Wait a minute... a WWII sub in Manitowoc, Wisconsin??? Isn't that hundreds of miles from any salt water?
Click on this map to see a map of Manitowoc
Well,
an odd fact of history is that 28 of the Gato fleet submarines were built
in Manitowoc shipyards during the war.
Shipbuilding in the Lake Michigan city goes back a hundred years, although at the time they had built nothing like a submarine there. The Burger Boat Company built wooden yachts and the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company built steel car ferries and ore boats. As the US Government greatly increased Navy development funds in 1939, Charles Cameron West, owner of Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, was determined to get his company involved in the war preparations. West proposed to make battleships in Manitowoc and to float them down Lake Michigan to the Chicago River. From there they would enter the Illinois Waterway, a 327-mile canal and river system which empties into the Mississippi River at Grafton, Illinois. The Mississippi reaches salt water at last in the Gulf of Mexico, at New Orleans.
Just one small problem: battleships required 12 feet of draft and there is a stretch of the Mississippi, namely the Chain of Rocks Channel halfway between Grafton and St. Louis, where the river depth is only nine feet. West had a novel solution: load the ships on a "floating drydock," a huge barge that could be lowered by flooding its hold with water, allowing a ship to be loaded on top, after which the water would be pumped out to the point where the "drydock" required only five feet of draft! West submitted his plan to the Navy Department and waited for a response.
In June 1940 he was called to Washington. Rear Admiral Claude Jones told him that the Navy wanted to use the plan, but to build submarines instead of destroyers. Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut would supply the plans and technical training in submarine construction. West accepted the challenging job. The labor force in Manitowoc and nearby Two Rivers was not large enough to supply the demand for submarine workers and soon buses bringing in workers from the surrounding countryside were working three shifts. West's company grew from 500 employees to 8,000 at the peak. Women, trained as machinists and welders, totaled 600.
The first sub produced in Manitowoc, the USS Peto, was completed ahead of time and under budget, and was launched into the Manitowoc River on April 30, 1942. Fitting the entirely unconventional plan, the method of launch was also unconventional. The river was too narrow to allow a normal launch, where a ship slides off a ramp lengthwise. At Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company it was necessary to launch large ships sideways off their ramp. The Navy was skeptical of the workability of this method with subs, which might heel over all the way if dumped in the water sideways from a moderate height. But models constructed showed that a sub sideways-launched would only heel over by a predicted 48 degrees, and then right itself. Still, people were anxious, and watched with anticipation as the Peto slid into the river. The result: a perfect launch and prediction, as the Peto heeled over by exactly 48 degrees. A Navy observer commented that the method of launch was "undignified, but effective."
The citizens of Manitowoc are understandably proud of their role in producing submarines during the Second World War. On May 22 Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold spoke in support of a bill to name one of the modern Seawolf-class nuclear submarines the Manitowoc. Here's an excerpt from the Congressional Record, page S5020:
The Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. produced 28 submarines during World War II--roughly ten percent of America's submarine fleet during that war. The 25 Manitowoc-built submarines in the Pacific theater sank 132 enemy ships.
Prior to World War II, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. had never produced submarines. As America entered the war, and the Nation committed its resources and energies to the effort, this shipbuilding company took on the task of retooling, retraining its employees, and restructuring its facilities to produce high-quality submarines at a wartime pace. They completed production of the submarines 19 months ahead of schedule and $1.8 million under budget. In all, some 7,000 people were employed at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. at the height of World War II production, many working numerous nonstop shifts. Many also came from other cities and towns and the Manitowoc community opened up its arms to support these workers, giving them a home-away from home, which helped to maintain the morale of these essential workers in the war effort.
I am pleased to note that the Wisconsin State Senate has just passed a measure urging the Navy to name the new submarine the Manitowoc. Naming the new sub the Manitowoc would honor those who served on the Manitowoc-built subs, those individuals who worked 24 hours a day to build them, and the city which extended its support to the Herculean production effort. It would be a fitting tribute.
The Cobia itself was built in Groton, Connecticut, but it's of the same design as the 28 Manitowoc boats, and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum was glad to get such a well-preserved example. They have recently completed a $488,500 restoration of the Cobia which involved drydocking, removing the zebra mussels which had attached themselves to the hull over the years, sandblasting and removal of lead-based paint, repairing some steel sections, repainting with a Measure-32 camouflage paint scheme, and general restoral of the exterior to the condition the Cobia was in when she returned from her sixth and last war patrol. Russell Booth, Ship Manager for the USS Pampanito, a WWII submarine on display in San Francisco, served as consultant for the project. The goal of the Museum is to apply historic preservation standards to establish a plan to maintain the artifact indefinitely. It is expected that the Cobia will not have to return to drydock for another thirty to fifty years. Work remains to restore the interior of the Cobia completely to her 1945 World War II configuration.
The nearly $500,000 cost of the USS Cobia Drydocking Project was covered first by the COBIA Maintenance Reserve Fund set up by the Museum Board in 1988. Contributions to this fund came from individuals and businesses as well as sale of "The Pride and Memories Run Deep" recognition plaques and Manitowoc Submarines Commemorative Medallions. Contributions to the Cobia Maintenance Reserve Fund enabled the Museum to secure a grant of $337,690 from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Persons interested in supporting future restoration efforts on the Cobia's interior can:
note: this web page is not affiliated with the Museum
For more on the history of submarines in Manitowoc, see: Fresh Water Submarines: The Manitowoc Story, by Rear Admiral William T. Nelson.
Selected incidents from Cobia's war records:
Miscellaneous Cobia stuff:
Other World Wide Web submarine links:
