Watch your head as you enter and as you make your way through all of the different compartments. You’ll take the walkway to the deck of the submarine and then you’ll see an entry hatch to take a steep stairway ladder down. Once you verify your tickets you have the opportunity to choose which submarine attraction you want to visit first and I would personally recommend going to the USS Bowfin submarine first. In many ways, because World War II was the most fatal war for submariners in US history, the USS Bowfin is a memorial to all of the submariners who lost their life in “silent service” during World War II.Īnd that’s fitting considering the USS Bowfin is considered to be the best preserved and most visited submarine that served during World War II. Submarines were one of the most dangerous places you could be during World War II and they had one of the highest fatality rates (1 in 5). Regardless of the exact figure, the fact that she had so many successful patrols and made it back so many times is significant. The Bowfin’s four commanding officers believed she sank 179,646 tons (including 34 large vessels) but the Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) credited Bowfin with 67,882 tons sunk (16 vessels of that tonnage plus 22 smaller craft). Looking at all of the combined patrols, the USS Bowfin did a lot of damage You get a sense of the cat and mouse game that the submarines played with other vessels and also an idea of how many torpedoes simply missed or malfunctioned in some type of way. I’d recommend you check out this history that chronicles all of the different patrols. Some patrols were almost entirely uneventful with no confirmed hits on vessels while others were insanely busy with many close calls from depth charges. In World War II, the USS Bowfin conducted nine war patrols between 19 and most of her patrols were in the South China Sea, Celebes Sea, off the East coast of Japan, and into the Sea of Japan.Įach patrol was a couple of months long and you never quite knew what to expect. The USS Bowfin launched on December 7, 1942, exactly one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which is why she is known as the “Pearl Harbor avenger.” So let’s say that you had a tour of the USS Arizona coming up and you need to head over there to catch your shuttle, you could always just come back later on and see the rest of the USS Bowfin submarine area that you missed. The good thing about these tickets is that you can leave and come back. Once you have your tickets, you can bring them in printed form or digital form on your mobile device and someone at the entrance of the museum area will scan them and let you in. If you don’t do the audio tour, you should be able to get through the submarine in about 30 to 45 minutes. You can choose to do an audio tour if you’d like (they have a kid’s version and an adult’s version). You’ll have to select the date of your visit but you do not have to lock in a specific time slot. You can buy these online or you can buy them whenever you get there but I would advise you to just secure them online. Military members and Kama’aina can get discounts: You will need to buy tickets in order to visit the USS Bowfin and here are the prices for the tickets: It’s pretty close to where you hop on the shuttle bus to take you over to Ford Island where you can visit the USS Missouri, USS Oklahoma Memorial, and Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. You should see signs pointing you the right way but basically it’s on the opposite side of where you line up for the USS Arizona shuttle boat. After you go through the main entrance, you will head to the right to make your way to the submarine. The USS Bowfin Submarine is located on the north side of the Pearl Harbor National Memorial area. Tip: If you want to buy tickets to multiple Pearl Harbor attractions (USS Bowfin, Pacific Aviation Museum, and Battleship Missouri) check out this option online. This article will just focus on the USS Bowfin Submarine experience. In my personal opinion, the USS Bowfin submarine is the primary attraction here but the museum is also pretty cool, too. The Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum campus is one part of the Pearl Harbor experience and it’s home to the: Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum campus overview Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum campus overview.
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