Submarine model in model building

Date

• June 21, 1941

Summary

• 8" x 10" photograph of the interior of the Model Building at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, with full scale wooden mock-ups of two submarine hull sections. Wooden stairs, one with a prominent "no smoking" sign on the side, allow access to the large models. Other fittings and equipment modeled in wood lie on the floor. A wooden sawhorse and extra boards are also visible in the foreground. In September 1940 the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company had been awarded a Navy contract for the construction of ten Gato-class submarines. To give shipyard workers the sense of what the submarines would look like, a full-size mock-up was built in several sections, complete with piping, gauges and all other details replicated in wood. During construction, workers used these models to take measurements for pipes and other equipment for the real submarines, and electricians, pipefitters, equipment installers, and other teams analyzed the models to determine the exact sequence for installing various parts. This picture was taken June 21, 1941 - three days after the first section of the first submarine, the "Peto," had been laid on the building ways. During World War II Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company built a total of twenty-eight submarines, which were side-launched into the Manitowoc River and traveled to New Orleans via the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.