Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Seal / G-1 (SS-19½)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
World War I Victory Medal (with Submarine Clasp)

G Class Submarine: Laid down, 2 February 1909, as Seal at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newport News, VA.; Launched, 8 February 1911; Renamed G-1, 17 November 1911; Commissioned USS G-1, 28 October 1912, at New York Navy Yard, New York, NY; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 6 March 1920, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA.; Final Disposition, sunk as a target during depth charge tests, 21 June 1921, in Narragansett Bay off Taylor's Point, R.I.

Specifications: Displacement, surfaced 400 t., submerged 516 t.; Length 161'; Beam 13' 1"; Draft 12' 6"; Speed, surfaced 14 kts, submerged 10 kts; Depth Limit 200'; Complement 1 Officer, 23 Enlisted; Armament, six 18" torpedo tubes, (includes two deck firing tubes), six torpedoes; Propulsion, gasoline electric, White & Middleton Co., gasoline engines, 1,200 hp, Fuel Capacity 1,200 gal., Diehl Manufacturing Co., electric motors, 520 hp, Battery Cells 120, twin propellers.

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
141k	The G-1 (SS-19½) makes her way through N.Y.City harbor past what looks to be wharf of the N.Y. & Cuba Mail terminal.	Photo copyright by E. Muller, Jr. from Jane's Fighting Ships, 1919, courtesy of Robert Hurst. Photo added 04/21/08.
106k	Seal (SS-19½) in drydock, circa the mid-1910s. Note her external torpedo tubes and other hull details.	US Navy photo NH # 78280 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Photo courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1973.
109k	Seal (SS-19½) afloat after launching, off the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company shipyard, Newport News, VA., 8 February 1911.	US Navy photo NH # 98033 courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Commander Theodore G. Ellyson, USN.
106k	Seal (SS-19½) afloat after launching, off the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company shipyard, Newport News, VA., 8 February 1911.	US Navy photo NH # 98034 courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Commander Theodore G. Ellyson, USN.
36k	G-1 (SS-19½), as built (1912), shows the deck torpedo tube positions fore & aft of the bridge.	Drawing by Jim Christley. Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman.Naval Institute Press.
70k	G-1 (SS-19½) being towed by Fulton (AS-1), circa 1915. The original print's reverse contains the hand-written comment: "Towed 30 hrs. parted two line off Cape Hatteras, *Fulton* relieved by *Castine* , *Castine* stood by *G-1* in storm off Hatteras for 48 hours before she could pick her up. *G-1* registered a roll of 72 degrees. Arrow over rubber necks head."rubber neck" is probably Chief Quartermaster John Harold.	US Navy photo NH # 101546 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Photo from the Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold.
88k	G-1 (SS-19½) right and G-2 (SS-27) left, alongside Fulton (AS-1) at the Norfolk Navy Yard, VA., circa 1915. Note the 13-star "boat flag" flying at *G-2's* stern.	US Navy photo NH # 101548 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Photo from the Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold.
32k	The crew of the G-1 (SS-19½) pose on deck, circa 1915.	USN photo courtesy of Jack Truetle.
192k	G-1 (SS-19½) ex-Seal, is depicted in December 1916 after a refit at the New York Navy Yard. Note Lake's trademark wheels and the trap door from the diver's compartment.G-1's forward pair of engines had been removed, which halved her surface power to 600 BHP. Her deck torpedo tubes had been removed, leaving only the two bow tubes in the main hull. Unlike E.B., Lake was happy to blister his tubes out from the main hull. Moving them well apart left space for the diver's compartment between them. *G-1* retained Lake's wheels. Although this boat was generally described as double-hulled, she had a conventional circular section (spindle) pressure hull with a partly watertight superstructure, as in E.B. submarines, ballast tanks were inside the pressure hull (mainly under the machinery and at the ends). Gasoline was stowed at the ends, outboard of ballast tanks that presumably protected the interior of the submarine from possible explosions. The bridge fairwater shows Lake's practice of seperating the navigating turret (forward) from the captain's turret (aft), with a seperate conning tower protruding from the superstructure between them. Forward of both is a seperate hatch trunk into the pressure hull, and the captain's turret has its own hatch trunk at its after side. Abaft the engine room hatch is a well for the marker buoy. The battery is concentrated forward of the immersion tank (presumably equivalent of a Q-tank) below the conning tower; above the tank is an equililbrium control tank, and abaft it is a final adjusting tank. Lake argued that his type of battery housing was far superior to E.B.'s battery tanks, but there was some question as to how much more space it required.	Drawing by Jim Christley. Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman.Naval Institute Press.
83k	A midship cross section of the E-2 (SS-25),(left) illustrates Holland's patented U-shaped tank, in this case surrounding the boat's safetty (adjusting) tank. A similar cross section of Lake's G-1 (SS-19½) is shown at right. Because Holland had patented the U-shaped ballast tank, Simon Lake had to use inefficent flat-topped tanks. For example, he had to place his batteries on top of his tanks (limiting overhead space), where Holland could surround batteries with tankage. In both drawings, shading indicates ballast water. Note that *E-2's* hull is not perfectly circular, it has a flat bottom where the pressure hull joins the duct keel.	Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman.Naval Institute Press.
156k	G-1 (SS-19½) is seen off New London, Ct. circa 1917.	USN photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
74k	G-1 (SS-19½) off the Submarine Base New London, Groton, CT., circa 1918. Photographed by LaTour, Philadelphia.	US Navy photo NH # 283 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center
61k	G-1 (SS-19½) off the Submarine Base New London, Groton, CT., circa 1918. Photographed by LaTour, Philadelphia.	US Navy photo courtesy of cs.nps.navy.mil.
117k	G-1 (SS-19½) in port, circa 1918, possibly at the Submarine Base New London, Groton, CT. The submarine at left is either H-1 (SS-28) or H-2 (SS-29). *G-1* is in the middle. The submarine on the right is unidentified.	US Navy photo NH # 42195 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.
73k	G-1 (SS-19½) with the captured German sub *U-117* , circa 1919.	USN photo courtesy of Ric Hedmen.
122k	Lake boats show their distinctive sterns at Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1919: *O-boats, inboard O-12* (SS-73), outboard O-14 (SS-75) , middle boat, G-1(SS-19½) and two other unidentified boats. After WW I the U.S. Navy standardized on Lake's flat stern, whose buoyancy kept the propellers and diving planes down in the water.	Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.