The USS Cobia (SS-245) was a Gato-class diesel-electric submarine that delivered a devastating blow to enemy operations in the Pacific theater during World War II. Commissioned in March 1944, the stealthy vessel completed six intense war patrols, sinking a total of thirteen Japanese vessels and earning four battle stars. One of her most strategically vital victories occurred in July 1944, when she attacked a Japanese convoy bound for Iwo Jima and sank a troop transport carrying an entire tank regiment. By sending all 28 tanks to the bottom of the ocean, the Cobia severely weakened the island's defenses, an achievement U.S. Marines later credited as critical to their successful capture of Iwo Jima six months later.
After serving as a training platform for naval reservists in Milwaukee during the 1960s, the retired submarine found a permanent home in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1970. She was brought there to serve as an international memorial to submariners and to honor the city's own wartime history, where local shipyards built 28 "freshwater submarines" for the war effort. Today, the Cobia is integrated into the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and stands as a National Historic Landmark. Remarkably restored to her original 1945 configuration, she is considered the most pristine, best-preserved World War II submarine in the country, boasting fully operational engines and the oldest functioning radar system in the world.
