The USS Bowfin was commissioned in 1943 and sank 44 enemy ships in eight patrols during the Second World War, earning her crew the nickname "Pearl Harbor Avenger." She is now moored at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial and open to visitors who can climb through the entire submarine — from torpedo rooms to engine room to conning tower.
The experience of squeezing through a working World War II submarine with its 80-person crew spaces is unexpectedly visceral. Everything is original: the sleeping quarters where sailors slept in shifts on rotating bunks, the tiny galley that fed 80 men for months, and the torpedo rooms where the actual weapons were loaded. The associated museum covers Pacific submarine warfare with considerable depth. Often combined with the Arizona Memorial and Battleship Missouri as part of a full Pearl Harbor day.