The museum is in a small park (4 acres) seen here from the deck of the USS Bowfin. The circling stones form the 1992 Waterfront Memorial with one for each of the 52 U.S. subs lost during WWII and the 3,500+ men on eternal patrol.
The conning tower and forward armaments. WWII era subs would have guns to convince merchant ships that an inspection was in their best interests.
Life on a WWII sub was very crowded. Here torpedoes are stored under the bed. Burglars would think twice about breaking in here at night.
Torpedo tubes and a whole lot more. The museum provides an audio tour explaining all this.
If you think this is cramped, this is what the captain got to sleep on in his own little stateroom.
Records were kept on the old L.C.Smith typewriter which brought back memories of Francis giving all the kids typing lessons.
Gauges everywhere. Many of these were given to submarine museums by the Navy after the TV show Operation Petticoat went off the air. They were painted pink and had to be refurbished.
The USS Bowfin was restored by volunteers, many of them submarine veterans (and sticklers for detail).
These look to be the controls to flood the ballast tanks between the two hulls that would then submerge the USS Bowfin.
The galley is incredibly small when you consider that it had to cook meals for 80 men.
Ditto for the dining room. People were smaller then but today's models are probably the same size based upon the girlie picture hanging in the mess.
These are the cots that would swing down to become beds for sailors.
Enlisted men sleep in berths. Officer's "rooms" are called staterooms.
No description needed but where does it go when you flush when submerged?
This is probably one of two diesel engines made by GM for propulsion when surfaced. Underwater WWII subs were propelled by slower electric motors.
This is probably 50 caliber -- able to shoot a 4 inch shell. In the background right is a Regulus missile, a 1950s-era missile typically fired from large ships.
A bell like this was found in someone's attic and returned to the USS Bowfin. It rests inside the museum.
The gangplank leads to the museum past the Navy Jack flag brought back into service at the Bicentennial. You can't see the rattlesnake on it with thirteen layers on its tail.
The museum has many displays. Here's one used to teach sailors to identify friendly and enemy ships by shape. These are 50 Japanese ships. Since Japan lost all but 12% of its merchant fleet, most of these disappeared during WWII.
The museum shows the US Submarine history from 1900 to the present. However, there wasn't much to say until WWII so after the first aisle, you're into 1943. The flags overhead are from the subs and are patched with their campaigns similar to the stripes under a general's pocket.
US Submarines were ineffective in the Atlantic because they had such poor torpedoes. This was less of an issue in the Pacific. This torpedo was made after the war and is slightly larger, able to carry about 128 pounds of explosives. Range was 6200 yards with speed of about 16 knots. Most warships could outrun it if they were in a position to do so.
Can you pick out the future president in this picture? It's pilot G. H. W.Bush. He was rescued by the submarine USS Finback after his aircraft (named Barbara) was shot down on 41's 46th combat mission.
Old 41 would have carried one of these "flags" to use with the natives had his TBF Avenger been downed on land. It tells in many languages that he is a downed pilot and a reward will be paid for his safe return. Please no "mission accomplished" sneers. That was a different Bush.
Here's an elaborate model of the Bowfin...
...with excellent model detail.
The walk ends with the a Poseidon C-3 missile with all of its innards intact. This was a multiple warhead missile and the cold war warrior until the Trident missiles replaced it.
Supposedly a Moscow-eye view of the Poseidon. (Thankfully not.) The Poseidon was a second strike weapon which meant if the other guy fired first, we'd use it to wipe out civilian life. The C-3 had MIRVs -- multiple independently-targetable re-entry vehicles which meant it could split into different missiles going after different targets.
The USS Bowfin Museum alone displays a cutaway of the Poseidon C-3 missile showing pieces of the hydraulic, electronic, and propulsion systems.
Here's a smaller model plus a chart of the Poseidon trajectory.
The smaller missile on the right is an early submarine carried ballistic missile -- the Polaris A-3. From about 1960-1972, it could be ejected from a submerged sub with gas. This 2-stage rocket would fire its engines when it reached the surface. It was replaced by the Poseidon C-3 (left) in 1971 which was considered to be 8 times more deadly (in part because it had some chance of hitting what it was aimed at.) Perhaps by design, the tour of the museum begins by walking past these two warriors of Armageddon and ends with the cutaway display of the missile on the left inside the museum.
