Tom Wenstadt, our Door County correspondent, reports that the U.S.S COBIA (SS 245) arrived at the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding yard, the afternoon of September 7th. The lake tugs NICKELENA and ERIKA KOBASIC towed the submarine through the Sturgeon Bay ship canal, through Sturgeon Bay’s three bridges then to the yard where it was docked in the FBS floating drydock for a major overhaul. This effort is expected to take better than six weeks.
Photo on top of page: COBIA arriving August 17, 1970
COBIA on the way to Sturgeon Bay for overhaul September 7, 2025, photo courtesy of Greg Stamatelakys
The U.S.S COBIA (SS 245) was built in 1943 by Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut, as a Gato Class submarine for the United States Navy. She conducted six patrols in the Pacific, sinking 16,835 tons of shipping, during World War II. She was used as a training ship after the war until she relocated to Manitowoc.
COBIA at Manitowoc in 2002, photo by Chuck Sterba
The vessel’s home port is Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where it has been on permanent display since 1970 at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.
Specifications:
Length 311 feet, 9 inches
Beam (width) 27 feet, 3 inches
Draft 15 feet, 3 inches
Surfaced Displacement 1,526 long tons
Submerged Displacement 2,424 long tons
Power four GM 16-248 V16 1,350 horsepower diesel engines, driving two GE electric motors, turning two propellers
Rated speeds – Surfaced – 20 knots; Submerged – 9 knots
Crew – 8 officers; 72 enlisted
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Tom Wenstadt, who lives in Sturgeon Bay, is a retired marine engineer, having worked in the Great Lakes area for thirty-seven years. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and is the author of Freighters of Manitowoc. He is a member of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and the Door County Maritime Museum & Lighthouse Preservation Society. He is a volunteer archival assistant and docent for the JOHN PURVES.
Photo credit: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society
