The centerpiece of the museum is a large model of USS BOWFIN donated to the museum by Sandy Gaston, a member of the Navy League of the United States and a long-time friend of the PFSMA’ s efforts to provide an outstanding submarine museum and memorial. The 10,000 square-foot museum houses an extensive collection, including COMSUBPAC’s archived copies of more than 1200 original war patrol reports of Pacific fleet submarines. BOWFIN staff members are on hand to provide security and respond to visitors’ questions. Audio translations are available in Japanese, with written handouts in French, German, Spanish, and Hungarian. The voice of CAPT Alexander Tyree, USN(Ret.), commander for the seventh, eighth, and ninth war patrols, takes visitors through the submarine, compartment by compartment on individually programmed headphones. The deck is spotless and the brass is polished to a high sheen. Fully restored in 1987 when she was dry docked for the television mini-series, War and Remembrance, BOWFIN is now kept shipshape by the employees of the park. The main attraction, USS BOWFIN, is medmoored, with a gangplank leading from its bow to the park’s covered lanai. The park occupies nearly four acres of land bound on two sides by the harbor. In this same year USS BOWFIN was designated a National Historic Landmark. The new Bowfin Park facilities were dedicated in September 1986. Other large corporations gave gifts or forgave debts, and many dedicated individuals provided financial support. The Bank of Hawaii played a key role in providing loans to sustain the organization’s efforts. Through admission fees and funds raised from donations and loans, construction of on-site facilities began under the guidance of the PFMSA Board of Directors and Captain Harvey Gray, USN(Ret.), the newly named executive director. The ship opened to visitors in 1980.Ī permanent location was eventually approved by the Navy, and BOWFIN was moved to its present berth at Pearl Harbor near the Arizona Memorial Visitor Center.Īt first, the PFSMA met under tents rigged alongside the submarine to plan and expand the organization’s vision. Restoration began, initially funded through private and corporate loans and continued through volunteer efforts. The ship was moved to Pier 39 at Honolulu Harbor. In August 1979, Under Secretary of the Navy, James Woolsey, signed the deed of gift transferring BOWFIN from the Navy to the PFSMA. Its mission was to realize the dream of restoring and preserving the World War II submarine, to create a lasting memorial to all submarines and their crews, and to educate the public about the contribution of these valiant submariners. He and the president of the Honolulu Council of the Navy League, Harold Estes, along with other members of both the military and civilian community, came together to form the non-profit Pacific Fleet Submarine Memorial Association (PFSMA). Senator Inouye’ s staff member, Rear Admiral Alvey Wright, USN(Ret.), suggested a better plan. While the ship awaited a permanent berth, Hawaii’s Senator Daniel Inouye was asked by a constituent to have BOWFIN sunk off Waikiki as an undersea habitat for reef fish. Navy Inactive Ship Facility in Middle Loch. Through the efforts of Admiral Bernard Chick Clarey, CINCPACFLT, and Rear Admiral Paul Lacy, COMSUBPAC, BOWFIN was towed to Pearl Harbor and then to the U. Later, the ship saw duty in the Korean conflict and as a Naval Reserve training ship in Seattle before the Navy struck her from the Register of Commissioned Ships in December 1971. During nine war patrols in the Pacific, she lived up to her name, sinking more than 40 enemy craft and meriting a Presidential Unit Citation and a Navy Unit Commendation. From her tranquil setting adjacent to the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, she bears witness to the silent grave of the sunken USS ARIZONA, which marked the beginning of World War II for the United States, and to USS MISSOURI beyond, which signaled its end.Ī Balao class fleet submarine, BOWFIN was launched on December 7, 1942, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and nicknamed the Pearl Harbor Avenger. USS BOWFIN extends into Pearl Harbor from its mooring between the old Ford Island ferry landing and the new Ford Island bridge. Morrison, a freelance writer living in Hawaii, is the wife of a submariner and a frequent visitor to Bowfin Park.
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