USS Bowfin (SS-287) Submarine Museum

[Don Boyer]

The USS Bowfin Submarine Museum is located right next to the USS Arizona Memorial on the east shore of Pearl Harbor. The Bowfin itself is a very nicely restored WWII submarine, one of the war's top-scoring boats. The museum complex has a small but excellent museum facility, a book store and many displays of submarine-related weapons and fittings.

The Bowfin can be toured from end to end and the museum provides audio headsets for a guided tour.

Other than the Bowfin itself, the centerpiece of the shoreside complex is, however, the ring of honor, with raised plaques for all 52 US submarines lost in the war against Japan, with a list of crewmembers for each.

Sometimes it seems as if the Bowfin, despite being an outstanding facility and steeped in the dramatic history of conflict as sea, gets overshadowed by the bigger exhibits nearby, the USS Arizona complex, the USS Missiouri and the new Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island. Therefore I thought that a photo tour of the site would be in order for those members unfamiliar with the area. I can vouch for it being a "must see" for anyone interested in military and naval history!

The thread will start with some views of the submarine itself. In a couple of shots you can see both the USS Missouri and the Arizona Memorial in the background. The other two shots are of two of the plaques honoring submarines lost in the war. And no, despite the perspective, Bowfin's 5"/25cal. gun is NOT pointed at the Missouri ...it's pointed straight aft!

[Don Boyer]

The second group of photos has some of the exhibits about the grounds of the Bowfin museum. Shown is the much maligned Mk. XIV steam torpedo, famous in WWII for malfunctions until finally cleaned up in September of 1943. The next shot is of the famous Bofors quad 40 mm. mount. Submarines carried the single mount version late in the war. This gun mount was without question the best intermediate range anti-aircraft gun of the war, based on a pre-war German design eventually licensed to the Swedish Bofors company.

[Don Boyer]

It appears I will have to set aside this thread for the moment. My photo processing software is having major hiccups, and I can't crop photos to fit the forum specs here --they keep getting rejected in the full sized versions. I will complete the 12 or so photos I have for this when I figure out what happened!
:)

[astraltrader]

Don - if you cant crop them why not just try and reduce them?

[Don Boyer]

See if this will work better now.

Photo of the MK 45 Astor nuclear torpedo. This weapon had the Mk 34 10 kiloton atomic warhead developed in part by CPT Hank Munson, former commander of the USS Rasher. An elegantly simple weapon, it was also used in the Mk 101 Lulu depth charge and as the primary in several thermonuclear weapons. The Mk 34 was the first weapon I worked on as a young navy nuclear weapons specialist.

The next two shots are the Polaris A-1 and A-3, the first series of submarine launched ballistic missiles. These are followed by the Tomahawk cruise missile and the Harpoon anti-ship missile, both of which could be torpedo launched.

[Don Boyer]

The last set of photos.


The museum has a detached conning tower from the submarine Parche cut ope so one can walk through it. These last two shots are of the conning tower and interior.

[steve roberts]

Hi don. Wonderful photos. Thanks for posting them.Corrine will be especially pleased with the memorial plaques for her prodject.If she dosnt have afull list of crews lost in USN submarines WW2,perhaps next time your at Bowfin you could take some more shots of the plaques and post them? Best wishes Steve.

[Don Boyer]

Steve: Did not know that Corinne was gathering up those lists. I know there is a US website with that information on it..possibly the one for the sub museum in Groton, CT.

The Pearl Harbor Naval Base has a submarine base facility within it, and it also has a memorial to the 52 boats lost in the war. Been so many years since I"ve been there that I don't remember whether it also lists casualties or just the boats.

If I have the opportunity, I will get the other markers online.

Regards,

[steve roberts]

Thanks Don.Perhaps if you PM Corrine with relevant web address,she could then carry out her research.Cheers Steve.:D:D:D

[Don Boyer]

http://www.subvetpaul.com/Died_names_LMNO.htm

For Corinne and all other interested in the crew losses of US submarines in WWII, the above link is the most complete I know of. It also includes known passengers (such as commandos) lost on submarines who were not regular crew members.

http://www.ussnautilus.org/ is the link to the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut, which also maintains extensive submarine historical data.

there are other links listed within these two that would also be helpful to researchers.

Regards,

[steve roberts]

Thanks once again Don for a propt and very useful reply. Cheers Steve.:)

[John Odom]

Thanks, Don for the informative post. I didn't get to the Bowfin. They over scheduled the official group for the Okie memorial, and we only got to those items on the official list. I would certainly like to get to Hawaii again, but it probably won't happen!

[Don Boyer]

Thanks, Don for the informative post. I didn't get to the Bowfin. They over scheduled the official group for the Okie memorial, and we only got to those items on the official list. I would certainly like to get to Hawaii again, but it probably won't happen!

Always difficult for folks to get out to Hawaii what with the time and expense involved, so I sill try to keep everybody on the forum up to date on Pearl Harbor and its associated memorials and museums. I added a thread on Ford Island itself, which will be undergoing a lot of changes if the navy has its way.

Most of the buildings that were here in 1941 will remain, but the rest of the island is looking to become naval housing and other associated facilities. It's actually a good idea, considering the expense to the military of building elsewhere, but it will also change the quiet "backwater" feeling the area has now.

[Don Boyer]

One of my son's birthday presents this year was a return to the Bowfin Museums for a tour of the museum facilities and the sub, which we had not visited for many years. I did a post earlier on the museum's superb model of the Bowfin (in the modeling thread) and here are some interiors of the submarine itself, a good look at a Gato/Balao boat in pretty much pristine WWII configuration.

[Don Boyer]

After a slight tiff with HM's Royal Server (again) :) here is another batch of Bowfin interior shots.

[Don Boyer]

And the final set of photos of the ship's interior. When I get a chance, I will post some of the photographs of US submarine memorabilia from the museum facility. For a small museum, it has some very nice exhibits, particularly of the WWII era submarines and their crews. I'm also proud to mention that my son and I are both 6' 3" and he was the only one to bang his head on the hatch coaming! :)

[Don Boyer]

Having posted the photos of the USS Bowfin interior, I have some photos of the various exhibits in the musuem itself (the Bowfin cutaway model is in the modelling thread).

First up is a MK VI "influence" torpedo exploder, the infamous mal-functioning device that caused so many problems for sub commanders early in WW II.

The second photo is of a MK 27 "Cutie" homing torpedo, a small but fairly effective homing torpedo used with some success toward the end of the war.

The third and fourth photos show a cased set of "Maru Models" used for identifying common Japanese merchant vessel types and often used in attack training scenarios to practice "angles on the bow."

Photo five is a section of the conning station taken from the nuclear sub Swordfish prior to her scrapping.

Photo six is a view of the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor taken in January of 1922. The old ship at upper right is the receiving ship Alton, formerly the protected cruiser Chicago, one of the "ABCD" new steel navy vessels of the 1880s. The Pearl Harbor Submarine Base was commanded by a young Chester Nimitz. I'm sure he never dreamed he would return to that base wearing four stars and with command of the Pacific Fleet.

Photo seven is a commemorative plaque for the crew lost on the submarine F-4 which sank off Hawaii.

The last photo is of the old submarine Plunger (A-2) commanded by, you guessed it, Chester Nimitz.

[Don Boyer]

This post covers the other models at the Bowfin museum.

The first photo shows three models that are very old and carved from wood and orginally made for the navy, the USS Adder (later A-2) from 1901, the USS N-4 (SS-56) from 1916 and the O-10 (SS-71) from 1918.

Photo two is the USS S-35, a model built in the Philippines at the request of then-Lieutenant David White, who would go on to become a Rear-Admiral after commanding the submarine Plunger in the early days of WWII.

Photo three is the USS Bass (V-2) one of the larger pre-war submarines that was not a very successful wartime boat and soon relegated to training duties.

Photos four and five are a model of the USS Wahoo (SS-238) made from the large Revell "Gato" model. The close-up of the bridge shows her battle flags and the pennant that carries the boat's motto ("Shoot the Sunzabitches!") as well as a broom tied to the periscope, indicating a "clean sweep" after her Yellow Sea patrol in 1943 in which she sank nine ships.

Photo six moves into the post-war era with the nuclear SSGN Halibut (SSGN-587), originally designed for the Regulus II missile which was never put in production. Instead she carried four Regulus I missiles in her forward bay. She was eventually converted into an intelligence collector, and she was the sub that located the remains of the Soviet K-129 on the bottom of the Pacific, initiating Project Avalon, the CIA-sponsored effort which recovered parts of the ship.

Photo seven is of one of the early "boomers" the USS Kamehameha (SSBN-642).

Photo eight is the USS Skipjack (SSN-585) one of the first of the truly fast and maneuverable attack boats. They gave the Soviets fits for years, much to the US Navy's delight.

Photo nine is a collection of all three US submarines that have been named Haddock, the SS-32, a K-class ship built around 1914, the WWII Gato class Haddock, SS-230, and the SSN-621, a Permit-class from the 1960s.

The last photo are models of all the current classes of US nuclear submarines, the Virginia-class USS Hawaii (SSN-776), the Seawolf-class nameship, USS Seawolf (SSN-21), the Los Angeles-class USS Tucson (SSN-770) and the Ohio-class USS Alaska (SSBN-732).

[John Odom]

Great post, thanks, Don!

[Don Boyer]

Here are some more photos of the Bowfin Submarine Museum exhibits.

The first photo is a shot of CDR Dudley W. Morton of Wahoo showing the ship's battle flag to his wife and son. Captain Morton sewed the flag himself -- he was noted for his sewing skills as well as for his agressive submarine handling. The Indian warbonnet's 19 "feathers" with their hinomaru were what Wahoo had claimed as sunk up to that time.

The second photo is one of Captain Morton's skivvy shirts with the warflag stencil on it -- the only original war flag representation existing.

Photo three is a replica of Wahoo's original warflag.

The last photo is Wahoo's ship's bell. It survived because the bells were taken off submarines prior to going on war patrol.

[CGRET]

Don,

Excellent post!

I was station in Hawaii for some 8 to 10 years I was must say I was very pleased with the presentation of the USS Bowfin and the interior tour, self-guided. It is a fitting tribute to those personnel who went to sea in these submarines in war time.

Regards
Charles

[Dave Hutson]

Thanks for this thread Don .

I would agree with Charles [last post] on this one and include the USS Pampanito on Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco. The self guided tour was great and as an ex Telegraphist [Radioman to you] RN I was given a tour of the Wireless Shack which again was great because some of the equipment installed was actually in some of our ships long after the war.

Dave H

[ludsie]

Great pictures I went through the Bowfin 21 years ago and it looks exactly the same now as it did then

great to see there keeping the old girl in good condition