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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Thrasher / G-4 (SS-26)

G Class Submarine: Laid down, as Thrasher, 9 July 1910, at William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, PA.; Renamed G-4, 17 November 1911; Launched, 15 August 1912; Commissioned USS G-4, 22 January 1914, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA.; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 5 September 1919; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 15 April 1920, to Connecticut Iron & Metal Co., New London, CT. The G-4 hulk was assigned hull number SS-26, 17 July 1920.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced 360 t., Submerged 457 t.; Length 157' 6"; Beam 17' 6"; Draft 10' 11"; Speed, surfaced 14 kts, submerged 9.5 kts; Depth Limit 200'; Complement 1 Officer 23 Enlisted; Armament, four 18" torpedo tubes, eight torpedoes; Propulsion, gasoline electric, Fiat Co, gasoline engines, 1,000 hp, Fuel Capacity 7,650 gals., Diehl Manufacture Co. electric motors, 440 hp, Battery Cells 164, twin propellers.

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
21k	Cramp's Laurenti-designed Thrasher / G-4 (SS-26) unlike contemporary E.B. craft had her ventilators on deck, where access (to prepare for diving) was likely to be difficult in rough weather. Note the drop able safety keel.	Drawing by Jim Christley. Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
41k	G-4 (SS-26) was essentially a submersible surface torpedo boat. For example, her conning tower resembled that of contemporary small steam torpedo boats. The flasks shown above each pair of torpedo tubes (fore & aft) contain firing impulse air. The rods connected the plane control wheels to the planes are shown, as is the safety keel. Note the paired gasoline engines and electric motors on each shaft. This arrangement convinced U.S. submariners that power could be easily increased to achieve greater speed. The device abaft the two motors (abeam the electrical switchboard), is the air compressor, with the main ballast pump abaft it. Crew accommadation is shown forward of the control room and abaft the after vent fan (under the aft ventilator). Batteries are fore & aft of the main ballast tanks.	Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
75k	Cross sections of Laurenti's G-4 (SS-26) at the control room (left) and at the engine room (right) show this boat's characteristic elliptically shaped pressure hull, heavily braced against her outer hull.	Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
87k	G-4 (SS-26) launching, at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 15 August 1912.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 73380, collection of William H.F. Michel, donated by Sam Psoras, 1981.
67k	G-4 (SS-26) fitting out at William Cramp & Sons Shipyard, Philadelphia, PA., 2 October 1912. Note the shipyard crane barge in the background. Laurenti's *G-4* was a typical early double-hull design in which the ship-shaped outer hull formed the entire outside of the submarine; there was no floodable ("self-baling" in contempoary parlance) superstructure.	US National Archives photo # 19-N-18-7-3, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. Partial text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
101k	Workmen on board the G-4 (SS-26), 30 October 1912, while she was fitting out at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The man standing 3rd from left, in the second row, is William H.F. Michel.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 73381, collection of William H.F. Michel, donated by Sam Psoras, 1981.
311k	G-4 (SS-26) forward broadside view, October 2, 1913.	US National Archives and Rercord Administration (NARA) photo # 19N18-7-10, courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
49k	A mostly submerged G-4 (SS-26) on builder's trials in Delaware Bay, circa 1913-4.	Photo courtesy of the late Ernest C. Schmidt, submitted by Jim McIntire. Photo added 13/12/05.
58k	Starboard side view of the G-4 (SS-26) on builder's trials in Delaware Bay, circa 1913-4.	Photo courtesy of the late Ernest C. Schmidt, submitted by Jim McIntire. Photo added 13/12/05.
39k	Partial bow view of the G-4 (SS-26), with a sailboat accompanying her, on builder's trials in Delaware Bay, circa 1913-4.	Photo courtesy of the late Ernest C. Schmidt, submitted by Jim McIntire. Photo added 13/12/05.
57k	Spray off the bow of the G-4 (SS-26) while on builder's trials in Delaware Bay, circa 1913-4.	Photo courtesy of the late Ernest C. Schmidt, submitted by Jim McIntire. Photo added 13/12/05.
52k	G-4 (SS-26) running "awash", while on builder's trials in Delaware Bay, circa 1913-4.	Photo courtesy of the late Ernest C. Schmidt, submitted by Jim McIntire. Photo added 13/12/05.
52k	G-4 (SS-26) in dry dock at Cramp Shipyard in Phila. PA., circa 1913-4.	Photo courtesy of the late Ernest C. Schmidt, submitted by Jim McIntire. Photo added 13/12/05.
82k	Starboard view of the G-4 (SS-26) on builder's trials in Delaware Bay, circa 1913-4.	Photo courtesy of the late Ernest C. Schmidt, submitted by Jim McIntire. Photo added 13/12/05.
35k	G-4 (SS-26) photographed prior to World War I, circa 1914-1917.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 42199, courtesy of Arrigio Barilli, from the Oscar Parkes Collection.
59k	G-4 (SS-26), possibly ay New London, CT., 1916.	USN photo.
61k	Halftone reproduction of a photograph of the G-4 (SS-26) underway prior to World War I, circa 1914-1917. Copied from the book United States Navy Illustrated, published in New York, 1917.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 79487
128k	G-4 (SS-26) officers and crew posed on deck, 1917. She was then operating out of the U.S. Naval Submarine Base, New London, at Groton, Connecticut. The two officers (4th & 5th from left, front row) are Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Paul F. Foster (Commanding Officer) and Lieutenant (Junior Grade) William F. Callaway (Executive Officer).	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 98036, collection of Vice Admiral Paul F. Foster.
85k	G-4 (SS-26) officers standing beside their submarine, at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base, New London, Groton, Connecticut, in 1917. They are Lieutenant (Junior Grade) William F. Callaway (Executive Officer), at left, and Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Paul F. Foster (Commanding Officer). Note their leather coats and cold weather helmets. *G-4's* periscopes are behind the men.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 98037, collection of Vice Admiral Paul F. Foster.
79k	G-4 (SS-26) tied up alongside a dock, presumably at the New London Submarine Base, Groton, Connecticut, circa 1918. G-4 (SS-26) is inboard of G-2(SS-27).	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 80585. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, collection of Lieutenant O.E. Wightman.
107k	G-4 (SS-26) at the New London Submarine Base, Groton, Connecticut, about February 1918. The "boats" are (from left to right): *G-4 (SS-26); G-2 (SS-27); and L-8 (SS-48)*.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 80743. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, collection of Lieutenant O.E. Wightman.
36k	G-4 (SS-26) at Sub Base Groton, CT., circa 1917-18.	Ric Hedman TN(SS) Webmaster Through the Looking Glass, a Historic Look at Submarines web site