USS Pampanito, Submarine museum at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, US
USS Pampanito is a Balao-class submarine with a black lower hull and a grey upper hull, moored beside the Liberty ship SS Jeremiah O'Brien at Pier 45. Its conning tower carries a tall mast with railings and a flag, and a broom is flown from the mast. A heavy chain and mooring lines cross the rounded bow, and rows of small openings run along the hull.
Pampanito was laid down at Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, on 15 March 1943, launched on 12 July 1943, and commissioned on 6 November 1943. In September 1944, during her third patrol, she sank the Rakuyō Maru, which was carrying British and Australian prisoners of war, and then rescued 73 survivors, calling in three other submarines to help. She was decommissioned in 1945, served as a Naval Reserve training ship from 1960 to 1971, and opened as a museum ship at Pier 45 on 15 March 1982.
The vessel serves as an educational facility under the Maritime National Park Association, teaching visitors about daily life aboard wartime submarines. The preserved boat offers insights into submarine crews' experiences and the strategic role of undersea warfare in the Pacific theater. Educational programs focus on naval history and the technical challenges faced by submariners during combat operations.
Access is through the submarine's own hull at Pier 45, Fisherman's Wharf, so visitors pass through watertight bulkheads and climb steep ladders between decks. The boat was moved to a dry dock in Alameda on 23 September 2016 and returned on 14 November 2016. Organized groups can book overnight stays in the submarine's 48 bunk beds.
Pampanito flies a broom from her mast, a signal of a "clean sweep" after a successful patrol. She is credited with sinking six Japanese ships and damaging four others, more than 27,000 tons of enemy shipping in all. One torpedo tube, the periscope, engines, galley and even the ice-cream maker still work.
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