WW2 submarine restoration

I've toured the USS Bowfin @ Pearl Harbor, absolutely fascinating. They indicate the Pampanito has been stripped for spare parts, I wonder how much is missing?
 
Really Good article!! I have been on the USS North Carolina battleship and my son slept on the USS Yorktown carrier with the Boy Scouts. Neither of us have been on a sub. History need to be saved for future generations, not scrapped.
 
One of our local characters, "Toots" Bommarito, served on that boat during World war 2; he passed away perhaps 15 or 20 years ago in possession of hundreds of shovels, at least one from every job he ever worked on, couldn't help himself ---
 
USS Pampanito was the star of Down Periscope under the alias USS Stingray. It received a major overhaul for the movie.



rabler said:
I've toured the USS Bowfin @ Pearl Harbor, absolutely fascinating. They indicate the Pampanito has been stripped for spare parts, I wonder how much is missing?
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Cliff's notes version. The sub was in the reserve fleet until 1970, needed spare parts were removed before being decommissioned in 1971. In 1976 it was given to the SF Maritime Museum for display. It opened to the public in 1982. USS Bowfin was decommissioned the same year so likely had the same issue of being made available for parts for the handful still in service. The last Baleo class sub was decommissioned from the US Navy in 1975 although several would remain in service with other countries into the 90s.

The Maritime Museum has a detailed page for the USS Pampanito. https://maritime.org/uss-pampanito/


Here is a list of the operational equipment on the submarine.

Operational equipment
 
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I have did a tour of the USS Pampanito when we lived in SF, must have been at least 20 year ago, everything was intact visually. Sounds like they are trying to return it to some level of functioning condition. Very cramped inside, there is a reason they call them Sardine cans. Always have been fascinated with WW2 ships/submarines and the battle strategies from all sides. We tend to forget how horrific it was, was, my dad flew B17's in Europe and got shot down behind enemy lines at the Battle of the Bulge, the French underground eventually got him out and across the English Channel. My mom is from Belgium and escaped 1 day before the Nazi's invaded and shipped millions off to the gas chambers, you pretty much just got out with the shirt on your back. If you did not have a US person that would 100% sponsor you, you could not emigrate. She was 15 at the time.
 
Only Sub i have been on is the in Chicago, the captured U-Boat, did it when i was a kid and it was still outside

i have been on the USS Cone and the USS America
 
Interesting, there is a "Ships lathe" in the Pampanito's Maneuvering room. The virtual tour shows the tailstock half of it, I can't tell what make/model it is but someone here might recognize it.
 
rabler said:
Interesting, there is a "Ships lathe" in the Pampanito's Maneuvering room. The virtual tour shows the tailstock half of it, I can't tell what make/model it is but someone here might recognize it.
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I don't but here is a cropped screen shot if anybody wants to take a guess.

Pampanito lathe.jpg
 
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