Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum tells story of Navy submarining

Chuck Merkel, executive director, stands next to a submarine torpedo. The Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum, a $20 million, 13,000-square-foot USS Bowfin submarine museum, opened Monday with a new name and striking look that charts the course of Navy undersea duty from the loss of the F4’s 21 hands off Honolulu in 1915 up through the newest $6.5 billion Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.

James and Asha Pumarada, visted the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum with family members on Tuesday.

An early photo shows the crew of the USS Bowfin.

Leighton, left and Reed Schwab, visiting from Seattle, play on a submarine.

A model of the USS Bowfin is on display.

Tate Struve and son, Hunter Struve, from Wisconsin, celebrated the younger Struve’s birthday on a mock-up of a control room of a submarine. In the background is a Poseidon C-3 warhead.

Charles Hinman, left, education director, and Sarah Bellian, curator, are shown with educational exhibits at the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum.

The Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum reflects the goal of telling the wider story of Navy submarining beyond the resident Bowfin, nicknamed the “Pearl Harbor Avenger.”