USS Batfish (SS-310)

Moored today in an inland setting near Muskogee, USS Batfish (SS-310) represents a combat-proven Balao-class submarine preserved far from the oceans where it served. Commissioned in 1943, Batfish conducted seven war patrols between December 1943 and August 1945, operating in waters east of Japan, the Philippine Sea, the Luzon Strait, and the South China Sea. The boat is best known for its remarkable sixth war patrol, when it earned a Presidential Unit Citation for sinking three Imperial Japanese Navy submarines—Ro-55, Ro-112, and Ro-113—within roughly 76 hours in February 1945, a concentrated anti-submarine success rare among U.S. boats. In aggregate, Batfish is credited with sinking nine Japanese ships totaling over 10,000 tons. Decommissioned soon after the war, then briefly reactivated for Atlantic Fleet training in the 1950s and later used in Naval Reserve training, the submarine was eventually struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1969 and transferred to Oklahoma, where it opened as a museum ship in 1973. The hull now serves as a substantial artifact of mid-century submarine engineering, tactics, and wartime patrol operations.