USS Becuna (SS-319)

Moored along the Philadelphia waterfront, USS Becuna (SS-319) represents the wartime evolution of the U.S. submarine force in tangible steel. This Balao-class boat, built at Electric Boat in Groton and commissioned in May 1944, went to war almost immediately, conducting five patrols in the Philippines, South China Sea, and Java Sea. Her record—validated sinkings of Japanese shipping including tankers and smaller cargo craft—illustrates both the lethality and the uncertainty of undersea warfare, where torpedo results were often inferred through explosions heard rather than hits seen. Becuna later shifted from combat to training duty in the Atlantic Fleet, serving into 1969 and reflecting how World War II submarines were adapted to Cold War requirements. As a National Historic Landmark and museum ship with Independence Seaport Museum, she anchors a broader naval landscape that includes USS Olympia nearby, allowing close comparison between late-19th-century surface design and mid-20th-century undersea engineering. For those interested in systems, hull form, and the realities of patrol life, Becuna provides a preserved, aging hull that still carries the imprint of long service at sea.