WW2 Submarine Tour: Take a Look Inside the USS Lionfish | Invesloan.com

Over the Balao-class submarine’s two war patrols, she sank a Japanese submarine, destroyed a schooner, and rescued the crew of a downed American B-29 bomber.

The USS Lionfish was recommissioned for the Korean War, serving from 1951 to 1953.

From 1960 to 1971, the USS Lionfish served as a reserve training submarine, teaching crew members to operate similar vessels.

Tickets to Battleship Cove cost $25 per adult. I visited the museum in January to take a closer look at the retired submarine.

The forward torpedo room featured six torpedo tubes, each storing a torpedo, and 10 reloads. The 16 crew members slept alongside the torpedoes on pull-out bunks, remaining ready to fire at all times.

In the officers’ pantry, meals for the higher-ranking crew members were reheated and plated on Navy china. They ate the same food as the rest of the sailors, but in a fancier setting.

It could also serve as an operating room in medical emergencies.

Officers enjoyed more privacy on board than enlisted men.

The submarine’s second-in-command, known as the executive officer, slept in this room.

The commanding officer’s stateroom featured a small desk that functioned as a private workspace.

Chief petty officers served as liaisons between the officers and the crew. This room was also colloquially known as the “goat locker” since the more experienced officers were affectionately nicknamed “old goats.”

Personnel files, orders of supplies, and other administrative tasks were the yeoman’s domain.

The commanding officer issued orders from the control center or the conning tower located directly above. The USS Lionfish’s conning tower wasn’t open to the public, but I did get to look inside one while touring another Balao-class submarine, the USS Becuna.

The USS Lionfish was equipped with sonar, or “sound navigation and ranging,” to listen for enemy ships in the surrounding waters.

The galley prepared four meals a day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight rations known as “mid-rats.”

Frozen and refrigerated food was stored in compartments underneath the floor.

Other Balao-class submarines held 35 or 36 bunks in this space.

Each engine room was responsible for half of the ship’s electric and propulsion power.

While surfaced, the submarine’s four diesel engines powered its generators, which in turn powered the ship’s motors. While submerged, storage batteries powered the motors.

Around 13 enlisted men worked and slept in the after torpedo room, which featured four torpedo tubes.

Over 50 submarines underwent a Greater Underwater Propulsive Power 1-A, or “GUPPY,” modernization after World War II. However, the USS Lionfish remained as it was.

Museum staff and volunteers are working to restore the USS Lionfish and preserve its original configuration. Even in frigid temperatures, I saw volunteers holding tools and walking carefully around the deck’s open panels, revealing the complex mechanics beneath.