Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum
After 30 years, a historic U.S. submarine temporarily leaves Manitowoc.
The USS Cobia sounded its horn early this morning, saying a temporary goodbye at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum as the submarine is towed by two tugboats up Lake Michigan to be drydocked in Sturgeon Bay.
A big crowd gathered to watch Cobia sail again.
After the WWII submarine left the Manitowoc harbor, Seehafernews.com had the opportunity to speak with Executive Director Kevin Cullen, who is following Cobia behind on the Sailing Vessel Utopia to see the journey up the lake.
The executive director described being “In Maritime Bay as we speak, coming up on Rawley Point in Two Rivers.”
Cullen says he’s very thankful to everyone who made leaving the museum and the drydocking of Cobia possible.
He called it a spectacular sight.
“And just the community that poured out this morning and all the flotilla,” he explained. “We had at least twenty, thirty boats out there leading her out. Just a great scene. A uniquely Manitowoc maritime moment.”
Although the submarine won’t go underwater, Cullen said Cobia was sailing great.
“So far so good,” he noted. “They’re (the tugboats) are doing about six knots (about 7 MPH) and looks pretty stable and very elegant on the water line.”
Some staff and volunteers from the Wisconsin Maritime Museum are also taking the trip up to Sturgeon Bay.
Cullen detailed, “They’re having a once-in-a-lifetime experience to sail aboard a WWII submarine in open Lake Michigan.”
Now that the pressure of fundraising and relocating Cobia is behind us, the most important thing is to tow the submarine safely up the lake and dry-dock it at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding.
Drydocking is the process of pulling the submarine out of the water for cleaning and fixing areas at the bottom, or hull, due to the attachment of zebra and quagga muscles.
The entire cleaning and repair process will take approximately six weeks.
Cullen says Cobia should be returning by October, sometime in the evening.
The museum raised about $1.5 million for the entire drydocking process.
Approximately $500,000 is allocated from the 2025-2027 Wisconsin state budget.
