Submarine To Arrive In Ontario Sept 8th 2012

[Little Jo]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Lang

Until you have toured a sub be it a WWII or modern sub it is hard to conceive what it must be like to serve on one, for long periods under water.

Cheers Phil

Hi Phil

Strange how submarines have such a facination. You are correct that the WW2 subs had very cramped conditions and took a special person to even think of serving on one. I had the opertunity to go through two WW2 USA Submarines open to the public, both with connections to Australia.

The USS PAMPANITO at Fishermans Warf, San Francisco. This submarine sank a Japenese freighter, the Kachidoki Maru not knowing she was carrying Commonwealth POW's. The Pampanito later rescued 73 British and Australian POW's from the water after hearing calls in English.

The USS BOWFIN at the Pearl Harbor Memorial Museum. This submarine called into Brisbane for Post Voyage repairs before travelling along the Australian coast to Darwin where she topped up he fuel for her first war patrol.

I found them both to be very interesting, however to claustrophobic for me, I am glad I had my feet on the ground as a common Grunt.

1. USS Pampanito at her berth in San Franciso.
2. USS Bowfin at her berth at the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

Cheers

Tony