USS Pampanito551

One of the coolest ways to spend an afternoon in San Francisco is by going underwater on the USS Pampanito, a World War II fleet submarine built in 1943. She sank six Japanese ships and damaged four others, and has twice narrowly escaped being destroyed herself.

Now, the only action she sees are the crowds of people who visit her at Fisherman's Wharf - roughly 250,000 every year. And, with her search lights, control area, and torpedo room, she intrigues almost everyone who boards the boat.

Folks start their tour on the top deck, which holds the gun decks and periscope, among other features. Each of these submarines once carried about 70 men, and it's when you go below deck to see how they must have lived together that the tour really gets interesting.

The torpedo room, which used to store eight of the submarine's 24 torpedoes, is one of the more interesting areas because it also also used to store sleeping men (twelve bunks are located here), along with the crew's personal lockers, the bosun's locker, and storage for spare parts and tools.

But there are other opportunities to imagine how resourcefully the men who worked on this boat must have lived. The berthing room, or sleeping quarters, is wonderfully horrifying for anyone with even a whisper of claustrophobia. Other stops along the tour include the control room, the engine room, and the crew's mess room, where the men ate, read, and played cards, and generally tried to pass the time without going nuts in the cramped quarters.

You can easily spend an hour or two exploring the USS Pampanito. The self-guided audio tour, included in the admission price, takes about 1/2 hour but you're free to manage it at your own pace.

Classes: The Maritime Museum offers several classes for children through schools. Students can learn about the Science of Sailing, Life on the Barbary Coast, and the Gold Rush. They can sail a tall ship and spend the night on the USS Pampinito. (Warning: it means squeezing into one of those tight berths). Call 415.292.6664 to reach the education office.