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USS Bowfin face lift
will restore classic look
The last time the World War II submarine USS Bowfin went for a face lift was 17 years ago in preparation for a role in ABC-TV's mini-series "War and Remembrance."
But Fred Anawati, president of Marisco Ltd., which did the last renovation, said it was an extreme makeover then, not just a paint job.
Anawati said propeller guards were added around the Bowfin's two four-bladed, eight-foot propellers as well as a towing bridle.
When Marisco began its second renovation of the submarine known as the Pearl Harbor avenger earlier this month, Anawati said he was "surprised how good a shape it was in. The hull is in really good shape ... I thought it would be in a hell of bad shape."
David McDermott, Marisco's Bowfin project manager, said workers in 1987 did such a good job refinishing the hull of the 61-year-old sub that his crew had a hard time getting the paint off.
Charles Hinman, director of education and outreach for the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park, said ABC-TV paid for the last renovation to prepare the Bowfin to portray three different submarines in the television mini-series.
"That was in 1987, the first and only time it went into drydock to have its hull cleaned," Hinman said. "She also was riding too high, so ABC added concrete to make her sit low in the water. The battery wells also was filled with gravel."
But McDermott said the concrete might have been added to the stern and bow areas of the submarine to hide some of the areas that were badly damaged.
On Sept. 8, two tugboats nudged the aging Pacific warrior out from its berth near the USS Arizona Memorial and escorted it to Marisco's drydock operations in Campbell Industrial Park near the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station.
This time, the museum will pay the total cost of the drydocking and renovations, estimated by retired Navy Capt. Gerald Hofwolt, executive director of USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, to be about $500,000. However, the use of Marisco's drydock operations is being donated by Tanadgusix Corp., a native Alaskan corporation created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. Also known as TDX, it is the trustee for all the native land on St. Paul, home to the largest Aleut population in world in the remote Bering Sea.
"We've been saving our money for many years to do this job," Hinman said.
When the Bowfin returns to its Pearl Harbor berth a month from now, "it will look like when it returned here on July 4, 1945 -- its last patrol," Hinman said.
The Bowfin will sport a gray paint job on its sides, while its decks -- anywhere that can be seen from above -- will be black, Hinman said.
Besides scraping, sandblasting and repainting the exterior of the 311-foot submarine, the major task will be removing the concrete that was placed in the sub's forward and aft free flooding areas. After workers cut through the bow and stern areas of the sub to expose places where the concrete was poured, jack hammers and hydroblasters are used to remove the cement.
Ben Park, a Marisco technician, said the hydroblasters use 40,000 pounds of pressurized air and water to pulverize the concrete.
Once the hull has been sand blasted, McDermott said, a special ceramic-coated paint will be used to protect the exterior of the Bowfin.
"It should be good for another 20 years," McDermott said.
The Bowfin was launched on Dec. 7, 1942, on the first anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was commissioned on May 1, 1943, and participated in nine war patrols. It is credited with sinking 44 ships.
The Bowfin was first decommissioned in Feb. 12, 1947, and brought back into service in July 27, 1951, for the Korean War. Three years later it was placed in noncommissioned reserve.
In 1960 the Bowfin was taken out of reserve and towed from Mare Island in San Francisco to Seattle where it was berthed until it was stricken from the Navy list of ships in 1971.
A year later, after the Navy was approached on acquiring the Bowfin as a memorial at Pearl Harbor, the sub was towed from Seattle to Hawaii, arriving at Pearl Harbor on June 12, 1972.
In 1979, the Navy approved a lease adjacent to the USS Arizona Memorial and the sub was moved from to its present site. The Bowfin was opened to the public in 1981.
