Everyone is ready to launch a submarine

Date

• April 30, 1942

Summary

• This black and white photograph of the "skyline photographers' stand" at the Manitowoc shipyards was published in the May 1942 issue of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company newsletter "The Keel Block" as part of an article on the launching of the U.S.S. "Peto" (SS 265), the first submarine built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. The "Peto" was launched at 11:47 a.m. on April 30, 1942. Scores of press and newspaper photographers, some of whom appear on the stand with their cameras, took pictures, and the launching ceremony was broadcast by both the National and Mutual Broadcasting Companies. "Life" magazine featured the launch as its "Picture of the Week." Thousands of Manitowoc citizens watched the ceremony from the river bank and bluffs above the shipyards, and company workers were granted an early noon hour so that they could watch from buildings and other vantage points within the shipyards. Many of the workers are visible in this photograph, perched on the photographers' stand steps and scaffolding, on a crane boom, and crowded under the stand. It rained during the morning of the launch, but the rain stopped and clouds lifted just as the shipyard band, the Submariners, played "The Star Spangled Banner." Band members wearing rain hats and holding their instruments can be seen in the foreground of this picture, along with several uniformed Manitowoc police officers and Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company officials, some also wearing rain coats and helmets. Penciled on the back of this photograph is the caption "everon (sic) is ready to Launch a Submarine?"