USS Bowfin
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Text: |
Michael E. Fader |
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Pictures: |
Andy Herzog |
The USS Bowfin (SS-287) is a submarine of the American Balao class, which the US Navy deployed against Japan during the Pacific War in the Second World War and during the Cold War. Since 1981, the Bowfin has been moored as a museum ship in Pearl Harbor, not far from the Arizona, which was sunk during the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941 and has been converted into a memorial. It was listed as a structure on the National Register of Historic Places in November 1982. The Bowfin is open to visitors there. Since 14 January 1986, the submarine has been a National Historic Landmark.
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
The Bowfin was a diesel-electric patrol submarine of the Balao class. The Balao class represented only a minor improvement on the Gato class and was designed for long offensive patrols in the Pacific. In particular, the diving depth was increased and the interior improved, based on experience gained during the war against Japan. Externally and in terms of their dimensions, the submarines of both classes were largely similar.
The Bowfin is 95 metres long and 8.3 metres wide, with a maximum draught of 5.1 metres. Its displacement was 1,526 tonnes on the surface and 2,424 tonnes submerged. Propulsion was provided by four General Motors 16-cylinder diesel engines, model 16-278A, each delivering 1,350 hp. Underwater, the submarine was powered by four electric motors with a total output of 2,740 hp, which drew their power from two 126-cell batteries. The engines transmitted their power via a gearbox to two shafts, each driving a propeller. The maximum speed on the surface was 20.25 knots; submerged, the Bowfin could still manage 8.75 knots. The maximum endurance was 48 hours, and the maximum diving depth was 120 metres. The fuel tanks could hold 440 cubic metres of diesel fuel, giving the boat a range of 11,000 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots.
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
The main armament consisted of ten 533-mm torpedo tubes – six in the bow and four aft – for which 24 torpedoes were carried on board. A 102-mm deck gun was mounted in front of the conning tower. The “winter garden” housed two 12.7-mm machine guns and two 20-mm anti-aircraft guns. To detect enemy ships, the Bowfin was equipped with a JK/QC and a QB sonar under the bow, whilst JP hydrophones were installed on deck. An SD radar with a detection range of 20 nautical miles for locating enemy aircraft was mounted on the retractable electronics mast; in addition, the submarine was equipped with an SJ surface search radar with a range of approximately twelve nautical miles. When submerged, enemy ships could also be detected using the ST radar mounted on the periscope, which had a range of eight nautical miles.
The USS Bowfin made a total of nine operational voyages to the Pacific, sinking 28 ships and a bus in the process!
On 16. July 1944 Bowfin left Hawaii and headed for the Ryukyu Islands. She encountered no worthwhile targets until 9. August 1944, when her crew sighted four ships heading for the harbor at Minami Daito. She trailed them into port, and after they had moored, fired her bow torpedoes, blowing up two and damaging a third. A stray torpedo hit a dock, sending a bus careening into the water, later an incident the Cary Grant comedy film Operation Petticoat incorporated into its story line in 1959 (Grant yelling "We sunk a truck!" in the film after an unintentional misfire caused by a nurse on board). However, no sinkings were confirmed by Japanese records – again possibly because of the small size of the alleged victims.
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
(Photo courtesy Andy Herzog)
These photos were taken by Andy Herzog, who was in Hawaii in January 2006 and visited the USS Bowfin (SS-287) and the USS Missouri (BB-63).
