Home > USS Bowfin (SS-287)

USS Bowfin (SS-287) was a Balao-class submarine laid down by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine on 23 July 1942, launched on 7 December, 1942 by Mrs. J. O. Gawne, wife of Captain Gawne and commissioned on 1 May, 1943. Bowfin completed nine offensive war patrols between 16 August, 1943 and 4 July, 1945 and sank sixteen enemy vessels for a total of 67,882 tons.

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, 1944Events World War II January January 4 The Battle of Monte Cassino begins. January 5 Murder of Danish playwright Kaj Munck January 17 British forces, in Italy, cross the Garigliano River. January 20 The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin;
• 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 MaruTsushima Maru , an evacuation ship for schoolchildren, was sunk by the submarine USS Bowfin on her way from Okinawa to Kagoshima 1944 August 21. 1,484 civilians including 767 schoolchildren were killed. Its wreck was located and identified in December 199 on 22 August, 1944
• Assisted USS AsproUSS Aspro (SS/AGSS-309 a Balao class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the aspro, a fish found abundantly in the upper Rhone River. According to legend, the aspro comes to the surface only in bad weather, when other f (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 USS 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 in Washington until decommissioned for a final time on 1 December, 1971. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December, 1971 and preserved as a memorial at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Bowfin was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for her 2nd offensive war patrol and the Navy Unit Commendation for her 6th offensive war patrol.