The Wisconsin Maritime Museum is a museum in the Lake Michigan port and shipbuilding city of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, U.S., that preserves and teaches about the history of the Great Lakes. Founded in 1968 as the Manitowoc Submarine Memorial Association, the facility opened in 1969 in the former YMCA of Manitowoc. In 1991, it relocated to a new, 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2) building. The museum is the site of a large collection of Great Lakes maritime history, original artifacts, and nautical archaeology, including stories of the many well-preserved shipwrecks of Lake Michigan. The museum was founded by former submariners and civic leaders who wanted to bring a World War II submarine to Manitowoc to commemorate the role the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company played in building twenty-eight Gato and Balao-class submarines and landing craft that were used to fight that war. In 1970, the United States Navy donated USS Cobia to the museum. Cobia is a Gato-class submarine like those constructed in Manitowoc. Cobia is berthed in the Manitowoc River adjacent to the museum and is open to both museum visitors and overnight guests.