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USS Bowfin SS-287

The USS Bowfin has, so far, been the only ship to carry the name. The fish it's named after is a fresh water predator found in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. She was launched out of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine on December 7, 1942. She was designed as a Balao class submarine.

When she is on the surface, her displacement measures 1,526 tons and, when submerged, it measures 2,414 tons. She is driven by a combination of diesel and electric engines and can reach speeds of a little over 20 knots on the surface and a little under nine knots when submerged. Her crew consisted of ten officers and around seventy enlisted sailors. When she made contact with enemy, she had a total of ten torpedo tubes at the ready, six in the front and four in the back. She was able to carry 24 torpedoes at a time. She also had a four inch, 50 caliber gun and four machine guns on her deck for when she was surfaced. She had been tested for dives down to 400 feet.

After performing shakedown maneuvers out of New London, Connecticut, she headed for the Pacific. She made it to Australia without incident and, after refueling in Darwin, headed out for her first patrol on August 25, 1943. Her first assigned area was in the Mindanao Sea. For the first three weeks, she spotted no enemy vessels. She joined up with another sub to coordinate efforts and they were soon able to target an enemy convoy. She fired her six torpedoes from her front tubes and then turned around to release the other four. Her salvo sank a large passenger cargo ship and caused damage to two other ships in the convoy. The submarine she had been working with, the USS Billfish, was able to hit the convoy and inflict further damage later in the day. Both subs lost the tattered remains of the convoy during the night. During the rest of her first patrol, the Bowfin and her crew came across enemy ships several more times. Almost every time, she was able to cause damage and get away unscathed.

Her next patrol, which started in November, took her to the South China Sea. Once again, the Bowfin wreaked havoc on enemy forces. During this patrol, she had eleven confirmed sinkings and damaged a large number of other ships. During one of her attacks, the enemy returned fire. The enemy managed to damage the sub, but the Bowfin was able to get off the last two torpedoes she was carrying. While her crew wasn't able to completely stop the water from entering the ship, they were able to make repairs effective enough to allow the sub to make port. She arrived in Australia during the second week of December.

The USS Bowfin ran seven more war time patrols that generally went as well as the first two. In a lot of cases, the end of one patrol was brought about because the sub had run out of torpedoes. The Bowfin was one of the subs that were using a then experimental type of torpedo. While her record was impressive, she would have probably been able to do more damage to the enemy if the torpedoes she was using had all worked properly. In one patrol, she had eight of her 24 torpedoes explode before reaching the target. Soon after, the military stopped trying to test the armaments in wartime vessels.

She was fitted with new technology that worked during her ninth patrol. She was one of nine subs that had been fitted with new sonar that could detect under water mines. She threaded her way through a minefield and entered the Sea of Japan. She didn't find the enemy shipping that was thought to be taking place there, but did sink two more enemy vessels.

Overall, the USS Bowfin managed to sink almost twenty enemy vessels. At least, those are the ones that are confirmed. She had also damaged many other ships with both torpedoes and her deck guns. In July of 1945, she returned to Pearl Harbor for a refit. As she was heading back to the war effort, the Japanese surrendered and she reversed course, returning to Hawaii. She then returned to the east coast of America, where she was put in the reserve fleet in February of 1947. She was recommissioned in July of 1951 to assist with operations occurring in Korea. At the end of those operations, she returned to San Diego, California and spent the next two years as a training sub. In October of 1953, she was, once again, returned to the reserves. In 1960 she was moved to Seattle, Washington and spent the next ten years as a Navel Reserve training submarine. She was struck from the Navy list on December 1, 1971 and taken to Pearl Harbor. She can still be found there in use as a war memorial. She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

In the USS Bowfin, as well as many other Navy vessels, asbestos had been used as an insulator and was used in the production of many different components found on the ship. Asbestos dust is dangerous for people who are exposed to it and, with poor the poor ventilation found on most subs, the sailors who served aboard her were around asbestos dust all the time. Asbestosis and mesothelioma are the two primary diseases that occur as a result of asbestos exposure. If you have questions about these two diseases, or asbestos exposure in general, please contact us.

Submarines Index

USS Albacore SS 218 USS AmberJack SS 219 USS Angler SS 240 USS Apogon SS 308 USS Archer-fish SS 311 USS Argonaut-SM-1 USS Argonaut SS 475 USS Aspro SS 309 USS Atule SS 403 USS Balao SS 285 USS Bang SS 385 USS Barbel SS 316 USS Barbero SS 317 USS Barb SS 220 USS Barracuda SS 163 USS Bashaw SS 241 USS Bergall SS 320 USS Besugo SS 321 USS Billfish SS 286 USS Blackfin SS 322 USS Blackfish SS 221 USS Blenny SS 324 USS Blower SS 325 USS Blueback SS 326 USS Bluefish SS 222 USS Bluegill SS 242 USS Boarfish SS 327 USS Bonefish SS 223 USS Bonita SS 165 USS Bowfin SS 287 USS Bream SS 243 USS Brill SS 330 USS Bugara SS 331 USS Bullhead SS 332 USS Bumper SS 333 USS Burrfish SS 312 USS Cabezon SS 334 USS Carbonero SS 337 USS Hake SS 256 USS Hammerhead SS 364 USS Harder SS 257 USS Hardhead SS 365 USS Hawkbill SS 366

USS Herring SS 233 USS Hoe SS 258 USS Icefish SS 367 USS Jack SS 259 USS Jallao SS 368 USS Kete S 369 USS Kingfish SS 234 USS Kraken SS 370 USS Lagarto SS 371 USS Lizardfish SS 373 USS Loggerhead SS 374 USS Macabi SS 375 USS Mackerel-204 USS Manta SS 299 USS Mapiro SS 376 USS Marlin SS 205 USS Mingo SS 261 USS Moray SS 300 USS Muskallunge SS 262 USS Narwhal SS 263 USS Nautilus-ss-0024 USS Paddle SS 167 USS Pampanito SS 383 USS Parche SS 384 USS Pargo SS 264 USS Perch SS 176 USS Permit SS 178 USS Peto SS 265 USS Pickerel SS 177 USS Picuda SS 382 USS Pike SS 173 USS Pilotfish SS 386 USS Pintado SS 387 USS Pipefish SS 388 USS Pirahna SS 389 USS Plaice SS 390 USS Plunger SS 179 USS Pogy SS 266 USS Pollack SS 180 USS Pomfret SS 391 USS Pompano SS 181 USS Pompon SS 267 USS Porpoise SS 172

USS Puffer SS 268 USS Queenfish SS 393 USS Quillback SS 424 USS Rasher SS 269 USS Raton SS 270 USS Ray SS 271 USS Razorback SS 394 USS Redfin SS 272 USS Redfish SS 395 USS Robalo SS 273 USS Rock SS 274 USS Ronquil SS 396 USS Runner SS 275 USS Runner SS 476 USS S-1 SS 105 USS S-20 SS 125 USS S-46 SS 157 USS Sailfish SS 192 USS Salmon SS 182 USS Sand Lance SS 381 USS Sargo SS 188 USS Saury SS 189 USS Sawfish SS 276 USS Scabbardfish SS 397 USS Scamp SS 277 USS Scorpion SS 278 USS Sculpin SS 191 USS Sea Cat SS 399 USS Sea Devil SS 400 USS Sea Dog SS 401 USS Seadragon SS 194 USS Sea Fox SS 402 USS Seahorse SS 304 USS Sealion SS 195 USS Seal SS 183 USS Sea Owl SS 405 USS Sea Poacher SS 406 USS Searaven SS 196 USS Sea Robin SS 407 USS Seawolf SS 197 USS Segundo SS 398 USS Sennet SS 408

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