USS Pampanito (SS-383) - Museum Ship

Museum Ship

Pampanito was turned into a memorial and museum at San Francisco on 21 November 1975, transferred to the Maritime Park Association (formerly the National Maritime Museum Association) on 20 May 1976, and opened to the public on 15 March 1982.

In 1986, Pampanito was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared to be a National Historic Landmark.

She is now owned and operated by the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association and is moored at Pier 45 in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf area, where she is open for visiting.

The USS PAMPANITO Amateur Radio Club brings the radio room to life on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month, using the callsign NJ6VT – NJVT was the boat's call sign during WWII. Ham radio operators from around the country (and sometimes around the world) contact the boat on 7.260 and 14.260 MHz using voice, and on other frequencies using Morse Code.

She flies a broom from her mast, indicating a clean sweep: a successful patrol that "swept the enemy from the seas." In total, she sank six Japanese ships and damaged four others, with a total of more than 27,000 tons of enemy shipping sunk.

Pampanito has completed four maintenance drydockings since becoming a memorial and museum. "The Pampanito still has several working parts, including one torpedo tube, the periscope, engines, galley and ice-cream maker." The museum runs educational programs including one that allows organized groups of children and adults to sleep overnight in the submarine's 48 bunk beds.