A U.S Navy submarine that played a central role in World War II is scheduled for dry docking for preservation works in order to continue attracting visitors as a historic museum boat. The Wisconsin Maritime Museum (WMM), the custodian of USS Cobia, is seeking to raise $1.5 million for comprehensive inspection and essential preventative maintenance at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Wisconsin.
A National Historic Landmark vessel, Cobia has been a museum ship in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, since 1970. The boat is set to be towed to Fincantieri in September for extensive preservation works, which are expected to last up to six weeks. It will be the second time in her post-service career that the ship enters drydock.
The Gato-class submarine has historic value from its role in WWII. Launched in November 1943, the 312-foot boat completed six war patrols and sank 13 Japanese vessels. One of her notable achievements was attacking an enemy convoy bound for Japanese-held Iwo Jima. Cobia sank two vessels, including a troop transport carrying a Japanese tank battalion of 28 tanks. The sinking was critical to the U.S. Marines' success in capturing Iwo Jima six months later.
Cobia was one of 70 diesel-powered Gato-class submarines that the U.S Navy built en masse. They represented cutting-edge technology at the outset of the war, but they were quickly superseded by upgraded designs with deeper diving capability and longer range. The majority of the surviving Gato-class boats were placed in reserve or scrapped after the war's end.
Cobia was decommissioned a year after the end of WWII, then recommissioned eight years later to train reservists and Submarine School students at New London, Connecticut. In 1959, the Navy considered Cobia obsolete as a deployable warship and transferred her to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Naval Reserve Center. In 1986, the boat was incorporated as a part of the Manitowoc Maritime Museum, declared a National Historic Landmark, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
WMM wants to ensure that Cobia continues to be a living memory attracting visitors. The museum reckons that while it takes more than $150,000 annually to keep Cobia “ship-shape," it needs donations from well-wishers to raise the $1.5 million required for the upcoming dry docking.
The funds will go towards preparing the boat for the trip to Sturgeon Bay, towage, and time in dry dock. The scheduled works will include inspection of the underwater hull and cleaning and repairing free-flood areas, including spaces around the torpedo tubes. Other works include tank inspections to ensure watertight integrity.
“Part of our obligation to our veterans is to preserve national treasures like USS Cobia so that future generations can acknowledge the debt we owe to the fallen,” stated WMM.
Top image: USS Cobia at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, 2023 (Michael Barera / CC BY SA 4.0)
