MANITOWOC (NBC 26) — After nearly three decades docked along the Manitowoc River, the historic USS Cobia has left its home at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum for the first time since the 1990s.
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Locals lined the shore Sunday morning to witness the rare departure. Dozens of boats accompanied the World War II-era submarine as it began its journey to Sturgeon Bay for long-overdue repairs.
“We in Manitowoc are very proud of this,” said Jeff Rochon, owner of another historic vessel, the USV Uptopia. “It is a focal point downtown, and a lot of tourism is built around this.”
The USS Cobia, a Gato-class submarine, arrived in Manitowoc in 1970. It’s the same class of submarine built in the city during World War II and has served as a key attraction at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum ever since.
“It is literally the anchor that began the Wisconsin Maritime Museum,” said the museum's Executive Director Kevin Cullen.
Cullen said the maintenance is nearly a decade overdue. The vessel is being towed by two tugboats to a shipyard in Sturgeon Bay, where it will be cleaned, inspected and repainted in dry dock.
The $1.5 million project is funded by a combination of federal grants, state budget allocations and public donations.
“It’s really a remarkable maritime moment here in Manitowoc,” Cullen said. “Countless volunteers, sub veterans, staff members and community experts from all over are making sure this submarine remains accessible, so that generations can learn from the past.”
The repairs are expected to take about six weeks, with the USS Cobia returning to its dock at the museum by mid-October.
