USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park

The USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park at 11 Arizona Memorial Drive in Honolulu, Hawaii, sits beside the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center and centers on the WWII submarine USS Bowfin, nicknamed the Pearl Harbor Avenger. Launched exactly one year after the 1941 attack, the vessel completed nine war patrols in the Pacific and is credited with sinking dozens of enemy ships. Visitors walk through the real boat using an audio tour that guides them through the torpedo rooms, crew quarters, galley, control room and engine spaces. Passageways are narrow, with steep ladders and low hatches, which gives a clear sense of how roughly 80 sailors lived and worked for weeks underwater. On land, the adjacent museum displays torpedoes, deck guns, models, uniforms, letters and artifacts tied to the submarine force, including a section on the Silent Service and its losses. Outdoor exhibits in the park include a Poseidon missile and other ordnance. Most visitors spend about one and a half to two hours. The best photographs are from the pier looking along the black hull and from inside the control room. Crowds peak around late morning after buses of Arizona Memorial visitors arrive, so weekday mornings are calmer. The museum is a short five-minute walk from the visitor center, and it can be bought separately or as part of the Passport to Pearl Harbor, which also covers the Battleship Missouri and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, but not the Arizona Memorial. Bags are restricted in the park, so storage is typically used. Visitors should wear closed shoes, since the hatches and ladders are slippery. Children under 4 enter free, and admission for older children is discounted.