Manitowoc Shipbuilding Employee Accused of Sabotage
USS Peto preparing for launch.
Construction on the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company’s first World War II submarine, USS Peto, had gone well except for a snag it hit in the latter part of 1942. In October 1942, a Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company employee was accused of wartime sabotage acts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a defect that was found on the USS Peto. The FBI’s arrest and the charge of sabotage by an employee at the Manitowoc Shipyard were all the talk around town.
The man who was accused of the defect was Lloyd Glandt Jr., a twenty-two-year-old from Kewaunee. Attending public schools as a child and a year of university, he had all the markings of a decent, hardworking young man. Glandt had been working as a machinist at Manitowoc Shipbuilding since July 1941 when he was arrested. Glandt’s father also worked at the shipyard with him. He was exempted from the draft since he was working at the shipyard, which meant that he had to be doing exemplary work. So, what led to the arrest of him by the FBI on a warrant citing “preforming vital defense work in a manner which could have cost lives.”
The warrant to arrest Glandt was the first of its kind issued in the state of Wisconsin during World War II. Assistant U.S. District Attorney E. Koelzer said that “There was inconvenience and delay because of the defects” which were found in Glandt’s work. According to Koelzer, if the defects had not been found lives could have been lost because of them.
The specific defective work Koelzer was referring to was a pin on the escape hatch. A field engineer from Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut testified that the pin might work but only once. After that, the pin might not work, meaning that the only possible escape for the men in the submarine would be cut off. Glandt admitted to doing defective work on the Peto and a Manitowoc Herald Times article from October 14, 1942 said that he “did nothing more to correct the mistake”. Glandt wrote that the defect “was done purely through my own ignorance and I had no malicious intent”.
Glandt faced a $10,000 fine, or 30 years in prison, or both under the wartime sabotage act. Glandt maintained his innocence throughout the trial saying he was responsible for the defect but there was no willful intent on his part.
In April 1943, Glandt was freed by a grand jury. After he was freed, he was “informed that he was at liberty to join the armed forces”. “Glandt who said he was darned glad to hear of the grand jury’s action”. Glandt was able to secure a job at the Albrecht Manufacturing Company in Kewaunee after trial.