NB9QV is the callsign for the USS COBIA Amateur Radio Club aboard the WWII submarine USS COBIA SS-245 docked in the harbor adjacent to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. The Museum is located in Manitowoc, Wisconsin which is about 80 miles north of Milwaukee. Why Manitowoc? Because the shipyard in Manitowoc built 28 submarines during the war or about 10% of the total fleet.

The COBIA was launched on the 28th of November 1943 and was assigned the wartime callsign NBQV by the US Navy. The original wartime radio equipment, which provided all communications for her six war patrols in the Pacific Theater, has been fully restored and can be used for various club events.

The radio shack has two RAK-6 and two RAL-6 receivers. A TBL-12 transmitter provides 400W to the topside longwire antennas. There is also a complete TCS-12 setup. These radios allowed the COBIA to transmit and receive on any frequency from 30kHz to 18MHz. All operating frequencies were set by a LM-18 frequency meter.

The COBIA’s SJ-1 surface search radar system has been restored to full 1943 working order. Remarkably, the original 1943 magnetron not only operated throughout the war but is still doing service today!  The radar has a usable range of 30,000 yards and is now the oldest operational radar system in the world. Since the COBIA is docked in the Manitowoc harbor this radar has a view of Lake Michigan boat traffic. During the war this radar automatically fed a potential targets Azimuth and Range data to the Target Data Computer which could lock onto, and then track, a target’s course as well as calculate the firing navigation data for any of the 24 torpedoes aboard.

YOU CAN HELP:   If you have, or know of anyone that has, any of the vacuum tubes listed on this web page:

http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/the-submarine-experience/uss-cobia/radio-restoration-needs/

Please consider donating them to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum for use aboard the COBIA in the restored and operational equipment.

During the COBIA’s six war patrols she sank 13 Japanese vessels to account for a total of over 18,000 tons of Japanese shipping. On July 13,1944 she sank the 9,500 ton NISHU MARU carrying troops and tanks to reinforce Japanese defenders on IWO JIMA. The COBIA experienced her most exiciting encounter during her fourth war patrol in 1945 in a running surface gun battle with two Japanese Sea trucks. The COBIA sent both to the bottom, but suffered her only casualty of the war, Ralph Clark Houston a 20mm gun loader. She was also responsible for rescuing 7 downed Allied airmen. After the war the COBIA continued to serve in various missions until 1959 and then an additional eleven years as a training vessel for the Naval Reserve. Since her arrival in Manitowoc the COBIA has undergone an extensive restoration inside and out to bring the submarine to her World War II fighting condition.

The “USS COBIA” is open for tour’s year round at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc,Wisconsin. Sleepovers on the sub are also available. Reference website: www.WisconsinMaritime.org for more information.