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Transporting The Subs: The First Leg

With the final fitting out and board trials behind them, the submarines were now ready to begin their long voyage from the small mid-western shipyard to vast battlefields of the Pacific Ocean.

To prepare for the transit, the submarines were decommissioned and placed once again under the control of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company who handled the removal and storage of the periscopes and radar masts which were secured to the after deck and the periscopes shears which were bolted to the wooden deck forward.
Because the entire route from Chicago to New Orleans was intersected by numerous bridges, some of which were fixed and could not be opened, it was necessary to reduce the silhouettes of the boats in order to clear the bridges.

The departure of each sub attracted a group of proud onlookers along the river's edge, who waved and wished them well. The crews that sailed aboard the submarines as they left Manitowoc for the last time and headed south for the Navy Pier in Chicago, was a mixture of MSC employees, including an experienced Great Lakes pilot and sailors of the boat's crew.

The Chicago Sanitary Canal

Transiting the Chicago Canal, which weaves its way though downtown Chicago starting at the control lock at Lake Michigan, was the first real challenge faced by the crews.

Because the narrow canal gave little room for the sub to maneuver on its own, two tugs, positioned forward and aft, would help move the warship through the tight turns and past difficult spots such as the railroad bridge located at Western Avenue*. Although all of the 51 bridges would eventually be fitted with lifting mechanisms, the first subs passing through the Chicago Canal would encounter fixed obstacles requiring careful planning.

The USS MERO (SS-378) was the only Manitowoc submarine to navigate the canal on its own without help from tugs due to a labor strike by tugboat crews in Chicago during late November 1945.

The tow would enter the canal in the early morning hours to avoid the crunch of rush hour traffic in the Loop district and each bridge would rise in sequence as the tow moved through the man-made canyon of Chicago's sky scrapers, escorted by several Coast Guard vessels acting as security for the tow. It usually took about two hours to clear the Loop district and reach the Western Avenue railroad bridge.

After it had been updated, the Western Avenue railroad bridge would simply be opened every Monday and Thursday at 9:00AM to allow the tows to continue, but for the early boats, passing through this point of the canal was a different story. The subs would be trimmed to a draft of 21ft. 6in. and even then the clearance between the submarine and the bridge was a mere 2 inches, with 6 inches beneath the keel.

Once past the Western Avenue bridge, the tow followed the canal for another six hours where it would finally meet up with the floating dry dock at the Butterfly Dam, located near Lockport Illinois.

The Floating Dry Dock

The floating dry dock, designed, designed and manned by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company played a vital role in ferrying the submarines down the shallow Mississippi river, especially a stretch were the depth was a mere 9 feet.

Although the dry dock would supply the submarines with auxiliary power during the trip, the boats would make sure that their batteries were as close to a full charge as possible so that it wouldn't be necessary to do this during the trip or when they arrived at New Orleans. Also, the sanitary tanks as well as any compensating water in the fuel oil tanks were blown overboard before the subs were secured in the dry dock. It normally took about six hours to fully drain the dock as well as connect the auxiliary power lines and discharge lines to the boat, a procedure that was performed by the crew of the dry dock with assistance from the sub's crew.

Along with the crews of the sub, dry dock and tug, a Coast Guard officer was aboard representing the commander of the 9th Naval District and helped facilitate the security of the locks and bridges along the route to New Orleans with Army personnel and local police.

Once all was set, a tug was maneuvered astern of the dock and then secured with cables and manila lines. The tug would propel the tow down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers during this last leg of the trip that normally took seven to eight days, although the USS HARDHEAD tow covered it in a record time of five days and seventeen hours.

Navigating the 550 foot long tow down the Mississippi was done by the skilled captain of the tug, who handled the shallows and narrow twists in a way that only years of experience can bring. Personnel from Manitowoc continued to work on the submarine as it traveled in the dry dock and finished any final tasks such as scrapping and painting the hull and re-installing the periscope sheers and radar mast once the tow had reached the Baton Rouge area.

New Orleans

When the tow finally reached New Orleans, it would enter the Chalmette Slip which was two miles below the Algiers Naval Station and located on an Army reservation. Once in place, with the tug pulled clear, undocking the submarines would be started right away, a process that took about two hours.

The subs would then be moored along the port side of the dry dock, abreast of its crane so that it could be used to install the periscopes and antenna mast. Installation of the periscopes would be completed when the range finder and eye pieces were attached later on at the Naval Station.

After making arrangements with the Naval Station, the submarines would enter an assigned berth and begin preparations for entering the war zone by drawing the necessary supplies, fuel oil and torpedoes.

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