Aerial Photography USS Cobia - A Short History Of Submarines Built In The Great Lakes

A Time Of War

Located In Manitowoc, WI, my hometown is a WWII submarine the USS Cobia. Although the Cobia herself was not built here in Manitowoc, many of her sister subs were. The Cobia is part of the GATO class fleet and a total of 28 subs were built in Manitowoc during WWII. The Cobia herself was a product of the Electric Boat Company, of Grotton, CT.

The 28 subs that were built in Manitowoc were built by Manitowoc Ship Building Company. Those subs where:

1942 USS Peto sank 7 ships in 10 World War II Pacific patrols
1942 USS Pogy sank 16 ships in 10 World War II Pacific patrols
1942 USS Pompon sank 3 ships in 9 World War II Pacific patrols
1942 USS Puffer sank 8 ships in 9 World War II Pacific patrols
1942 USS Rasher sank 18 ships in 8 World War II Pacific patrols, 2nd highest tonnage sunk by a US submarine during the war
1943 USS Raton sank 9 ships in 8 World War II Pacific patrols
1943 USS Ray sank 14 ships in 8 World War II Pacific patrols
1943 USS Redfin sank 5 ships in 7 World War II Pacific patrols
1943 USS Robalo 3 World War II Pacific patrols
1943 USS Rock sank 1 ship in 6 World War II Pacific patrols
1943 USS Golet 2 World War II Pacific patrols
1943 USS Guavina sank 5 ships in 6 World War II Pacific patrols
1943 USS Guitarro sank 6 ships in 5 World War II Pacific patrols
1943 USS Hammerhead sank 11 ships in 7 World War II Pacific patrols
1943 USS Hardhead sank 7 ships in 6 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Hawkbill sank 6 ships in 5 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Icefish sank 2 ships in 5 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Jallao sank 2 ships in 4 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Kete sank 3 ships in 2 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Kraken 4 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Lagarto sank 3 ships in 2 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Lamprey 3 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Lizardfish 2 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Loggerhead 2 World War II Pacific patrols
1944 USS Macabi 1 World War II Pacific patrol
1944 USS Mapiro
1944 USS Menhaden
1945 USS Mero

Some History Of The Cobia

The USS Cobia (SS 245) was launched in the summer of 1944 in June. She started her first of 6 patrols at that time and managed to sink a total of 20,000 tons of enemy steel. One of her most storied battles happened in 1945 when she took on two armed Japanese sea trucks in a long running battle. The Cobia managed at last to sink both vessels and lost some personnel in the process. This one battle is credited by the US Marines as critical to their victory in Iwo six months later.

From The Air To The Water

The four images in this article were shot using a quadcopter that I custom built for aerial photography. The camera was a GoPro Hero 4 Black flying on a dji f450 frame. The quadcopter was my winter project and to date has grabbed some great shots. I have a few more that I should be posting soon.