Manitowoc submarines

Friday, May 22, 2009 7:59 PM

To: "Maureen Ryan" @ChicagoTribune.com

Ms. Ryan, your article about Manitowoc submarines in the Friday, May 22 Chicago Tribune was well written and interesting. There were certainly dozens of subs built in Manitowoc during WWII - two dozen, plus four - a total of 28 submarines, according to the Manitowoc Maritime Museum. One of those subs is tied up at their dock.

A sub commander, Edward L Beach wrote a really great book about WWII sub warfare, 'Run Silent Run Deep', subsequently made into a very good B&W movie featuring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. The story is about a commander losing his sub to a Japanese destroyer, but surviving, and able to get a new sub - from Manitowoc WI. The book even tells of the commander going to Manitowoc to get it, and testing it out in Lake Michigan.

A point made in the book is that Manitowoc subs were highly thot of by submariners, one reason being that instead of being built on 'ways' like a regular ship, they were built on a spit (very large) so they could be rotated, resulting in all welds being 'top side'.

Keep up the good work.

Arn Nelson at Foster Beach