Lizardfish plankholders

Date

• December 30, 1944

Summary

• Officers and crew stand at attention on the stern of the submarine U.S.S. Lizardfish (SS 373) during her commissioning in Manitowoc, Wisconsin on December 30, 1944, as ice chunks float in the Manitowoc River alongside the vessel. Looming on the horizon in the background is the counterweight of Manitowoc’s “jackknife bridge,” a landmark within the shipyards. The Lizardfish was one of twenty-eight submarines built in Manitowoc by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She had been laid down March 14, 1944 and launched July 16, 1944. She underwent sea trials in Lake Michigan. As with the other Manitowoc submarines, the Lizardfish crew came to Manitowoc to train on their boat. A submarine’s first crew—those with the boat at the time of commissioning—were called the plankholders.