Honoring the Silent Service

My November 17, 2007 column

Honoring the Silent Service

An impromptu family road trip helped me observe Veterans Day last weekend with a glimpse into the conditions veterans who served on submarines worked in during World War II. 

My mother called Saturday before my coffee had kicked in to tell me that my father wanted to get out of the house and go for a drive. Did my son and I want to tag along?
I had planned spending Saturday catching up on household chores but jumped at the excuse to avoid them. We left before noon, heading towards Fond du Lac with the intention of driving to Sheboygan. My father had printed out a list of parks along the shore. 
My mom and son looked over maps in the back seat, and my son suggested Manitowoc as an alternative. 
Once again fulfilling my role as family navigator, I found a new route for us to take, which had us driving past the Johnsonville Sausage plant, Lakeland College and Whistling Straits. 
We stopped at a small park and walked down to the shore of Lake Michigan. The lake was calm and cold. 
After our hike, we headed north to Manitowoc, staying close to the lakeshore. We turned a corner and came in along the Manitowoc River, where something out-of-place in freshwater caught our eyes. 
"That's a submarine," my father said.
The sub was docked at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, and our leisurely family drive now had a destination. Banners along the riverfront named the 28 submarines made in Manitowoc during WWII, including four labeled as being “on eternal patrol.”
Our timing was perfect, as the next tour of the submarine started in five minutes. Our tour group included a man who served on a nuclear sub in the 1980s. 
A World War II submarine, the USS COBIA (SS-245) is a GATO-class fleet submarine built in Groton, Conn., that is similar to the 28 built in Manitowoc. It has been modified with stairs built into shafts that once were used to lower torpedoes into the sub, so there was no climbing down a hatch to get in. 
There were over 20 of us on the tour, and the atmosphere was not a good one for those who suffer from claustrophobia. I can’t begin to imagine what conditions were like when the USS Cobia was on patrol during
WWII with 80 men on board. 
The USS Cobia was launched in November 1943 and went on six patrols, sinking 13 Japanese vessels, including two bound for Iwo Jima. The Cobia had only one casualty of war. Ralph Clark Houston, a gun loader, died during a running gun duel with Japanese sea trucks. 
The COBIA was considered obsolete by 1959 and was transferred to the Milwaukee Naval Reserve Center for use as a training platform. It was de-commissioned in 1970 and towed to Manitowoc to serve as an international memorial to submariners. It was declared a National Historic Landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It has been restored to its original 1945 configuration so that tour groups
can see its torpedo rooms, wardroom, crew's quarters, and engine rooms. I've only ever seen one kitchen smaller than the galley on board the sub, and my college apartment kitchen served two, not 80. 
After the tour, we watched a short video that included footage of the side-launching of a sub, and the route used to get subs from Manitowoc to the Pacific. The highlight of the video was listening to veterans talking about their service on board. We explored the museum which has some fun interactive displays for kids of all ages. 
I’m not sure who had more fun using water to show how locks and dams worked, my father or my son. 
The closest look I’ve had at a submarine prior to our tour had been watching movies like “Operation Petticoat,” “Down Periscope” and “The Hunt for Red October.”
Known as the Silent Service, those who volunteered to serve on submarines represented less than two percent of the Navy during the war but accounted for over 55 percent of Japanese ships sunk. Success came at a high cost, the Navy lost 52 boats and over 3,500 men. 
Visit www.wisconsinmaritime.org to learn more about the museum in Manitowoc.