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Manitowoc Submarines

A Unique Chapter of U.S. Naval history

When you think of Wisconsin, it’s a fair bet to say that U.S. Navy submarines don’t exactly spring to mind along with images of dairy cows, beer and bratwurst. But during the Second World War, a small but well respected and experienced shipbuilding company in eastern Wisconsin produced twenty-eight fleet submarines for the Navy from 1941 to 1945.

In the years after the First World War, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company had formed a respectable reputation for itself by having built numerous cargo ships, car ferries, dump scows and a tanker for the Standard Oil Company in addition to designing and manufacturing the world famous Manitowoc Speed Crane. By 1936, the company had expanded into a modernized and well equipped plant and employed many skilled engineers and an experienced labor pool, especially with producing the all-welded hulls.

A Leader With Vision

With increasing tensions in Europe on the horizon, the president of the company, Charles West, had begun lobbying for contracts to manufacture small vessels, which he felt would be in large demand if war did indeed break out across the Atlantic. Undaunted by the fact that his Great Lakes shipyard could only produce vessels limited in size because they would need to traverse the St. Lawrence Seaway and Welland Canal or the Mississippi river, Mr. West pressed his point with the Navy Department in Washington anyway.

Knowing that his shipyard was fully capable of producing destroyers, Mr. West turned his efforts towards the problem of actually transporting them down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, the only possible route to the ocean with vessels of that size. Finally seizing on an idea found in his own shipyard, Mr. West and his engineers began to develop a floating dry dock capable of transporting the destroyers down the shallow Mississippi river to New Orleans.

A confident Charles West headed back to Washington to meet with the Navy Department to present his idea, but the ever obstinate Bureau of Ships would neither deny nor accept his proposal and told him that they would review it further.

“Uncle Needs His Boats”

As tensions gave way to open conflict in Europe, the U.S. Navy began in earnest to strengthen its submarine program for the likelihood of a protracted naval conflict and began searching for commercial contracts aside from the Electric Boat Company, then the only private submarine manufacturer for the Navy.

The president of Electric Boat, Lawrence Spear, realizing that his company would be unable to handle the huge demand of submarine construction, contacted Charles West and proposed the idea that Manitowoc build submarines. But Mr. West declined because he felt that his company didn’t know enough about the complicated process of manufacturing the boats.

With the escalation of the war and President Roosevelt’s signing of the Naval Expansion Bill, the Navy Department finally contacted Mr. West and invited him to Washington. Fueled by their need for more manufacturers and the reputation of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, the Navy ensured Mr. West that plans and support would be provided by the Electric Boat Company if he agreed to accept the contract.

After reviewing the plans and consulting his staff, Charles West agreed to build ten Gato class submarines with a price tag of $2,850,000 each and the contract became official on 26 December, 1940.

Cheese Workers and Cherry Pickers

With news that Manitowoc was now in the submarine business, employees and residents turned to the new task with a will. And although the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company had a fully experienced and dedicated labor pool, outsiders couldn’t help but remain skeptical that a small Midwestern town could match the efforts at Portsmouth or Mare Island Naval Yards, especially with some unique fabrication methods not seen elsewhere.

The Manitowoc boats would be built in sections in a separate erection shop then moved to the building ways where they would be joined together. A reason for building the boats by sections would allow the workers to manipulate the entire sections with a special cradle so that the welds would always be down. This level of detail eliminated voids or fallout and created a much stronger hull or bulkhead.

The boats built in Manitowoc would be exact duplicates of the USS Growler (SS-215) and a full size mock-up was built so that workers could tour it in order to familiarize themselves with the complicated systems they would be building.

The normal work force at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company was around 500 employees, but by the fall of 1940, 1,200 more employees would be added to the program. Eventually the company would employ 7,000 residents of Manitowoc, Two Rivers and other neighboring communities; a number that would far exceed the original population of Manitowoc before the outbreak of the war.

The increased number of workers created the need for more housing in the Manitowoc area and the Federal Housing Authority paid 1.4 million dollars to build pre-fabricated housing which became known as Custerdale, which still stands today and is marked by streets renamed after the submarines built there.

A Break From Tradition

Although the Navy had every confidence in the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company to build its submarines, it didn’t feel the same way about how they would launch them.

Because the shipyard was located on the narrow Manitowoc River, all the vessels built there could not be launched in the traditional stern first method and needed to be launched sideways.

The company knew the method was sound and proved it by building a scale model and special launch tank to duplicate the process for the Navy. Eventually, the company succeeded in winning over the Navy and every Manitowoc submarine was launched sideways.

The launching of the USS Peto (SS-265) on 30 April, 1942 was not only an historic event for Manitowoc, but the world as well and the image of the sub entering the water became Time magazine’s Picture of the Week. Another memorable part of the launch happened when the Peto hit the water and sent a wave of water across the river, drenching the anxious spectators lining the opposite back.

Dedication To Quality

This level of dedication to the submarines they produced and the men who would eventually sail aboard them was apparent when the workers would go beyond what was expected of them. When the submarines went into production, the Navy Department insisted that they be built strictly according to the contract which would include any and all deficiencies.

One of these known deficiencies was that the propeller shaft main bearings were squeaky, a condition that was certainly not needed or welcome aboard a fleet submarine. The Navy would not budge and Manitowoc was obligated to continue producing submarines with the noisy bearings. But the yard workers were able to skirt the rules by presenting the Chief of the Boat with a set of new bearings, still in cosmoline, and a friendly suggestion to change them when they had the chance.

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