost $5.95.

Spending the night on the USS Cobia was a memorable experience that gave me a newfound respect for US Navy submariners.

Cullen, the museum director, hopes that when guests stay on the USS Cobia, it sparks "a moment of recognition of the tremendous sacrifice that submariners in World War II underwent."

"That's what museums really are here for," he said. "The objects are witness to history — witness to tremendous tragedy as Cobia was in wartime efforts, but also witness to the tremendous humanity of those moments in time that I think connect us as people cross-culturally and cross-generationally."

I also asked my dad for his take.

"Sleeping in the forward torpedo room with the gentle movement of the floating sub and the ever-prevalent smell of old diesel fuel long expired gave me a small taste of what life on a submarine must have been like," he said. "Truly a unique experience and a must for all militaria aficionados."

Indeed, the smell of diesel fuel lingered in my hair and on my clothes after our stay — a souvenir of its own.

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