Clean sweep

Creator

Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. (Manitowoc, Wis.)

Date

• November 16, 1942

Summary

• A close-up starboard side view of the conning tower of the submarine U.S.S. Peto shows a broom tied upside down on the boat's periscope shears, signifying that she had made a "clean sweep" of her sea trials on Lake Michigan. (Submarines also displayed "clean sweep" brooms when they returned from successful war patrols.) Also displayed from the periscope shears are a two-star Rear Admiral's flag and a Navy "E" award flag, which had been given to the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company for excellence in production. The Peto, the first of twenty-eight submarines built for the Navy by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company during World War II, had been launched April 30, 1942. Between November 7 and November 11, 1942 she underwent builder's trials on Lake Michigan. These were conducted by a Trial Boat Crew from the Electric Boat Company, a Groton, Connecticut firm with a long history of submarine construction. On the first day of trials, Manitowoc residents lined the shores and bridges along the Manitowoc River to get their first look at the submarine as she moved down the river from the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company yards and out into Lake Michigan under the command of Captain Foster, head of the Electric Boat Company crew. John Jordan, a Manitowoc seaman familiar with local conditions and Great Lakes maritime law, served as pilot. Among the tests conducted during this week of trials was a 300 foot dive in the middle of Lake Michigan opposite Sheboygan, Wisconsin. After successful completion of the builder's trials, the Peto next underwent Preliminary Trials that were supervised by the Navy Trial Board, a group of ten Navy officers under Rear Admiral Walter S. Anderson, whose presence on board was indicated by the special admiral's flag. These were conducted November 15 and 16, with Captain Foster again in charge of the boat. This photograph was taken on November 16 as the Peto returned from the Preliminary Trials. The uniformed officers at the base of the conning tower probably are members of the Trial Board. Beside them, workers from either the Electric Boat Company Trial Crew or the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company pull on a rope. The uniformed officer standing in the top of the conning tower probably is Captain Foster. The large building in the background is "Elevator A," a large grain elevator which during the war years was operated by the Norris Grain Company. The Peto was commissioned November 21, 1942 and departed Manitowoc for service on Christmas Day, December 25, 1942. (Note: In his book "Fresh Water Submarines : the Manitowoc Story," William T. Nelson, the Peto's first commander, states that builder's trials on Lake Michigan started November 6, 1942. However, bridge logs for the Eighth and Tenth Street bridges in Manitowoc record the Peto's first passage down river into Lake Michigan as occurring on November 7.)