We didn't let the rain slow us down, and took off with Roger and Mary for the village of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, to visit the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, and tour the USS Cobia, a WWII era submarine built here in Manitowoc and tied up to the dock just outside the museum.
The USS Cobia is a floating example of the 28 submarines built locally during the war by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Works. The tour guide told us that with a minimum of effort, the ship could be re-commissioned if necessary, as it still contains full working systems throughout. The only nonfunctioning things on board are the torpedoes, which have been de-militarized, and one of the four diesel engines that is currently awaiting a replacement for a cracked piston. The ship is fired up as part of the summer boat season celebration, and is said to operate flawlessly after all these years.
The tour started in the forward torpedo room, where we saw the bunks hung over the torpedoes. It must have been a bit nerve-wracking to try to sleep inches away from a live torpedo!
In the pic above, there only appear to be three torpedo tubes, but there are a total of six. There is another tube on the right, below the one you can see, and two more below the deck. The torpedoes were rolled down the roller ramps and placed in the tubes for firing.
The control room looks like the work of a mad scientist, but every button, knob, and lever has a purpose, and each control is duplicated elsewhere. In addition, every submariner aboard was cross-trained with every other person, so that in case of emergency any given sailor could perform any job.
The engine rooms contain the diesel engines that power electrical generators that provide power to operate the ship. One hundred twenty six battery cells, each about two feet by two feet by four feet high, are positioned about the ship and provide enough power to propel the ship for about 30 hours without re-charging. Roughly once a day the ship needed to spend enough time on the surface to run the engines and recharge the batteries. There is no direct link between the diesel engines and the propellors; the engines only provide power to run the ship via the batteries.
The teak decks are in excellent condition and the armament is still in place. What a great tour of a decorated ship!
The museum contains many wonderful and interesting artifacts from the shipping history of the Great Lakes from intricate scale models showing construction details to full sized sections of the schooner Clipper City, which made the 90 mile run from Chicago to Milwaukee in 5 hours, equalling about 18 miles per hour.
One of the more interesting exhibits, at least to me, was the display of a couple of dozen outboard motors from the "knuckle buster" and early rope pull days.
Wisconsin, Evinrude, and Speedster were well represented.
A complete room of the museum is dedicated to model ships of every size and shape. Each model is complete in every detail, and once a year the public is asked to vote on their favorites. I don't see how you could judge one better than another; they were all perfect to my eye!
There is a model, some eight feet long, of the iron ore loading docks that are typical around the Great Lakes. The ore is transported by rail to overhead loading docks, where chutes and gravity load the entire ship at one time so as not to capsize the vessel.
One model builder has researched the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and has created a model representing the current resting place of the ship and her crew. It's said that human error in not securing hatches contributed to the ships loss.
Near the end of our museum exploration is the engine from the Chief Wawatam. Standing almost twenty feet high, the enormous engine was salvaged, restored, and set in place as the museum building was built around it.
The engine is still in operation, albeit with the help of a well disguised electric motor rather than steam, and is a glory to watch as levers move and pistons retract. It resembles the drive apparatus from a steam locomotive set on it's ear!
We returned home in the late afternoon after a great day of Maritime history, and spent a lovely evening visiting with R&M. We'll be parting company tomorrow, with Donna and I heading north into the teeth of Winter, and R&M hanging in the area until an appointment in a few weeks. We'll miss them, but have already started making plans for another visit.
Stay tuned for the next adventure to begin!
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