Memorials

by
State
Return to Listing by State                  Return to MAIN INDEX
Go here for the complete list of the 50 states and their assigned lost submarines from

the list of 52 LOST BOATS of World War Two as designated by the SubVets of WWII
California

BAYA (SS-318)
USS BAYA periscope
USS BAYA Periscope


 
Is at the Naval and Historical Museum in Vallejo, CA. It is prominently displayed at the top of the staircase. It is operational and extends out through the roof.
Image contributed by Patrick W. Ellis

BLENNY (SS-324)
CLICK for the BLENNY Bell story
CLICK THUMBNAIL FOR THE STORY
USS BLENNY ship's bell at Ballast Point, San Diego
With a link to BLENNY's last dive

PAMPANITO (SS-383)
National Maritime Museum Association
PO Box 470310
San Francisco, CA 94147
(415) 441-5819
USS PAMPANITO SS-383 Home Page
HNSA

Students on the PAMPANITO Nov. 02
Click for story
Students on the Pamp - Nov. 2002

RONCADOR (SS-301)

Ballast Point, San Diego
Photo above courtesy of Harvey Noble
RONCADOR SS-301

Roncador
Photo above courtesy of Pat Householder

 
The following information was provided by Joel Lyon

The center piece is the fairwater, main deck up, complete with scopes and radar antenna
of the RONCADOR SS-301.

There is an almost complete 20 mm anti-aircraft gun on the aft cigarette deck.

Surrounding the fairwater are two marble obelisks with brass plaques, two 5 inch 25 cal
deck guns and a Mk X or Mk XIV torpedo. I think the torpedo is a Mk X because it appears shorter than 21 feet, didn't have a tape. It has an inert Mk XV warhead, serial number 609, dated 1936 by Newport. It was inerted by the Sperry in 1980.

One marble obelisk has a large plaque honoring all the WWII boats on Eternal Patrol. The other has individual plaques for the loss of either the following boats and/or their crewmembers:
     
    F-1
     
    F-4
     
    G-2
    H-1 
    O-5 
    O-9
    S-4 
    S-5 
    S-51
    SS-192
    SS-345
    SS-415
    SS-426
    SS-589 
    SS-593

US Submarine Veterans WWII - National Memorial West at Seal Beach

Miller Photo #1
US Submarine Veterans WWII - National Memorial West at Seal Beach

USS THRESHER SSN-593 and USS SCORPION SSN-589 Memorial Plaques at Seal Beach
Miller Photo #2
USS THRESHER SSN-593 and USS SCORPION SSN-589
Memorial Plaque Site
Viewing angle is from the National Submarine Memorial West site
Note the memorial bricks placement in front of plaques

Miller Photo #3
THRESHER and SCORPION
 
Miller Photo #4
SubMemorial West
 
Miller Photo #5
SubMemorial West
CLICK THUMBNAILS FOR LARGER IMAGES

SEAL BEACH
These five Seal Beach images (above) were contributed

by Bob Miller ETCS(SS) USN(Ret)
Bob was transferred from the USS THRESHER on 9 July 1962
THRESHER was lost on 10 April 1963
Bob's complete photo album

NAVAL WEAPONS STATION SEAL BEACH
World War Two Submarine Memorial

More links from Paul Wittmer's website

A ComSubPac Press release
Thresher-Scorpion Memorial & Submarine Centennial Brick Memorial Walkway

SUBMARINE VETERANS MEMORIAL HIGHWAY - West
SEAL BEACH
Click: The NAMES PROJECT
Argonaut and Grampus Memorial - San Leandro
SAN LEANDRO
USS ARGONAUT and USS GRAMPUS Memorial
[ CLICK TO ENTER ]
Image donated by James Carpenter
Plaque- Gilmore Housing
SAN DIEGO
Howard Gilmore Navy Housing Project
Contains a memorial with plaques for all 52 lost boats.
MINSY

The Anchor at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard gate
 The plaque reads: "First U.S. Naval Station in the Pacific Mare Island Navy Yard was established September 16, 1854 by the then commander David G. Farragut, USN. Site selected in 1852 by a commission headed by Commodore John D. Sloat, USN. Mare Island had the Navy's first shipyard, ammunition depot, hospital, Marine barracks, cemetery, chapel, and radio station in the Pacific."

Read about The Early Submarines of Mare island


SOMETHING IN THE WATER:   The Mare Island Mystique     ---By Fred Tannenbaum



Plaque at Mare Island

Click for full image


 
A former SSBN-658 crew member, James Carter, had the plaque made in 1999 and it is now displayed with the remains of USS MARIANO G, VALLEJO SSBN-658 at Mare Island.
J. Carter says that there is a building on Mare Island that is marked to become a museum of the shipyard and the 658 sail is to be the centerpiece. Along with the sail they have the radio shack, sonar shack, the conn, periscopes, BCP and numerous other artifacts from the 658. For more information contact James Carter at   ssbn658@mindspring.com
Website link for USS MARIANO G. VALLEJO SSBN-658


 
Mare Island - St.Peter's Chapel
Mare Island - St.Peter's Chapel
Mare Island - St.Peter's Chapel
CLICK THUMBNAILS FOR LARGER IMAGES
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
St. Peter's Chapel
Plaque images donated by James Carpenter

Background of the St. Peter's Chapel plaque dedications
BALLAST POINT
Walter Bishop Hall, a BEQ building was dedicated and named 
for the COB of the USS SCORPION in 1970. Also a BOQ was 

named here for LCDR John Harvey, CO of the THRESHER.


FRESNO
California State University, Fresno

 
The plaque reads as follows:


"These tress are dedicated
to the memory of those
United States Navy Submariners
who made the ultimate sacrifice,
so that we might live in freedom.
United States Submarine veterans
World War II
Fresno Chapter
Dedicated March 1, 2002"



 
Tribute was paid on Friday, March 1, 2002 to American submarine veterans and the 54 boats lost in World War II and the Cold War era at a ceremony at California State University, Fresno.The ceremony included a "tolling of the boats".

Two submarine veterans organizations, with assistance from Army and Air Force ROTC students at Fresno State, dedicated a monument and 54 tulip trees on the grassy Maple Avenue mall.

The memorial is the first honoring lost submarines and crew members to be located on a university campus, according to Joseph A. Cox, president of Fresno chapter of the United States Submarine Veterans of World War II.

Images and text copied & adapted from California State University, Fresno


(Fresno) For each submarine honored there is a tree
and a marker listing the name of the boat and date lost.



Fresno 2003 Memorial Report
ENTER

MORRIS DAM
The hills above Azusa 


There is a marker. Apparently during WWII and into the 1980s
the US Navy had a facility on the lake in which it tested torpedoes.
Not a memorial but a point of historical interest.
Info contributed by John A Andersen  jqa1@earthlink.net

TOP