On August 17th, 1970 the USS Cobia was towed into Manitowoc and docked behind the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. For the last 50 years, the Cobia has served as a learning vessel for those interested in submarines, and World War II.
Karen Duvalle, the curator of the Cobia, told SeehaferNews.com that the 76-year-old vessel is “A symbol of our shipbuilding heritage. Manitowoc built 28 subs during [WWII], and they were some of the best built subs in the Navy. The reason they wanted to bring a submarine here to Manitowoc is to memorialize the 7,000 workers who built those subs during WWII, but also the men who served on them.”
Of the 28 subs built in Manitowoc, 25 of them saw action, and four that never returned home, remaining on eternal patrol. Only two of those have ever been located.
Duvalle explained getting the Cobia to Manitowoc was a two-year process. “They started in 1968. The local group of submarine veterans wanted to bring a submarine back to Manitowoc as a memorial,” Duvalle said. “At that point there were 6 Manitowoc subs still available and in the country. A lot of them had been sold to other countries after the war. There were four on the east coast 2 on the east coast, and one of them was available for purchase or donation, and that was the USS Redfin.”
The veterans attempted to raise money for the sub by selling decanters through Jim Beam, but were unsuccessful. Plus the Redfin was in disrepair, and would need a lot of work and money to fix.
In a stroke of luck, the Cobia, which was being used as a training vessel in Milwaukee, became available, as it was going to be scrapped. “So, just basically for the cost of towing, they were able to bring Cobia up from Milwaukee to Manitowoc,” Duvalle explained.
She also said, “A perk of Cobia is that she had very few alterations done after the war, so she retains her WWII look.”
While the Cobia was not built in town, Karen explained that she is the same design as the subs that were, as the designs were sent from Cobia’s original home in Connecticut at Electric Boat.
While there is no official ceremony scheduled for today, if you go outside at around noon, you will likely hear the icon horn echoing throughout the lakeshore air.
