Muskogee, Oklahoma
3500 USS Batfish Road
GPS coordinates: 35.7944,-95.3109
Take a photo of your rally flag with the above image.

The USS Batfish submarine was constructed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire and launched May 5, 1943. She was in seven war patrols, claiming a total of 15 ships and damaging three others. On the first voyage to the Pacific Theatre, she encountered a German U-boat that got away. Many Japanese submarines and ships got away, but the successes outweighed those and she ended up with nine battle stars, a Navy Cross, four Silver Stars, ten Bronze Stars and a Presidential Citation Award, mostly from the sinking of ships off the east coast of Japan, the Strait of Luzon, the Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

She nearly became a wartime statistic on many occasions, including friendly fire, a common problem for World War II submarines.

After World War II, the USS Batfish was decomissioned and sent to Mare Island, California and then recommissioned during the Korean Conflict. After that she made Key West, Florida her home port and spent time in New Orleans, Louisiana as a training vessel. After a final decommissioning in 1969, she was towed to Orange, Texas for scrapping. But before that happened, the USS Batfish was turned over to the Oklahoma Maritime Advisory Board and towed up the Arkansas River to Muskogee where she rests in her own park. Also in the park is a memorial to the 52 submarines downed in World War II.

Bonus Site: If you're visiting on April 9, you might want to take in the 27th annual BBQ and Chili Cook-Off, claiming the largest such event in a 5-state area.