I knew a man in the Navy who was assigned to a naval boat built somewhere up in Michigan (or maybe Wisconsin) of all places, took the boat down the Mississippi, out thru New Orleans , then around Cape Horn on its way to see action in the Pacific.
By the time they reached the Pacific, the war was over.
I'm not sure if the Panama Canal was closed or what but they opted to go around I can only assume for some valid reason.
They built a lot of naval boats right here in Minnesota. They floated them down the Minnesota River out of Savage, and down the Mississippi. I believe they were landing craft, but I'm not positive on that. They would have had to be small enough and shallow drafted enough for passage on the rivers.
