Searching For The Batfish

Our days in Poteau are coming to an end — at least for now. We need to return to Marysville for Mary’s Kuk Sool testing, and after that, we’re off to Nihon. Two months in-country to tour Dory-odo and Yokohama, where we hope to gather material for pieces we’re working on. Then we’ll spend the holidays with our children and celebrate Shōgatsu (the New Year) at Ikegami Honmon-ji Temple in Ōta Ward, Tokyo.

After that, we’ll come back to Oklahoma. Two days left until we head out — fourteen days here, and they went by so fast.

We left Poteau in the early morning — the kind of start that feels unhurried on a bright Oklahoma day. The plan was simple: avoid tolls, follow the backroads, and find the USS Batfish — the submarine that, according to Google, had already been moved as of June 2025. Mary was with me, which meant the drive itself would be good, no matter where we ended up.

The USS Batfish is a survivor of the Second World War and had one of the most remarkable combat records of any American submarine during the war. She is a Balao-class submarine and was commissioned on August 21, 1943. She operated mainly in the Pacific Theater, patrolling the Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and near Luzon and Formosa, sinking fifteen enemy ships.

This string of victories earned Batfish her fame and a Presidential Unit Citation. She was moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1973 to serve as a museum ship, where she continues to be a focal point of naval history exhibits, veterans’ events, and restoration efforts at Muskogee War Memorial Park. Oklahoma is very proud of its veterans and has many war museums. Plus, it’s kind of different in that it’s a submarine on display while sitting in a field.

To see the Batfish, we drove north to Sallisaw and caught I-40 west, the Arkansas River flashing silver between the trees. Mileage-wise, it’s a long drive, but the time passed quickly as we discussed future plans — some about our return to Oklahoma, others about visiting our children, others about how strange and surreal it was to chase a submarine through the middle of Oklahoma, and still others on how to avoid the tolls.

The best plan to accomplish the last goal was to leave Sallisaw on I-40 toward Webbers Falls. Somewhere past there, the GPS routed us onto US-64 West through Warner toward Muskogee. It’s a beautiful road that follows the scenic stretch along the Arkansas River valley. We then picked up the US-64 East Bypass that curves around the town of Muskogee — perfectly planned and toll-free. Doing great and keeping the coin in my pocket.

As we approached our destination, we began to see signs for the Port of Muskogee and Three Forks Harbor, home of the USS Batfish — one of our planned stops for the day.

According to several sources, the Batfish had already been moved to her new home at Three Forks Harbor. But when we pulled into the parking lot at the harbor, we were greeted by a sign that said, “Future Home USS Batfish.” Not a good sign. Next to this sign was one that posted the open hours for the museum. One sign implies the submarine is there, and the other says that it is not. But the one thing that was obvious is that the submarine is not there. We checked the harbor and the slip, but no submarine.

We did need to go further north for another stop we had planned, and that was to visit Wade’s House of RVs in Tulsa. We need an RV for some future plans. Given that we had to continue on, we decided to see if the Batfish had been moved. Its old location at the War Memorial Park was only a ten-minute drive north along a road we were planning to take anyway. Back into the faithful Tundra, and we were off to Muskogee on US-64E. A quick right turn at Batfish Rd toward the Muskogee War Memorial Park.

The road appeared blocked. There had been some barricades up, so we drove further south to another Google Maps suggestion, which turned out to be a dead end.

We were not to be deterred. We doubled back to Batfish Rd. Batfish Rd was quasi-blocked. There were some barricades that had been pushed aside and some road cones that had been piled up, but no sign that said “Closed.” We drove along Batfish Rd, finally reaching the War Memorial and the Batfish.

And there she was. Still there, waiting — long, gray, quiet. The river whispered beside her, same as it had for fifty years. Signs around the park talked about plans, millions of dollars raised and millions still missing. The efforts to move her have raised four million dollars of the needed twenty million.

Maybe she’d move next year. Maybe not.

For now, she sat in her concrete cradle, halfway between memory and motion. And we stood there a while, enjoying the breeze coming across the river, realizing that sometimes history — like an old submarine — just takes its time leaving shore.

Tip of the day: if you want to see something or experience something that is important to you, don’t give up. Persevere — even Google Maps can be mistaken.

✅ Tips

• Entire route is toll-free.

• Roads are flat, well-marked, and paved.

• You’ll pass light industrial areas and open land along the Arkansas River — an easy drive.

• The War Memorial entrance sign reads “USS Batfish — War Memorial Park” just before Batfish Rd curves east.