USS Bowfin Submarine Museum: Visiting the Pearl Harbor Avenger

Launched One Year After the Attack

The timing of the Bowfin's launch carries the site's meaning. She slid into the water on December 7, 1942, exactly one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and she is nicknamed the Pearl Harbor Avenger. The fleet she joined had taken the brunt of that attack, when 353 fighters, level and dive bombers and torpedo bombers in two waves from six aircraft carriers struck the base just before 8 a.m. The standard count puts the American dead at 2,403.

The Bowfin herself sits in that story as an ordinary fleet boat with an extraordinary record. Between 1943 and 1945 she made nine war patrols. Over those nine patrols she is credited with sinking 44 enemy ships.

From Warship to Museum Ship

The Bowfin has been open to public tours since 1981, moored next to the Arizona visitor center at Pearl Harbor. Visitors climb aboard her dockside, down through the hatches and along the compartments where the crew of a World War II fleet submarine lived and fought. The site around her grew into what was first named the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park. The museum now calls itself the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum, and the NPS still describes the site as the Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park with the Fleet Submarine USS Bowfin (SS 287) as its centerpiece. The name change is just a renaming, the ship and the grounds are the same.

The grounds hold monuments to the 52 US submarines and more than 3,500 submariners lost in World War II. Admission covers the submarine, the three galleries, the outdoor exhibits and a free audio guide available in 7 languages.

Hours, Time and the Rules Before You Board

The table gathers the practical facts for a visit to the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum, taken from the museum's plan-your-visit page and the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites site. The campus is open daily 7am-5pm with last admission at 4:30pm, and it is closed on New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The most consequential line for families is the age rule.

Children under 4 are not permitted aboard the submarine for safety, though they can use the museum and the grounds while the rest of the party boards. The access line matters too, because the submarine has steep ladders, tight spaces and low clearances throughout, and is not wheelchair accessible. Visitors who cannot board can take a virtual tour of the boat in the museum's WWII gallery instead.

The Museum Galleries and the Grounds

The Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum is an indoor complement to the boat. Admission covers three galleries, and the WWII gallery holds the virtual tour for anyone who cannot manage the ladders aboard. The free audio guide comes in 7 languages. Uniformed military personnel are admitted free, and general admission needs no reservation, so you can add the Bowfin to a Pearl Harbor day on the spur of the moment, which is not true of the Arizona Memorial boat.

The grounds hold the monuments to the 52 lost submarines and more than 3,500 lost submariners, plus the outdoor exhibits. Jake's Street Food at the museum serves lunch between 10:00am and 2:30pm. The museum runs a bag storage facility near the visitor center entrance and charges a fee for all sizes including luggage, the same kind of rule that applies across Pearl Harbor. The page on the Pearl Harbor bag policy explains what you can carry onto the site and what has to go into storage before you arrive.

The Two Full-day Options

The Best of Pearl Harbor Full-Day Tour covers all four sites in one 10 hour day at $208 per person, with the Arizona Memorial, the USS Bowfin, the Battleship Missouri and the Aviation Museum and all admissions in the price. It is rated 4.8 from 58 reviews and leaves from Honolulu with hotel pickup. The Pearl Harbor Heroes Deluxe Tour runs 9.5 hours at $214 per person, with the same four stops plus an optional Ford Island Control Tower visit, a docent aboard the Missouri and lunch included. It is rated 4.8 from 34 reviews.

One honesty note before you book either. A reviewer on the Heroes Deluxe day says it was too rushed to reach the submarine museum, and a reviewer on the Best of Pearl Harbor day reports about 2 hours at each stop. Plan on 1.5 to 2 hours at this site on your own. If the submarine is your priority, going under your own arrangement leaves you free to linger. Neither half-day tour in the catalog, nor any of the Arizona and city combinations such as the Pearl Harbor and Honolulu City Tour, stops at the Bowfin, so do not book one expecting it. No admission price for the Submarine Museum is printed here because the tours sell it inside their tickets and the site sells its own at the gate.

From Bowfin Park to Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum

The museum has carried more than one name. It opened as the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park, and the National Park Service still uses that older title in its own materials, describing the fleet submarine USS Bowfin (SS 287) as the centerpiece. Today the museum calls itself the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum. If a sign or a page uses a different name, it is the same place next to the Arizona visitor center.

Public tours of the submarine began in 1981, so the site has been receiving visitors alongside the National Park Service grounds for more than four decades.

Children, Wheelchair Users and Service Members

Children under 4 are not permitted aboard the submarine for safety reasons. They can still use the museum and the outdoor grounds while the rest of the party climbs aboard. The submarine itself has steep ladders, tight spaces and low clearances, so it is not wheelchair accessible.

Anyone who cannot make the boarding can take a virtual tour of the boat inside the museum's WWII gallery. Uniformed military personnel are admitted free, and general admission does not require a reservation. Plan 1.5 to 2 hours for the submarine, museum and grounds together.

If you want the Bowfin handled for you along with the Missouri and the Aviation Museum, the Pearl Harbor Heroes Deluxe Tour covers it in 9.5 hours at $214 per person with all admissions included. You can compare it with other Pearl Harbor tours from Honolulu on the Pearl Harbor tour from Honolulu.

Jake's Street Food at the Museum

The only food outlet named at the site is Jake's Street Food at the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum. It opens at 10:00am and closes at 2:30pm, so it covers a late breakfast through an early lunch and nothing after mid afternoon. If you arrive on an early tour and plan to eat on site, keep that window in mind.

Storage for bags, including luggage, is available near the visitor center entrance for a fee charged by the museum.