The Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum at Pearl Harbor held an invitation-only unveiling Wednesday to show off newly transformed galleries, giving guests a first look at enhanced submarine control room displays, an immersive exhibit on Arctic submarine operations, and a new interactive challenge that lets visitors try to earn their dolphins. The event landed as the museum marks its 45th anniversary, having first opened the USS Bowfin to public tours at Pearl Harbor in April 1981.
Guests who attended the unveiling, as reported by Hawaii News Now, toured the new galleries and also visited the World War II-era USS Bowfin submarine itself. Peter Miller, chairman of the board of the Pacific Fleet Submarine Association, described the Cold War gallery's interactive exhibits as including a chance to virtually drive a nuclear submarine through a path, according to the station's report. The museum sits next to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, and the updated exhibits are designed to bring to life the history and operations of America's submarine force through immersive displays and hands-on experiences, the outlet notes.
A Decade of Modernization Behind the New Displays
The Wednesday unveiling builds on a comprehensive $20 million redesign completed in 2021, when the site expanded into three distinct galleries covering World War II, the Cold War, and modern undersea operations, and was officially renamed from the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park to the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum, according to the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum. That overhaul turned a single-vessel display into a broader educational campus, and the museum has kept adding to it since. On July 15, officials cut the ribbon on a new Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard display featuring welder masks, foundry tools, dry-docking challenge coins, and interactive videos honoring the shipyard's 6,700 civilian and uniformed workers, per DVIDS, which described the shipyard as the primary repair and maintenance facility for U.S. Pacific fast-attack submarines.
Leadership at the museum has also changed hands recently. Former U.S. Navy veteran Andrew “Homer” Ring assumed the role of Executive Director in May 2025, succeeding Charles “Chuck” Merkel after Merkel's nine-year tenure, according to the Bowfin Museum. Merkel had overseen both the $20 million renovation and a 2022 drydock restoration before stepping down. The museum reached a cumulative milestone of 11 million visitors by May 2025, a figure that has climbed steadily since it recorded its 10 millionth visitor in December 2021.
The Bowfin's Symbolic Ties to Pearl Harbor
The museum's centerpiece vessel, the Balao-class USS Bowfin (SS-287), was launched on December 7, 1942 — exactly one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor — earning her the nickname “The Pearl Harbor Avenger” before she completed nine combat war patrols in the Pacific. The submarine was acquired from the U.S. Navy in 1979 to save it from scrapping, and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986 after opening to the public in 1981, preceding construction of the main National Park Service Pearl Harbor Visitor Center campus, according to Pearl Harbor Historic Sites. It remains the only major Pearl Harbor historic attraction accessible on foot without taking a shuttle bus.
Keeping an 80-plus-year-old steel submarine afloat in saltwater is a continuous operational challenge. In 2022, the then-80-year-old USS Bowfin was temporarily towed from her Pearl Harbor berth to a Honolulu Harbor shipyard for scheduled drydock repairs and hull maintenance, according to Hawaii Parent, which noted it was the vessel's first off-site drydocking in nearly two decades.
A Self-Funded Nonprofit Tucked Beside a Federal Memorial
Despite sitting inside the federal Pearl Harbor park complex, the museum is owned and operated by the Pacific Fleet Submarine Memorial Association, a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in December 1978 that receives no state or federal government funding. The association was formed after Congress authorized the Navy to transfer obsolete vessels to nonprofits, according to Pearl-Harbor.com. The museum's 2.5-acre grounds also include a dedicated Waterfront Memorial honoring 52 U.S. submarines and more than 3,600 submariners lost during World War II, along with outdoor exhibits featuring authentic torpedoes and a dissected Poseidon missile.
For visitors who cannot navigate the submarine's tight interior hatches and steep ladders, the museum offers a fully accessible conning tower exhibit from sister sub USS Parche (SS-384), which lets mobility-impaired guests view an eight-foot-wide command center up close, along with audio tours in eight languages. The submarine has long been counted among Pearl Harbor's essential stops for visitors; Hoodline previously named it among Honolulu's top sights alongside the USS Arizona Memorial and Pacific Aviation Museum. With the newly unveiled galleries now open, that reputation looks set to grow as the museum marks 45 years of bringing visitors aboard.
