Wisconsin built subs for WWII

[a425couple]

28 Freshwater Submarines
During World War II, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company built
28 submarines for the United States Navy. More than 7,000 men
and women worked around the clock, 365 days a year to build
some of the best submarines in the Navy. Of the 28 submarines,
25 were built in time to see action during the war. Together
they sank 132 Japanese ships.

Four Manitowoc submarines were lost at sea, USS Robalo, USS Golet,
USS Kete, and USS Lagarto. The four boats and their brave crews
are now on Eternal Patrol.

http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/the-submarine-experience/28-freshwater-submarines/

USS COBIA
USS Lagarto Documentary
28 Freshwater Submarines
USS Peto
USS Pogy
USS Pompon
USS Puffer
USS Rasher
USS Raton
USS Ray
USS Redfin
USS Robalo
USS Rock
USS Golet
USS Guavina
USS Guitarro
USS Hammerhead
USS Hardhead
USS Hawkbill
USS Icefish
USS Jallao
USS Kete
USS Kraken
USS Lagarto
USS Lamprey
USS Lizardfish
USS Loggerhead
USS Macabi
USS Mapiro
USS Menhaden
USS Mero
USS Cobia Overnight Program

[a425couple]

On 7/7/2017 9:26 AM, a425couple wrote:
> 28 Freshwater Submarines

> http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/the-submarine-experience/28-freshwater-submarines/

http://ss.sites.mtu.edu/mhugl/2015/10/11/ss-265-uss-peto-1st-freshwater-built-submarine/
The SS-265 USS Peto was the first United States Gato class submarine
built by a freshwater shipyard, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. The
shipyard was located on Lake Michigan in the port city of Manitowoc,
Wisconsin.

The USS Peto served exclusively in the Pacific theater of World War Two,
undergoing 10 combat patrols from bases in Brisbane, Australia and Pearl
Harbor.

(ping David - this was route I recalled earlier!)
However, she was made in a shipyard on a freshwater river connected to a
Great Lake, a way to reach the ocean was needed. This required the sub
to be put on a special barge on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers
after commissioning on November 21st, 1942 and then recommissioned after
reaching New Orleans around January of 1943.

[Mark Spence]

https://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Water-Submarines-Manitowoc-Story/dp/9997184319

[a425couple]

On 7/7/2017 9:49 AM, a425couple wrote:
> On 7/7/2017 9:26 AM, a425couple wrote:
>> 28 Freshwater Submarines
>> http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/the-submarine-experience/28-freshwater-submarines/
>
> http://ss.sites.mtu.edu/mhugl/2015/10/11/ss-265-uss-peto-1st-freshwater-built-submarine/

> The SS-265 USS Peto ---- was the first United States Gato class submarine

> built by a freshwater shipyard, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. The
> shipyard was located on Lake Michigan in the port city of Manitowoc,

> Wisconsin.--

> However, she was made in a shipyard on a freshwater river connected to a
> Great Lake, a way to reach the ocean was needed. This required the sub
> to be put on a special barge on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers
> after commissioning on November 21st, 1942 and then recommissioned after
> reaching New Orleans around January of 1943.

And another news story about it.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-07-06/news/ct-submarine-memorial-met-20140706_1_submarines-chicago-river-illinois-river

Veterans seek to commemorate 28 submarines that passed through Chicago River
World War II subs built in Wisconsin used the river to make their way
out to the Pacific

July 06, 2014|By Taylor Goldenstein, Tribune reporter

Today mostly the domain of riverboat tours and kayakers, the Chicago
River was once part of the thoroughfare for 28 World War II submarines
built in Wisconsin making their way out to the Pacific. To highlight
this little-known chapter of Chicago history, two Illinois submariner
veterans groups are raising money to erect a memorial along the riverwalk.

"It's a part of the city's history that most people today are not aware
of," said Frank Voznak Jr., project manager and vice commander of the
northern Illinois Crash Dive Base, which is teaming up with the USS
Chicago Base. "We want to try to educate the public on what did happen
all those many years ago."

In summer 1941, in anticipation of involvement in World War II, the U.S.
Navy approached shipyards across the country about building submarines.
Among those contacted was the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., which had
never built submarines but agreed first to build 10, then eventually 30,
said Karen Duvalle, submarine curator at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum
in Manitowoc, 40 miles southeast of Green Bay. The museum has been
working closely with the veterans groups.

The Manitowoc River was too narrow for a typical launch, so the
submarines had to be side-launched, a process that involves sliding a
vessel off its supports and tipping it into the water on its side,
Duvalle said. Before the submarines were sent off, crews did "sea
trials" on Lake Michigan and tested diving, surfacing and other system
controls.

"People are pretty surprised that such a unique vessel was built in
Wisconsin," she said. "They usually associate (submarines) with East
Coast shipyards. But a lot of people think it's pretty neat that we
built submarines here ... and that they were some of the best built
submarines in the Navy at the time."

Back then, the St. Lawrence Seaway did not exist, so the Manitowoc
company chose the best route available that could accommodate the
312-foot-long vessels: through Illinois and down the Mississippi River.

The submarines were loaded onto floating dry docks, which could be
lowered slightly underwater to fit under bridges, and pulled by tugboats
down the Illinois River to the Mississippi River to New Orleans to the
Gulf of Mexico through the Panama Canal and, finally, to the Pacific.

It's possible that even Chicagoans in the 1940s were, at least
initially, unaware of this because of government secrecy in the face of
a raging world war.

A Chicago Tribune article dated May 27, 1945, had the headline "28 Subs
Built at Manitowoc, Navy Discloses" and detailed "for the first time"
how the submarines were made (assembly line-style and in sections to
allow for inland construction) and how much the subs cost (more than
$100 million). It also named other Wisconsin and Minnesota shipyards
that were building Navy watercraft.

This secrecy explains why photos of the submarines traversing the
Chicago River are rare; the subs were usually sent early in the morning
to avoid attention, Duvalle said.

By the time the war ended, the Manitowoc company had built 28 of the 30
Navy-ordered submarines; of those, 25 saw action and four were lost,
crews included.

It was a World War II submariner who inspired the idea for a Chicago
memorial. Harry Alvey, 90, had been talking with younger veterans at an
event in April 2010.

[David E. Powell]

Thank you - And good to see the story about the monument project. Chicago needs things like that now, stuff to focus the city.

I like where this has taken things, a neat naval engineering topic and history. Thank you for this info, brah :)

Makes me wonder if something like this could be done again for the USN these days. Should we need to up building capacity any time soon.

[Peter Stickney]

The Avenger class Minesweepers were built by Peterson Shipbuilders in
Sturgeon Bay, WI, and Marinette Marine of Marinette, WI.

PBI isn't around any more, But there are other boatbuilders in the
region, such as Burger.

--
Pete Stickney
Struggle no more! I'm here to solve it with ALGORITHMS!