Wanderings And Ponderings

The USS Batfish (SS-310), a legendary Balao-class submarine from World War II, has one of the most impressive service records in U.S. naval history. Built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, the Batfish was launched in May 1943 and commissioned that August. She served valiantly in the Pacific theater, completing seven war patrols. Her most famous achievement came during her sixth patrol in February 1945—within just 76 hours, the Batfish sank three Japanese submarines, a remarkable and rare feat in submarine warfare. In total, the Batfish took down 15 enemy vessels, totaling approximately 37,000 tons of shipping, and earned six battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation for her service. After WWII, she was decommissioned in 1946, briefly recommissioned during the Korean War, and then retired for good in 1959. Today, the Batfish rests at the Muskogee War Memorial Park in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where she’s been preserved as a museum ship. Visitors can walk through the su...