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USS ''Bowfin'' (SS/AGSS-287), a ''Balao''-class submarine, was a boat of the United States Navy named for the bowfin fish. Since 1981, she has been open to public tours at the USS ''Bowfin'' Submarine Museum and Park in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, next to the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center. ''Bowfin'' was laid down by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, on 23 July 1942, and launched on 7 December 1942 by Mrs. Jane Gawne, wife of Captain James Gawne, and commissioned on 1 May 1943, Commander Joseph H. Willingham in command. == First patrol == Following fitting out, the submarine proceeded via Newport, Rhode Island, to New London, Connecticut, her base for shakedown training. Early in July, she got underway for the Pacific war zone and, after transiting the Panama Canal and crossing the Pacific, reached Australia. After-voyage repair at Brisbane preceded her getting underway on 19 August to move north and west along the Australian coast to Darwin. She topped off her fuel tanks at that port and sailed on the morning of 25 August for her first war patrol. The warship reached the Mindanao Sea on 2 September, but plied its waters for more than three weeks without encountering any worthwhile targets. On 24 September, she met with to conduct coordinated operations. The next day, the two submarines began tracking a six-ship convoy and continued the chase for some five hours before ''Bowfin'' finally attained a suitable attack position. She then launched her six bow torpedoes — four at a freighter and two at a trailing transport. Three exploded against the side of the first ship and both of those fired at the second struck home. The submarine immediately turned her fantail toward the convoy and emptied her stern tubes, sending four torpedoes in the direction of a tanker. Gunfire at her periscope forced ''Bowfin'' to go deep, so prevented her crew from observing the progress of her last salvo, but they heard its torpedoes explode. When the submarine rose to periscope depth about an hour later, the 8,120-ton passenger-cargo ship ''Kirishima Maru'' was slowly sinking, the tanker was on fire, and the transport seemed to be settling by the stern. However, the two latter ships apparently were able to limp back to port, for the sinking of neither was confirmed by postwar study of Japanese records. Later in the day, members of ''Bowfin''’s crew heard distant explosions and inferred that ''Billfish'' was going after the remnants of the convoy, a conclusion which proved to be correct, for their sister ship managed to damage two Japanese ships totaling about 12,000 tons. Although the submarines continued to pursue the remaining enemy vessels as they fled during the night, the battered group of Japanese ships finally managed to slip away in the darkness. The following morning, after ''Bowfin''’s radar had picked up an enemy plane also equipped with radar, the submarine was forced to submerge to avoid detection. Two days later, she came across a 1,400-ton inter-island steamer and shadowed her until reaching a firing position about three hours later. She then launched three torpedoes. One stopped before reaching the target, and the other two missed. On 30 September, as she left the Mindanao Sea, ''Bowfin'' chanced upon a diesel-propelled barge carrying over 100 Japanese soldiers and opened fire on it with her four-inch gun. When the target responded with machine gun fire, the submarine’s 20-mm guns entered the fray. The battle came to an abrupt end when a four-inch round struck the enemy’s magazine and blew apart the already sinking barge. On 2 October, as the submarine continued through the Makassar Strait toward Australia, her crew sighted a schooner off Balikpapan. Willingham fired two shots across the stranger’s bow, but failed to bring her to and sank her with gunfire. ''Bowfin'' arrived at Fremantle on 10 October, ending a successful patrol. Rear Admiral Ralph W. Christie, who commanded American submarines in the area, was lavish in his praise of the submarine’s performance; he rewarded her commanding officer with the opportunity of heading a submarine division. To free him for the new role, Lieutenant Commander Walter Thomas Griffith relieved Willingham as commanding officer of ''Bowfin'' on 26 October. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Bowfin (SS-287)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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