USS Bowfin (SS-287) Museum (Pearl Harbor)

Intro

On my flights home from Bikini, United Airlines had a “meltdown” as documented in my Trip Report and I couldn’t get from HNL to LAX after flying KWA-MAJ and MAJ-HNL and arriving (2+ hours late) at some crazy hour like 4am.

As a result, I ended up spending a long layover in Honolulu and took advantage of the situation to visit the USS Bowfin museum.

The Bowfin is a Balao-class submarine which is the same type of sub as I had just dove on the Apogon in Bikini and was getting ready to dive on the USS Moray off San Clemente, California. I wanted to do some research and get a better idea of the ship to help inform my plans for taking photos for the photogrammetry model of the Moray.

I highly recommend that people visit the Bowfin museum. It is really interesting to go inside a real wartime sub and feel what it is like inside. It will never be the same as actually being underwater in a sub in wartime, but you do get an idea of the size, different spaces, etc.

Exterior

I started and ended my visit by looking around the exterior spaces. The “middle section” of my visit was on the inside. Below are a bunch of pictures of the exterior space of the sub. I’ve also included, where possible, screen captures of the model I built of the Moray of the same area on the sub.

Below is an overview of the Moray photogrammetry model:

Bow

This is from the port side on the model and the starboard side on the Bowfin but you can see the unique design of the holes on the structure. It also gives an idea of how much of the structure is actually underwater. On the screen capture on the right, you can see that the holes on the bow are about halfway between the top and bottom of the ship.

Below is a vent near the forward torpedo area.

Moving aft is the forward torpedo room hatch. I’ll show some photos of the interior of this space a little further on in the post. It is right in front of the conning tower. Note that the stairs they have built to go down into the sub are for the museum. Those don’t exist in the “normal” version of the sub. 🙂

Conning Tower

Since the Moray is on her starboard side, the conning tower extends out into the sand and part of the periscope tubes are burried.

Deck Guns

One thing to keep in mind is that the deck guns were removed from the Moray before she was sunk during torpedo testing. Below are pictures I took of the Bowfin deck guns on the stern. These were primarily used as anti-aircraft guns.

Forward Torpedo Room

When I got inside the sub, I thought it would be cool to build a photogrammetry model of the forward torpedo room area. I only had my iPhone but I snapped quite a few pictures and then built a model once I returned. It isn’t great, but it does give you a sense of the space. Below are links to the online model along with a few screen captures.

I’m still working out the best way to portray internal spaces with photogrammetry. When you make a model of an internal space, it really requires you to “strip away” part of the “exterior skin” to show the inside. Here is an example of the forward torpedo room model before and after stripping away the skin:

Here is link to the published model of the “after” version:

Below are some photos of that same space:

Other Interior Spaces

Below are a bunch of additional photos from various other internal spaces in the sub. It is amazing to see how much can fit into such a small space. All the dials and knobs are an engineer’s dream. So cool!

Conclusion

If you are anywhere near Pearl Harbor, I really recommend taking a tour of the Bowfin museum.

It is really interesting to see the inside of a WW II era submarine. It is very well preserved. In addition, there are a bunch of other exhibits in the same area that you can visit. It is a “Must Do” for any wreck diver since there are multiple Balao class subs within diving depths.