USS Bowfin - Honolulu, HI
Posted by: 
Raven
N 21° 22.124 W 157° 56.340
4Q E 610000 N 2363328
Added to the NRHP in late 1982 (under #82000149), the USS Bowfin (SS 287) is one of 15 remaining WW II Diesel Electric American submarines
still in existence to date. Moored at the Pearl Harbor Historic site, it became a NHL in 1986.
Waymark Code: WMVMTN
Location: Hawaii, United States
Date Posted: 05/05/2017
Views: 5
Per its original 1982 NRHP Nomination Form: (
visit link)
"The USS Bowfin is curently afloat in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. [It is] a World War II Fleet Type American Submarine [and] has an exterior coat of Haze gray paint on surfaces that would be normally seen from a side view. Surfaces that would be seen from an above or aerial view are painted black. This peculiar paint scheme was common in World War II Submarines as a means of camoflague, the side view of light gray blended with the Horizon while the aerial view of black blended in with the dark ocean and may even have appeared as a whale in the water to enemy aircraft.
The Superstructure of the ship has several antennas and periscope shears as well as two gun emplacements on mounts on the bridge portion of the ship and a deck gun on the after part of the deck. There are four access hatches on deck that give access to the interior of the ship. A 35* gangway leads to the ships bow from the shoreline.
The USS Bowfin (SS 287) is one of 15 remaining World War II Diesel Electric American submarines in existence. All of the remaining submarines of this type are presently on display as World War II Exhibits. [...]
The Bowfin is credited with sinking 67,882 tons of enemy shipping. Although not fifty years old, the USS Bowfin is of exceptional significance in regards to the maritime history of World War II. Over 400 fleet submarines were in operation during the war. The Bowfin is now one of only 15 which are still in existence. Her war record was distinguished, and she ranks in the top 25 in both the number of enemy vessels sunk and total tonnage sunk during World War II. Of the extant World War II submarines only the USS Silversides in Chicago has a better war record. The USS Bowfin is also of exceptional significance in that it is the most completely outfitted submarine of its class in existence, and the only one which is on display in its home port. Welcoming over [200,000] visitors a year, the USS Bowfin is also the most popular, in terms of attendance, submarine museum in the nation."