Submarine

Launching and Commissioning PDF Print E-mail

Launching and Commissioning
USS Bowfin (SS-287)
7 December 1942


 On 15 December 1941, eight days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Portsmouth Navy Yard was given the order to start construction of the new Balao class fleet submarines. The third boat of the class was to bear the name USS Bowfin (SS-287). Her keel was laid on 23 July 1942.

Construction proceeded smoothly, and Bowfin was launched at Portsmouth (actually located in Kittery, Maine) on 7 December 1942, exactly one year after the Pearl Harbor attack. Because of this historic coincidence, and in hopes of future success against the enemy, she was appropriately dubbed the "Pearl Harbor Avenger."

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Bowfin was christened by Mrs. Jane Gawne, wife of Captain James Orville Gawne.

After a period of fitting out, Bowfin neared the ceremony marking her acceptance into the U.S. Navy. Her commissioning party was held on 24 April 1943 at the Pannaway Club in New London, followed a week later by her formal Commissioning Ceremony held on her main deck on the first of May.

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Commander Joseph Harris Willingham, USN, reads his orders taking command of USS Bowfin (SS-287), on 1 May 1943.

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Bowfin - the fish

 

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USS Bowfin takes her name from the hard fighting, aggressive, and voracious fish found in fresh water from the Great Lakes on south. As the last survivor of the family Amiidae, which dates back to the Jurassic Period, this "living fossil" is at home in backwaters and marshy areas. Due to its ability to use its swim bladder as a primitive lung, it thrives in water with low oxygen content, and can survive for days at a time in little or no water. Hardly a more appropriate name could have been found for an air-breathing diesel boat, this one soon to be legendary in the submarine force for her bold determination and insatiable appetite for enemy shipping.
 

Secrets of the Sub

The Very First Sub Ever

The First Submarine Ever

There were many countries around the world developing submarines in the 17th and 18th century both for wartime use and for commercial purposes. In the United States, we say the Turtle, developed by a Yale University professor, David Bushnell, was our first submarine. Designed to deliver an underwater mine with a timed fuse, it's original purpose was to break the blockade of the British Navy in New York harbor in 1776, during the War of Independence. Almost a hundred later the Confederate States Ship Hunley with a crew of nine men braved the waters of Charleston, South Carolina harbor to attack and sink the Union Ship USS Housitanic. The weapon used was a mine mounted on a spar jutting from the bow of the submarine. Again, the purpose was to break the blockade of a harbor but within 40 years, the United States started the submarine explosion with the Simon Lake, SS-1, in 1900 , designed as a scouting ship for America's emerging battle fleets. In less than 20 years, the first world war would see the island nation of Great Brritain brought to her knees by German commerce raiding submarines and submarines , large and small being developed by many nations.