U.S.S. Hammerhead bridge covered with ice

Photographer

Berns, Harry

Date

• March 9, 1944

Summary

• Close-up view of the iced-over bridge and deck of the U.S.S. Hammerhead (SS 364) on Lake Michigan off Manitowoc, Wisconsin on March 9, 1944, with four men on the bridge and one on the deck. The tug Manshipco maneuvers at the stern of the submarine. The photograph was taken from the bow looking west toward Manitowoc on the shore in the distance. The Hammerhead, one of 28 submarines built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, had been commissioned on March 1. This photograph probably documents one of the final trials before the submarine departed Manitowoc for New Orleans via Lake Michigan, the Chicago Canal, and the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The men are either members of the Navy submarine crew or Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company employees who were doing last-minute checks. Hammerhead conducted seven war patrols in the Pacific from June 6, 1944 through August 21, 1945, and is credited with sinking eleven ships. Submarines moving in and out of the harbor for trials in all types of weather were a common sight in Manitowoc during the war years.