Seawolf Park: USS Cavalla & USS Stewart

At the tip of Pelican Island, across the ship channel from Galveston proper, a small park holds two survivors of World War II. Seawolf Park takes its name from the USS Seawolf, a submarine lost with all hands in 1944, and it now shelters two vessels hauled here to be preserved rather than scrapped. One is a submarine that helped avenge Pearl Harbor by sinking a Japanese aircraft carrier; the other is a rare little warship, the last of its class on display in the country. This short walk moves between the two ships and the museum that tells their stories, with the working harbor and a good fishing pier for company. Wear flat shoes — you'll climb a few ladders if you go below — and give yourself time to sit with the scale of what these hulls once did.