Photo Credit: Visit Manitowoc
This past Thursday, a ceremony was held at the Sub Pub on top of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc to celebrate the city being named an American World War II Heritage City.
The National Park Service has named Manitowoc the only Heritage City in the state, due to their vital role in the second world war with the production of submarines and other resources.
The city produced twenty-eight submarines which were ordered by the United States Navy for the war.
Many city officials came out to celebrate, including Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels, Tourism Director Courtney Hanson, and United States Representative Glen Grothman.
Wisconsin Maritime Museum director Cathy Green urges the importance of honoring the work Manitowoc residents performed to support the war effort.
“It’s that 80th anniversary, and a lot of the folks who were involved in the war aren’t around anymore, so it’s up to us to keep that history alive and connect people to it,” she says. “It really was one of our finest hours here in Manitowoc to be able to play that role in World War II, so we’re really proud here at the museum.”
Green says that a new exhibit will open at the museum next summer featuring landing craft tanks, which were also produced in the city, and the impact they had in the war.
Tourism Director Courtney Hanson says that “the city of Manitowoc couldn’t be prouder of everything that our citizens, our industries, our men and women did for World War II and that we’re still able to celebrate that here at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.”
The museum also announced that USS Cobia will undergo refurbishment and routine hull maintenance soon and that she will travel to Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay for that process and will be gone for an estimated four to six weeks.
The journey will maintain the underwater hull for at least twenty-five years.
The goal is to protect the history the Cobia holds and to continue to educate those of the future and honor those of the past.
