USSVI Naples Base

09/28/2026

She Was Launched Exactly One Year After Pearl Harbor — and Now Sits 500 Yards From the Ship She Was Built to Avenge

Eight days after the disaster at Pearl Harbor, the Portsmouth Navy Yard received orders to forge a new weapon of retribution. On December 7, 1942—one year to the day after 2,403 Americans died—workers launched her into the water. They called her the Pearl Harbor Avenger. Officially commissioned as USS Bowfin (SS-287), the 311-foot Balao-class submarine carried twenty-four torpedoes and a crew of eighty men.

On the night of November 26, 1943, Commander Walter Griffith drove her into a Japanese convoy during a blinding storm, throwing her engines into reverse to avoid a collision before opening fire. By morning, she had torpedoed five vessels in a single night. Across nine relentless war patrols, her crew claimed forty-four enemy ships destroyed, ranking among the deadliest American submarines of the entire Pacific War.

The enemy never caught her. She was decommissioned and eventually towed to the Hawaiian waters to become a legend. Today, she sits permanently moored at Pearl Harbor as a floating museum, resting exactly 500 yards from the sunken hull of the USS Arizona—the very battleship whose destruction ordered her into existence. The luxury is gone, replaced by narrow, claustrophobic corridors where visitors stand above the same harbor where 1,177 sailors still rest in the deep. Her active days are over. The Avenger has finally come to the sacred place she was meant to answer for, a silent steel sentinel guarding the ghosts of the American fleet.

Photos:
By jimmyweee - USS Bowfin (SS 287), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26288683
By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Johans Chavarro/Released - This image was released by the United States Navy with the ID 140819-N-IU636-577

09/11/2026

On 14 November 2026, the Naples Base will be attending the annual the NCH-NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) Reunion at the North Campus on Immokalee Road from 1000 to 1300.

This annual celebration brings together NICU graduates, families, physicians, nurses, caregivers, and community supporters to celebrate the incredible journeys of our former NICU patients. Their theme this year is "Under-the-Sea."

The float will be displayed at the event for everyone to see and ask questions about submarine service. PLEASE plan to attend. It should be awesome.

https://nchnicureunion2026.rsvpify.com/
No need to register as we are registered as a group.

09/04/2026

Submarine crews have a language of their own, built from years of living and working in a place where almost everything is different from life on the surface.
Words like “Poking holes in the ocean,” “NUB,” “Ping Jockey,” “Crank,” “Poopy Suit,” and “Bubblehead” aren't terms most people would ever hear in an ordinary workplace. On a submarine, though, they can become completely normal parts of everyday conversation.
A lot of that vocabulary comes from the way submariners spend their time. Sailors work long watches, move between very different jobs, eat in the same spaces, live in extremely close quarters, and spend long periods away from the surface. The same people hear the same expressions day after day, until the strangest words stop sounding strange at all.
Some terms are passed from experienced sailors to new ones. Others can vary between boats, generations, or even individual crews. A sailor can leave one submarine, join another, and occasionally discover that a word they assumed everyone used is completely unfamiliar to the new crew.
That is part of what makes submarine slang different from simply having a list of nicknames. The words become part of how sailors recognize people who have shared the same environment and routines. They carry a little piece of the boat with them.
And some of the terms are funny precisely because they describe something completely ordinary in the most ridiculous way possible. “Poking holes in the ocean” is a good example, an enormous, complicated submarine operation reduced to a phrase that sounds almost absurd.
For submariners, that's the normal language of the boat. For everyone else, it's a pretty good reminder that there is an entire vocabulary that has its own dictionary.

09/01/2026

Where Officers Eat on a Nuclear Submarine
Officers eat in a small space called the wardroom, it’s like their version of a dining room. It’s not fancy, but it’s where they eat, meet, and sometimes just take a breather. It’s also where they hold confidential discussions, where they can talk sensitive or classified matters not meant for the enlisted crew.
The meals are prepared by enlisted sailors trained as culinary specialists. They cook everything in a tiny galley, working long hours to make sure everyone gets hot meals, even during crazy watch schedules. It’s tight, fast-paced, and they make it work with what they’ve got, pretty impressive considering the space and pressure they’re under.

08/28/2026

Every branch of the military has its elite communities, but on a submarine, being elite isn't about specialized commando teams. It comes from a different standard: every sailor aboard must develop a level of understanding that extends beyond their own specialty.
When a sailor arrives at their first boat, their assigned job, whether they work in communications, reactor controls, navigation, sonar, or the galley, is only part of what is expected of them. They arrive qualified in their own specialty, but still "unqualified" as submariners. For months, much of their time outside watch standing and normal duties is spent learning the entire boat. They must learn the layout, major systems, and emergency procedures associated with every area of the submarine before earning their Dolphins.
This standard exists because a submerged submarine operates in an environment where immediate outside assistance is not available. If a pipe ruptures or an electrical fire breaks out, the sailors closest to the casualty must be prepared to respond, regardless of their normal job.
That process culminates in earning "Dolphins", the submarine warfare pin. Passing means proving that a cook, a radio operator, or any other sailor has the knowledge and qualification required to contribute during emergencies anywhere on the boat.
That is what makes submarine sailors different. Their reputation does not come from titles or specialized teams; it comes from a culture where every sailor is expected to understand the boat beyond their own role. Rank dictates command, but qualification is earned. From the newest sailor to the commanding officer, everyone onboard has proven they can contribute to the safety and operation of the submarine.

08/21/2026

08/15/2026

No explanation needed!

08/14/2026

Aboard a Brand New Submarine
Imagine being one of the first crews aboard a brand-new Virginia-class fast-attack submarine. Everything is pristine, high-tech, and perfectly aligned, but the work has just begun. Unlike older boats where the maintenance procedures have been refined over decades, the crew of a new construction submarine gets the unique, demanding job of perfecting the procedures themselves.
This is often called Initial Operating Capability (IOC) or the pre-deployment phase. The Sailors aren't just reading manuals; they are meticulously testing them. They take the technical procedures written by the engineers, documents that look like textbooks, and see if they actually work in the tight confines and dynamic environment of a submerged boat.
Every single piece of equipment, from the main propulsion motor to the smallest valve on the air system, has a scheduled maintenance check. But because the equipment is new, the crew must document every detail. This includes the Fit Check: Does the wrench actually fit around the bolt head as described in the procedure? Is there enough room to move the equipment inside the tight compartment? If not, the procedure gets revised and often redrawn. They also perform the Time Check: How long does it really take two Sailors to complete a specific task? This data is crucial for scheduling future maintenance rotations during long patrols. This constant review generates mountains of paperwork, feeding back to naval engineers, creating a critical, often tedious job where a single Sailor's notation about a difficult-to-reach access panel can literally change the design of the next sub built.
It’s the least glamorous, but arguably the most important, part of bringing a new boat online. This diligent work ensures that every future crew member knows exactly how to keep the silent, complex, and powerful Virginia-class platform running perfectly for decades to come.

08/07/2026

The USS Cavalla (SS-244) is one of the most celebrated World War II submarines preserved in the United States and has been a centerpiece of the Galveston Naval Museum at Seawolf Park in Galveston, Texas, since 1971. A Gato-class fleet submarine, Cavalla was launched on 14 November 1943 and commissioned on 29 February 1944, earning the nickname "Lucky Lady" because she entered service on Leap Day. During her first war patrol, she achieved lasting fame by sinking the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōkaku during the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19 June 1944. Shōkaku was one of the six carriers that had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor, earning Cavalla the nickname "Avenger of Pearl Harbor." For her wartime service, the submarine received the Presidential Unit Citation and four battle stars. 🕊⚓🇺🇸
After World War II, Cavalla was decommissioned, later returned to service during the Cold War as a hunter-killer submarine (SSK-244), and eventually redesignated AGSS-244 for research and development duties before her final decommissioning in 1969. Rather than being scrapped, she was transferred to Galveston in 1971 as a memorial to the lost submarine USS Seawolf (SS-197) and opened to the public at Seawolf Park. Today, visitors can tour much of the submarine, experiencing the cramped living conditions and combat spaces used by her wartime crew. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, USS Cavalla remains one of the finest preserved World War II submarines in America and serves as a lasting tribute to the submariners who fought in the Pacific.