USS Cobia

	USS Cobia (SS-245)
History
United States
Namesake	Cobia
Ordered	9 September 1940
Builder	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down	17 March 1943
Launched	28 November 1943
Sponsored by	Mrs. C. W. Magruder
Commissioned	29 March 1944
Decommissioned	22 May 1946
Recommissioned	6 July 1951
Decommissioned	19 March 1954
Stricken	1 July 1970
Status	Memorial at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, 17 August 1970
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	diesel-electric submarine
Displacement	1,490 long tons (1,514 t) surfaced; 2,070 long tons (2,103 t) submerged;
Length	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft	17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 Diesel engines driving electric generators; 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries; 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears; two propellers ; 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced; 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged;
Speed	21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced; 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged;
Range	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance	48 hours at 2 kn (4 km/h) submerged; 75 days on patrol;
Test depth	300 ft (90 m)
Complement	10 officers, 70 enlisted
Armament	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 6 forward, 4 aft; 24 torpedoes; 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun; Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon;
	USS Cobia (submarine)
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location	Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Coordinates	44°5′33″N 87°39′20″W / 44.09250°N 87.65556°W
Built	1943
Architect	Electric Boat Co.
NRHP reference No.	86000087
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	14 January 1986
Designated NHL	14 January 1986

USS Cobia (SS/AGSS-245) is a Gato-class submarine, formerly of the United States Navy, named for the cobia.

Cobia was designated a National Historic Landmark for her service in World War II, which included service in the Pacific, where she earned four battle stars. She is now a museum ship at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Construction and commissioning

Cobia was

Lieutenant Commander Albert L. Becker

in command.

World War II

First patrol

Cobia reached Pearl Harbor from New London 3 June 1944. On 26 June, she put to sea on her first war patrol, bound for the Bonin Islands. On 13 July, 17 July, and 18 July she sank Japanese freighters. The last, Nisshu Maru, was a troop transport carrying a Japanese tank regiment to Iwo Jima. Even though casualties were low in the 26th Tank Regiment, all of the regiment's 28 tanks went to the bottom of the sea. It would be December before 22 replacements were provided.

On 20 July Cobia sank three small armed ships in a running gun battle. One of them rammed Cobia, causing minor damage, but the submarine continued her mission, sinking a converted yacht of 500 tons on 5 August. A survivor from the yacht was rescued as Cobia's first prisoner of war.

Second and third patrols

After refitting at

Fremantle for refit 5 November, and cleared that harbor on her third war patrol 30 November. Sailing into the South China Sea, she reconnoitered off Balabac Strait between 12 December and 8 January 1945, and on 14 January sank the minelayer Yurishima off the southeast coast of Malaya. Surfacing to photograph her sinking victim, Cobia was driven under by a Japanese bomber

. Next day she rescued two Japanese from a raft on which they had been adrift 40 days.

Fourth patrol

Once more she refitted at Fremantle (between 24 January and 18 February), then sailed to the Java Sea for her fourth war patrol. On 26 February she engaged two "sea trucks" . One of the targets resisted with machine gun fire which damaged Cobia's radar equipment and killed Ralph Clark Huston Jr., a 20 mm gun loader and the submarine's only casualty of the war. After sinking both sea trucks, Cobia interrupted her patrol for repairs at Fremantle from 4–8 March, then returned to the Java Sea, where on 8 April she rescued seven surviving crewmembers of a downed Army bomber. One of the crewmembers, Jean Vandruff, recounted the story of the rescue in his autobiography.

Fifth and sixth patrols

Cobia replenished at

Saipan

22 August.

Of Cobia's six war patrols, the first, third, fourth, and fifth were designated as "successful" war patrols, for which she received four

battle stars

. She was credited with having sunk a total of 16,835 tons of shipping.

Post-war service

Cobia sailed on for Pearl Harbor,

Atlantic Reserve Fleet

19 March 1954.

By 1959, the Navy considered Cobia obsolete as a deployable warship and transferred her to the

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Naval Reserve Center. There she served as a training platform for the next eleven years. She was redesignated an Auxiliary Submarine, AGSS

-245, 1 December 1962.

On 1 July 1970, the Navy struck Cobia from the

Naval Register, and she was towed to Manitowoc, Wisconsin to serve as an international memorial to submariners. In 1986, Cobia was incorporated as a part of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, declared a National Historic Landmark, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Cobia is permanently docked at the Manitowoc River's mouth at Lake Michigan

, where tours are given daily and overnight stays are available for groups or individuals.

Ongoing restoration, maintenance, and preservation efforts keep Cobia in remarkably good condition, with many systems operational, including two of the main diesel engines, the radio shack, and the SJ-1 radar, which is believed to be the oldest operating radar set in the world.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History.
ISBN 978-1-55750-263-6
.

^ "Submarine Photo Index".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g
ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9
.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
^
OCLC 24010356
.

^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 261
^ ^a ^b ^c U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 15 April 2008.
^ "Cobia, USS (Submarine)". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
^ "Cobia Restoration". Retrieved 22 October 2016.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.
Butowsky, Harry A. (May 1985). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form / USS Cobia (SS-245)". Retrieved 27 August 2012.

Butowsky, Harry A. (May 1985). "Accompanying Photos". Retrieved 27 August 2012.

External links

Photo gallery of USS Cobia at NavSource Naval History
USS Cobia at Historic Naval Ships Association
Wisconsin Maritime Museum
USS Cobia-Overnight Stays

[FriedmanSubs1-dates-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History.
ISBN 978-1-55750-263-6
.

[2] "Submarine Photo Index".

[Register-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g
ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9
.

[FriedmanSubs1-specs-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311

[Register_275–280-5] 
OCLC 24010356
.

[FriedmanSubs1-engines_261-6] U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 261

[FriedmanSubs1-specs_305–311-7] U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311

[nris-8] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 15 April 2008.

[nhlsum-9] "Cobia, USS (Submarine)". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2008.

[10] "Cobia Restoration". Retrieved 22 October 2016.

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