Almost 100,000 tons of tonnage sunk during WWII was sunk by a ship built in Manitowoc, WI, The U.S.S Rasher. Submarines were responsible for destroying the communication between Japan and Germany. But few understand how much the State of Wisconsin contributed to the Naval war efforts. In Manitowoc, Wisconsin, the president of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Charles C. West, went to Washington D.C. to try to get a Naval contract to build destroyers but he instead got a contract for submarines. They took the contract and proceeded to build 10 submarines. After completing those at one of the highest qualities in the United States Naval fleet, the Navy extended the contract to 47 submarines. This contract was terminated at the end of the war after completing just 28 submarines.
These 28 submarines contributed greatly to the war and were credited for sinking 132 Japanese ships which came out to 488,918 tons sunk. In this website I will tell you the story of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company and how they built the submarines.