HI -- Honolulu -- USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park:
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Description of Pictures: This section commemorates the sailors who served in the "silent service". The centerpiece, which I didn't pay to tour, is the USS Bowfin. Commissioned in 1942, this 1,500-ton vessel was actually designed to spend most of its time above water, being able to submerge when it had to. Around the submarine are various artifacts from the service including deck guns, conning towers, and missiles.
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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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Wikipedia Description: USS Bowfin (SS-287)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USS Bowfin (SS/AGSS-287), Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the bowfin, a fresh water fish of the eastern United States.
Bowfin was laid down by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine on 23 July 1942; launched on 7 December 1942 by Mrs. Jane Gawne, wife of Captain James O. Gawne.; and commissioned on 1 May 1943, Commander Joseph H. Willingham in command.
Bowfin departed New London, Conn., 1 July 1943 and arrived at Brisbane, Australia 10 August 1943. Between 16 August 1943 and 4 July 1945 she completed nine war patrols operating from the Netherlands East Indies to the Sea of Japan and the waters south of Hokkaido. Bowfin sank 15 merchantmen and one frigate for a total of 68,032 tons. She also shared credit with Aspro (SS-309) for a 4,500-ton merchantman.
Bowfin sunk Tsushima Maru, an unmarked passenger/cargo vessel carrying schoolchildren, on her way from Okinawa to Kagoshima on August 21, 1944. 1,484 civilians including 767 schoolchildren were killed.
Leaving Pearl Harbor 29 August 1945 Bowfin sailed to the east coast, arriving at Tompkinsville, N.Y., 21 September. She operated with the Atlantic Fleet until placed out of commission in reserve at New London, Conn., 12 February 1947.
Bowfin was decommissioned on 12 February 1947 and placed in reserve at New London in Connecticut, until recommissioned on 27 July 1951. She was decommissioned again on 22 April 1954 and placed in reserve at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. She was recommissioned on 10 January 1960 and served as a pierside trainer at Seattle, Washington. She was redesignated an Auxiliary Research Submarine, AGSS-287, in 1962.
On 1 December 1971, Bowfin was decommissioned for the final time and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. She is preserved as a memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Self-guided audio tours are available for a nominal fee, which includes entry to an adjacent museum with numerous related artifacts.
Bowfin was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for her 2nd offensive war patrol and the Navy Unit Commendation for her 6th offensive war patrol and eight battle stars for her World War II. In addition, she was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
Sunken enemy vessels:
* The passenger-cargo ship Kirishima Maru on 25 September 1943
* The tanker Ogurasan Maru and cargo ship Tainan Maru on 26 November 1943
* The passenger-cargo ship Sydney Maru and the 9,866-ton tanker Tonan Maru on 28 November 1943
* The cargo ship Shoyu Maru on 17 January 1944
* The cargo ship Tsukikawa Maru on 10 March 1944
* The cargo ships Shinkyo Maru and Bengal Maru on 24 March 1944
* The passenger-cargo ship Tsushima Maru on 22 August 1944
* Assisted USS Aspro (SS-309) in the sinking of the 4,500-ton cargo ship Bisan Maru on 14 May 1944
* The frigate Coastal Defense Vessel No. 56 on 17 February 1945
* The passenger-cargo ship Chowa Maru on 1 May 1945
* The cargo ship Daito Maru No. 3 on 8 May 1945
* The passenger-cargo ship Shinyo Maru No. 3 on 11 June 1945
* The cargo ship Akiura Maru on 13 June 1945
The sinking of Tsushima Maru was tragic, as that ship was evacuating more than 850 children to Nagasaki from Naha when it was sunk off the coast of Akusekijima Island.
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2004 photos: Trips this year: (1) Margot and I went off to Scotland for a few days, my first time overseas. (2) I went to Hawaii on business (such a deal!) and extended it, spending a week in Hawaii and another in California. (3) I went to Tennessee to man a booth and extended it to go to my third Fan Fair country music festival.
Equipment this year: I bought two Fujifilm S7000 digital cameras. While they produced excellent images, I found all of the retractable-lens Fuji models had a disturbing tendency to get dust inside the lens. Dark blurs would show up on the images and the camera had to be sent back to the shop in order to get it fixed. I returned one of the cameras when the blurs showed up in the first month. I found myself buying extended warranties on cameras.
Number of photos taken this year: 110,000.
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