Why Is There a WWII Submarine in Lake Erie?

Why is there a WWII submarine in Lake Erie? USS Cod, an ocean-going Gato-class submarine, has been tied up on the Cleveland lakefront since 1959, and according to the museum aboard her, she is the only American World War Two submarine on display whose hull was never cut open for visitors. Ohio Off the Map follows one place in Ohio all the way down, to the names and dates most people never hear. 📌 Chapters 00:00 USS Cod: The Submarine You Climb Into 01:45 The Short Answer 02:52 Cleveland Diesel: Engines Built on West 106th Street 04:19 Built in Groton, Shot At by an American Ship 05:44 Convoy Attacks and Depth Charges 06:35 How Much Did USS Cod Really Sink? 07:34 The Minesweeper Duel, April 1945 08:03 Torpedoes on Fire in the After Torpedo Room 09:51 Man Overboard: Lawrence Foley and Andrew Johnson 12:30 Rescuing the Crew of the Dutch Submarine O-19 14:05 Junks, Barges and the Lost Boarding Party 15:21 After the War and the Saint Lawrence Seaway 16:20 Why Cleveland Had a Submarine Pier 17:10 Naval Reserve Training Boat in Cleveland 18:11 Cleveland Saves USS Cod 20:06 2021: Dry Dock in Erie, Pennsylvania 21:20 Inside USS Cod Today 22:23 Why USS Cod Was Never Cut Open 📚 This episode USS Cod is a Gato-class submarine, 312 feet long, built by Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, in 1943. All five of her diesel engines were built at the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division on West 106th Street. She made seven war patrols in the Pacific and earned seven battle stars. On April 26, 1945, two electric torpedoes caught fire in her after torpedo room, and the crew fired one of them out of a tube while it was still burning. Seaman Andrew Johnson was lost that night, the only man Cod lost in the war. In July 1945 she took aboard the entire crew of the Dutch submarine O-19 from Ladd Reef. In 1959 the Navy towed her to Cleveland through the new Saint Lawrence Seaway to train Naval Reservists, and in 1976 Cleveland volunteers saved her from scrapping. She has been a National Historic Landmark since 1986, and visitors still climb in through her hatches, the way her crew did. 🔔 New Ohio documentaries are on the way. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one. 💬 Have you ever climbed down the ladder into USS Cod, on a school trip or with your family? Tell me when it was and what you remember. And if someone in your family served on a submarine or worked at Cleveland Diesel, I would love to hear that story. ▶ Watch next: Why Cleveland Drinks From a Tower in the Middle of Lake Erie:    • Why Cleveland Drinks From a Tower in the M...   Sources: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (Naval History and Heritage Command), USS Cod; Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, entries on USS Cod and the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division; USS Cod Submarine Memorial (museum materials and videos); U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings (October 2025), account of the April 1945 fire; On Eternal Patrol, Andrew G. Johnson; Associated Press reporting; News 5 Cleveland. Some visuals in this video are AI-generated illustrations and archival-style recreations. #USSCod #ClevelandHistory #WWIIHistory