SUBMARINEMUSEUMS.ORG

Mission Statement: "To unite all submarine museum authors, curators, docents, enthusiasts, historians, librarians, visitors, and volunteers through positive promotion and cooperative education in order to perpetuate the American submarine museums of our forefathers."

USS Drum (SS-228) at Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, AL Welcome! Did you know that there are currently twenty-five different museum submarines in the United States that you can get in and explore? Most are decommissioned, retired submarines, saved from being scrapped after being deemed as unfit for further military service to the Navy. Many of them saw action during World War II or played a role in the Cold War and/or Vietnam. Some were used for training, experimenting, or research for the development of today's submarine force. There are even a couple of Russian submarines and a WWII-era German U-Boat! I hope that with the help of this website that you'll visit one or some of the many submarine museums that may be located near you. Please click on the "Map" link above to see a Google map with the locations of all of the museum submarines listed on this website. You will also be able to find driving directions with the use of that map.

Each museum submarine is unique in her own way. Many hold some various record, some were used in movies, and a few have rare operational, functioning equipment. All of them have a following of hard-working volunteers that keep them going.

This site also has a forum that I hope you'll take part in. The forum is here for visitors to ask questions and learn about the different submarines. It is also here for all those who work and volunteer on the submarine museums to share ideas, talk about fund raising efforts, find restoration advice, promote special events, etc.

USS Batfish (SS-310) at Muskogee War Memorial Park in Muskogee, OK, by forum member Mark Allen Below, you'll see a table listing the submarine name, the class of the submarine, the date it was launched (first put into the water), its official website where you can find specific museum or park information, its Historic Naval Ships Association (HNSA) webpage that details the history of the submarine with pictures, its Wikipedia webpage listing, where to find out more about it on Facebook®, and the city and state of the submarine's current home. Detailed addresses for the parks/museums can be found by looking at the official website for the submarine or by checking out the forum here.

These are the submarines in your neighborhood! Find one near you and go visit it with your friends and family. All of these museum submarines are open for you get down inside and explore. Nineteen are still in the water while six (Albacore, Batfish, Cavalla, Drum, Marlin, and U-505) are secured on dry land. It is truely an amazing experience to tour any submarine museum! Also, there is more to the submarine museums than just submarines. Many have exhibits of torpedoes, mines, and ships (targets) to see while you're there.


The 25 Museum Submarines Located Across The USA - Listed In Order Of Launch Date
  Class Launch Date Builder Official Website HNSA Wikipedia  Facebook® Current
Location
USS Drum
(SS-228)
Gato May 12,
1941
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard http://www.ussalabama.com/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Mobile,
AL
U-505
(German)
IX-C May 24,
1941
Deutsche Werft AG http://www.msichicago.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Chicago,
IL
USS Silversides
(SS-236)
Gato August 26,
1941
Mare Island Naval Shipyard https://www.silversidesmuseum.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Muskegon,
MI
USS Bowfin
(SS-287)
Balao December 7,
1942
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard http://www.bowfin.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Honolulu,
HI
USS Croaker
(SS-246)
Gato December 19,
1942
Electric Boat company http://www.buffalonavalpark.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Buffalo,
NY
USS Cod
(SS-224)
Gato March 21,
1943
Electric Boat Company http://www.usscod.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Cleveland,
OH
USS Batfish
(SS-310)
Balao May 6,
1943
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard http://www.ussbatfish.com/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(group)
Muskogee,
OK
USS Pampanito
(SS-383)
Balao July 12,
1943
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard https://maritime.org/uss-pampanito/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
San Francisco,
CA
USS Ling
(SS-297)
Balao August 15,
1943
Cramp Shipbuilding Company closed/fate pending n/a Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(group)
Hackensack,
NJ
USS Lionfish
(SS-298)
Balao November 7,
1943
Cramp Shipbuilding Company http://www.battleshipcove.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Fall River,
MA
USS Cavalla
(SS-244)
Gato November 14,
1943
Electric Boat Company https://www.galvestonnavalmuseum.com/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Galveston,
TX
USS Cobia
(SS-245)
Gato November 28,
1943
Electric Boat Company http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Manitowoc,
WI
USS Razorback
(SS-394)
Balao January 27,
1944
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard http://www.aimmuseum.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
North Little Rock,
AR
USS Becuna
(SS-319)
Balao January 30,
1944
Electric Boat Company http://www.phillyseaport.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Philadelphia,
PA
USS Torsk
(SS-423)
Tench September 6,
1944
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard http://www.historicships.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Baltimore,
MD
USS Requin
(SS-481)
Tench January 1,
1945
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Pittsburgh,
PA
USS Clamagore
(SS-343)
Balao February 25,
1945
Electric Boat Company scrapped n/a Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Mount Pleasant,
SC
USS Albacore
(AGSS-569)
Albacore August 1,
1953
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard http://www.ussalbacore.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Portsmouth,
NH
USS Marlin
(SST-2)
T-1 October 14,
1953
Electric Boat Company http://parks.cityofomaha.org/.../281-freedom-park HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Omaha,
NE
USS Nautilus
(SSN-571)
Nautilus January 21,
1954
Electric Boat Company http://www.ussnautilus.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Groton,
CT
USS Growler
(SSG-577)
Grayback April 5,
1958
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
New York,
NY
USS Blueback
(SS-581)
Barbel May 16,
1959
Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation https://omsi.edu/exhibits/uss-blueback-submarine/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
Portland,
OR
B-39
(Russian)
Foxtrot April 15,
1967
Admiralty Shipyard closed to public/scrapped n/a Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
San Diego,
CA
USS Dolphin
(AGSS-555)
Dolphin June 8,
1968
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard http://www.sdmaritime.org/ HNSA
webpage
Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(fan)
San Diego,
CA
B-427
(Russian)
Foxtrot June 22,
1971
Sudomekh Shipyard closed to public/scrapped n/a Wikipedia
webpage
Facebook®
(n/a)
Long Beach,
CA

"They weren't just hull numbers, they were our home addresses. Now the old neighborhood is torn down and gone and all that is left are memories."
- Richard "Murph" Murphy, IC3(SS)


Here are some interesting facts about each museum submarine:



USS Cod (SS-224) maneuvering room, by forum member Paul Farace SUBMARINEMUSEUMS.ORG forum member and amateur radio enthusiast Bill Chaikin (username "KA8VIT") was kind enough to share his videos of the USS Cod in Cleveland, OH. Visit KA8VIT's USS Cod Videos page to see some great video footage, even a 25 minute video tour of the entire boat! The videos will give you an idea of what all you can see by visiting a submarine museum.



Save Our Submarines USS Marlin (SST-2) at Freedom Park in Omaha, NE, by Bill Lee The "Restoration Supporter - Preserving Our Heritage" patch you see to your left was originally designed by Lockwood Internet Base, USSVI, members and was sold to support a specific submarine museum boat as chosen annually by Lockwood Internet Base.

While Lockwood Internet Base is no more, you can still purchase the patch from SubmarineShop.com to show your support for museum submarines.


USSVI LIB Restoration Supporter HNSA USSVWWII

This page last updated 10/3/2023
SUBMARINEMUSEUMS.ORG launched on 2/26/2008
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